Chloe began to cry again. “I wanted to believe him.”

I wrapped an arm around her shoulders. “That isn’t a crime, sweetheart.”

“No,” Robert said coldly. “But what they did to you is.”

The physician arrived before dawn with black medical bags. Dr. Patel examined Chloe in my bedroom while I hovered near the door and Robert paced the hallway like a caged animal.

Every time Chloe flinched, he stopped dead.

When the doctor came out, his face had hardened. “Multiple contusions, facial trauma, bruising on both upper arms consistent with restraint. A laceration inside the lower lip, bruising along the back and ribs.