Selena looked at him as if seeing a stranger for the very first time. He’d known her since she was twenty-two, long before she’d even dreamed of a doctorate, and he’d supposedly celebrated her scholarships, her first published articles, her speaking engagements.

Suddenly she understood that maybe he hadn’t been celebrating her progress at all, but rather the quiet idea that one day she’d finally give up trying to be something he couldn’t control.

“I’m not going to argue about this with you tonight,” she said, trying to push past them to get back to her study.

She didn’t manage a second step before Hunter grabbed her tightly by both arms with a sudden burst of aggression. At first Selena thought it was just a stupid, impulsive outburst, but his grip tightened until his fingers dug into her shoulders, pinning her against the kitchen counter.

“Hunter, let me go. Right now,” she demanded, her voice shaking with a mixture of fear and growing fury.

He didn’t let go. Barbara slowly approached from behind, a pair of heavy kitchen scissors in her hand. Selena felt the cold metal brush the back of her neck before she fully understood what was happening—and then the first strand of hair hit the floor.

The scream that tore out of her throat sounded foreign, raw, desperate.

“Let’s see if this helps you understand your place in this house,” Barbara whispered close to her ear, her voice devoid of any warmth.

Another lock of hair fell to the floor, then another, as Hunter held her steady as if restraining a dangerous criminal. Selena struggled, cried, kicked at the floor—but the exhaustion of months without real sleep was no match for the physical strength of a man determined to crush her spirit.

The tugs burned her scalp, and the jagged, metallic sound of the scissors seemed to tear at her very soul with every snip.

“You are both sick,” she shouted, trying to fight off the suffocating pressure of his grip.

Barbara didn’t even blink as she continued her work with terrifying precision. “No serious committee is ever going to take you seriously looking like this.