She was always much better at keeping her word than you were at keeping yours.”

I watched the understanding arrive on his face, and it was, I will admit, a quiet satisfaction, though not the kind he would have imagined.

He was realizing that the meek, downcast daughter he had threatened in his kitchen all those months ago had never once been afraid of him.

That when I lowered my eyes that night, I had not been submitting.

I had been letting him talk.