I only lost sight of my wife for ten minutes. Then her scream tore through the music, and I found my brother cornering her in the hallway, her dress ripped, his hands still on her. My mother looked at her tears and whispered, “What did you do to provoke him?” That was the moment they thought I would stay silent. They were wrong. – Full Article

My father laughed.

“He married beneath himself. Let him learn.”

When I told Elena, she only squeezed my hand.

“Don’t start a war tonight,” she said.

“For you, I won’t.”

That was my mistake. Ten minutes later, I heard her scream. The sound cut straight through the music. I ran down the west hallway, past portraits of dead men who looked kinder than the living people in that house. At the end of the hall, beside the locked library door, Mateo had Elena pressed against the wall. Her red dress was torn at the shoulder, one strap hanging loose. Her face was pale, but her eyes were burning.

Mateo turned toward me, drunk and furious.

“She’s lying.”