I wanted to hang back to hear what Gabriel said to Chantal, but there was nowhere to hide and eavesdrop, so I made my way up to her room and paced back and forth with worry, biting my nails down to the quick the way Gabriel hates.

I felt small and inadequate, inferior even, and that’s not a feeling I deal with very well. I’ve had years of imagining ways of fighting back, it’s all I could do as a young child under Sam’s fists, and then as a teen with no way of escaping, my ...