Alice POV

Father's palm cracks across my face.

The shock hits harder than the pain. My cheek burns, but it's my heart that fractures.

He's never hit me before. Never like this.

He's been controlling, overbearing. But violence? This crosses a line I didn't know existed between us.

"Why?" The word tears from my throat, raw with betrayal.

His rage-twisted face looms over me. His voice drops to something deadly.

"The birthday party. The ...