The Day Silence Spoke novel Chapter 312

The sight of the bathroom filled Latisha with a familiar sense of dread.

Clifford pushed her down onto a small stool and picked up the showerhead, adjusting the temperature. “Take them off.”

Latisha stared at the floor, her fingers twisting together in her lap. She didn’t move.

Clifford looked down at her. “I said, take them off.”

His voice was sterner this time, a command that tolerated no refusal.

Still, she remained motionless.

He put the showerhead back in its cradle, bent down, and began to undress her himself. Latisha recoiled, hugging herself and turning away in a rare act of defiance.

The next second, he grabbed her shoulders, forced her to face him, and yanked off her jacket, tossing it aside. She pushed against his chest in a futile attempt to stop him, but her struggles only made it easier for him to pull her sweater off over her head.

She hated this charade, hated his suffocating hot-and-cold behavior. She hated that he didn't love her but refused to let her go. Most of all… she hated that news article.

The dam of her resentment and frustration finally broke. Latisha shot to her feet, her fists flying, raining down clumsy, ineffective blows on his chest.

Her punches were nothing to Clifford. He caught both of her wrists with ease, pushing her back a step until she stumbled against the cold tile wall. He pinned her hands high above her head.

Latisha tilted her chin up, her eyes red and blazing as she glared at him. She was never good at hiding her emotions, especially not from him. Her anger and hurt were plain to see in her wide eyes.

Latisha took a deep breath, her lips parting to form a single word. “Leave—”

“Don’t you dare say it,” he cut her off, his tone sharp, like he was scolding a disobedient child.

She clamped her mouth shut.

Clifford’s thumb stroked her jaw. After a long pause, he said, “It’s Nikita. She’s been a bad influence on you.”

The accusation reignited the fire inside Latisha. She began to struggle again, and when her hands failed, she started kicking.

Clifford’s eyes narrowed. In one fluid motion, he stepped forward, planting his leg between hers. He lifted, and suddenly Latisha’s feet were off the ground, her body thrown off balance until she was perched on his thigh.