Kill Switch by Penelope Douglas

Holding him.
In their eyes, I’d wanted it, and he was ‘the man’. But they
didn’t know what was really going on in that video. They
didn’t know what he’d done to me to get what he wanted from
me.
Footsteps approached, and I smelled my mother’s Chanel
No. 5.
“Winter,” she said calmly. “Do you really think he needed
to marry into this family to get anything he wanted? He
could’ve easily threatened Ethan anyway to keep you in
Thunder Bay and under his thumb. Or threatened us, your
grandparents, or any other friends. No matter what, this was
going to play out how they wanted, because they have the
money and we have nothing anymore. Nothing.”
‘Because of my father’, I finished for her.
Yes, I knew. She wasn’t entirely wrong.
And in that moment, I hated my father, too. His crimes
didn’t put us in this mess, because Damon would’ve
eventually found another door if that one had been closed. I
only hated him for leaving. GGabriel and Damon Torrance
could do anything they wanted with us now. And given their
reputations, I tried not to think about how bad this could get or
I’d be sick.
“At least now,” my mother continued. “We have something
to work for. A light at the end of the tunnel.”
The divorce settlement? Was she actually that stupid?
Damon would get Ari pregnant, and there would be no way
out after that!
“And what were you planning for us to do in the
meantime?” I challenged. “As we wait for this year to pass?”
What would I do as she tried to wait this out, day after day,
week after week?
“We survive,” she finally answered.
Survive.