deer in a headlights look, the picturesque look she had been practicing her entire life, her blue eyes staring at the phone clutched in his hand and and then back at her husband. what a messy, toxic, love going on between them, if cassie could even call it that. in reality she had been looking for ways to escape it all, rely on some people who could get her the fuck out of here, but now he was growing suspicious and she knew her life could potentially be on the line. she does not like it when he is angry, even worse when his anger boils over and is aimed at her. " i don't know what you're talking about. " she had deleted everything, factory reset the phone and then put everything that was hers and not the escape plan back on it, it was terrifying but she was done. she could not be his ' perfect' specimen any longer. " look through my phone, everything, that's NOTHING there. " her tone holding an edge of disdain as if he was wrong for even thinking so. how could he question her devout loyalty? her blind affliction?
βPaul didn't move. He didn't even look at her. He just kept his eyes on the screen, flipping through the menus with a frown. Maybe the silence in the kitchen was worse than him yelling. He hated yelling. When she reached for the phone, he pulled it back just a few inches. Not a jerk, just a smooth movement like a child reaching for a toy.βββYouβre lying, Cassie,βββhe said quietly. He finally looked up, his expression unreadable.βββWhy are you lying?βββHe held the phone up, turning it over in his hand like he was inspecting it like a piece of evidence.βββIf you have nothing to hide, then it shouldn't matter if I hold onto this for a while.βββHe set the phone face-down on the counter and leaned against it, crossing his arms. He wasn't touching her, but he was blocking the only way out of the kitchen.βββA clean phone is a strange thing for you to have. Itβs like youβre trying to start over. But weβre happy, aren't we? We don't need a fresh start.βββHe tilted his head, his voice dropping, until it was nothing but a low grumble. He reached out his hand, but before he could touch hers, his hand stilled.βββIβm going to go upstairs and take a closer look at this. Iβm sure I won't find anything. Because if I do... well, then weβd have a real problem.βββHe paused.βββDo you want me to desolder the NAND chip from the board? That will take me an hour.βββHe looks at his watch, then back to her.βββWhich means you have about 56 minutes to think of something before I find it before you. And I'm going to find something, aren't I?βββ