Genesis rocked back and forth on the bed, back pressed against the headboard, knees drawn to her chest. Tears fell silently down her cheeks, soaking the front of her nightgown. The room was dark except for the faint glow of the bedside lamp, but even that felt too bright.

Everything was too much.

Tomorrow she had to stand in front of a courtroom and tell strangers every ugly detail of the last fifteen years. The locked rooms. The starvation. The beatings, the assaults. The doctor’s office visits she could barely remember.

She didn’t even remember most of it.

But she would have to say it anyway.

She pressed her palms...