The Day Silence Spoke novel Chapter 109

Clifford stared at her signing hands, his expression unreadable. He didn’t speak.

Latisha waited for what felt like an eternity before finally looking up to meet his deep, inscrutable gaze. She started to sign the words again, but he caught her fingers, stopping her.

“Have you forgotten what I told you?” he asked in a low voice.

Her eyelashes fluttered. A bitter smile touched her lips as she let her hands fall limply to her sides.

What had he told her? He’d told her not to love him.

Clifford sighed. His expression softened, and he reached out to wipe the tears from the corner of her eye, his tone like that of a parent coaxing a child. “Don’t cry. Look, it’s just the two of us now. No one else to bother us. Isn’t that better?”

Latisha turned her head, avoiding his touch.

His eyes flickered. He forcefully turned her head back, making her look at him.

“Isn’t it?” he repeated.

She bit her lip, refusing to meet his eyes.

Sometime, somewhere along the way, the face she had once longed for had become a source of suffocation. It felt as if an invisible chain was wrapped around her neck. In the name of family, he had leashed her to this house like a dog, with no friends, no freedom.

Nothing.

Clifford tilted her chin up, refusing to relent until he got a response. Latisha was forced to look at him, but she remained silent. She had realized that nothing she said or did mattered. It was all futile.

She tugged on his sleeve. Clifford turned his head, his expression now calm, as if nothing had happened.

Latisha signed, *Can you let Mrs. Dashiell come back?*

He looked away, leaning forward to stub out his cigarette in the ashtray. “You still don’t listen to a word I say.”

Latisha lowered her gaze, her fingers knotting together. After a long silence, she summoned her courage, pulled open the coffee table drawer, and placed the divorce papers in front of him once more.

He didn't seem angry. He calmly picked them up and flipped through them. "When were you planning to bring this up again?"

Without looking at her, he finished reading the document, then nonchalantly tore it in half, then into quarters, and then into countless tiny pieces. He tossed them into the air, and the scraps of paper rained down around them like confetti.