Chapter 1
MY FOUR-YEAR-OLD DAUGHTER WAS CRYING UNDER A BOWL OF NOODLES—THEN MY NINE-YEAR-OLD SON RAN TO PROTECT HER, AND HIS STEPMOTHER TURNED ON HIM TOO.
I heard my daughter screaming before I even got my key into the front door.
“Daddy! Please!”
I dropped everything and ran toward the kitchen.
Four-year-old Lily was sitting on the floor, sobbing.
Noodles and broth were dripping down her hair and pajamas.
An empty bowl lay beside her.
My wife, Rachel, stood over her with her arms crossed.
“What happened?” I shouted.
Before Rachel could answer, my nine-year-old son Ethan rushed in from the hallway.
He threw his arms around Lily and pulled her against his chest.
“Don’t touch her again!”
His whole body was shaking.
Rachel stared at him.
“Move.”
“No.”
Ethan held his little sister tighter.
Lily buried her face against his shirt.
“She put the bowl on my head,” Lily cried.
My stomach dropped.
Rachel snapped, “She refused to eat what I made.”
Ethan looked up at her through tears.
“She said it was too hot!”
Rachel grabbed his shoulder.
I stepped forward.
But Ethan twisted away and stood between Rachel and Lily.
“You’re not hurting my sister.”
Rachel’s expression changed instantly.
She raised her hand and slapped Ethan across the face.
Lily screamed.
Ethan stumbled into the kitchen table but refused to move away from her.
That was when I noticed something underneath the table.
A small phone was recording.
Rachel saw me looking at it.
Her face went still.
Ethan touched his cheek and whispered, “Dad… that isn’t the first video.”
Rachel spun toward him.
“What did you say?”
Ethan pointed toward the locked pantry door.
May you like
“There are more in there.”
And for the first time since I walked in, Rachel looked terrified.
