Chapter 13
Michael flew home with a heavy heart.
He had spent two days listening to the stories of three broken people who had survived Vanessa. And he had realized something terrible.
He had gotten off easy.
His children had gotten off easy.
They were alive. They were together. They were healing.
Daniel, Sofia, and James would never be whole. Not really. Vanessa had taken their childhoods, their fathers, their inheritances, their peace of mind. She had left them with nothing but scars and nightmares.
And the worst part?
She was still free.
Still rich.
Still planning her next move.
When Michael landed, Cole was waiting for him at the airport. The security chief’s face was grim.
“What’s wrong?” Michael asked immediately.
“Lily had an incident at her new school today.”
Michael’s stomach dropped.
“Is she okay?”
“She’s physically fine. But a woman matching Vanessa’s description showed up at recess. She talked to Lily over the fence. The teachers caught her before she could do anything. She was gone before the police arrived.”
“What did she say to her?”
Cole handed him a piece of paper. It was a crayon drawing—Lily’s handwriting.
**Mommy says she’s coming to get me soon. She says you’re going to be very sorry. She says we’re going to be a family again forever.**
Michael crumpled the paper in his fist.
“The restraining order!” he shouted. “She’s within five hundred yards of a child she’s legally forbidden to contact! That’s a felony! Why wasn’t she arrested?”
“Because the teachers can’t make a positive ID,” Cole said. “The woman was wearing a hat and sunglasses. The police say it’s not enough for an arrest warrant. And Vanessa has an alibi. She was in therapy at the time. Three witnesses confirm it.”
“Alibi my ass,” Michael said. “She paid someone to dress like her. She’s been doing this for years. She always has an alibi.”
He climbed into the SUV.
“Take me home. Now.”
Lily was waiting for him in the living room. She ran to him the moment he walked through the door, but she didn’t hug him as tight as usual. There was a distance in her eyes. A fear.
“Daddy,” she whispered. “She was there. I know it was her. Even with the hat. I’d know her voice anywhere.”
Michael knelt in front of her.
“I believe you, baby. I believe you more than anything. And I promise you—she is never going to take you. Never. You’re safe here. Cole and his men are watching every second. She can’t get in. She can’t hurt you.”
But Lily wasn’t listening.
She was staring at something over his shoulder.
“Daddy?”
“Yes, sweetheart?”
“Why does she hate us so much? What did we do wrong?”
Michael had no answer.
How do you explain evil to a six-year-old?
How do you tell a child that some people are born without a conscience? That they look human, they talk human, they love and hate like humans—but there’s nothing inside them but hunger? That they see children not as people to be loved, but as tools to be used, weapons to be wielded, obstacles to be removed?
He couldn’t.
So he held her.
May you like
And he promised.
And he prayed that it would be enough.
