Chapter 1
My stepmother dragged me across the kitchen by my hair while my little brother screamed for her to stop. She never heard Dad come home early—or the police surrounding our house.
“Let go of me!” I cried.
Melissa tightened her fist in my hair.
“You should have cleaned this before I got home.”
A bowl of cereal lay shattered beside my feet.
My six-year-old brother Noah stood near the refrigerator, shaking.
“I dropped it,” he whispered. “Not Emma.”
Melissa turned toward him.
“You want to be next?”
I grabbed her wrist before she could reach him.
She slapped me and pulled my head backward.
“Your father should have sent both of you away.”
Dad believed Melissa treated us like her own children.
She smiled whenever he was home.
The moment he left, she locked away our food and searched our rooms.
That afternoon, Noah had secretly taken my old phone from under my mattress.
I thought he was playing a game.
I didn’t know he had called 911.
Melissa dragged me toward the pantry.
“You’re staying in there until your father comes home.”
The front door suddenly slammed open.
Dad stood in the kitchen doorway, still wearing his work jacket.
His eyes moved from my swollen cheek to Melissa’s hand tangled in my hair.
“Take your hand off my daughter.”
Melissa released me and immediately started crying.
“Daniel, she attacked me!”
Dad rushed over and lifted me from the floor.
Noah ran into his arms.
“She hurts us when you’re gone,” he sobbed.
Melissa grabbed Dad’s shoulder.
“They’re lying because they hate me!”
Dad turned and punched the wall inches from her face.
The cabinet shook from the impact.
“You’ve been hurting my children?”
Melissa backed away, suddenly silent.
Then the kitchen door burst open.
Four police officers rushed inside.
“Hands where we can see them!”
Melissa pointed at Dad.
“He threatened me! Arrest him!”
The lead officer looked down at the phone in Noah’s hands.
“We heard the entire call,” she said.
Then another officer entered carrying a sealed evidence bag.
Inside it was a second phone I had never seen before.
May you like
The officer looked directly at Melissa.
“And this proves the children weren’t your only victims.”
