Chapter 2
For several seconds, nobody moved.
Daniel stood with his back against the front door.
His hand was still wrapped around the deadbolt.
I looked at the man I had slept beside for eight years and felt something inside me shift.
Not break.
Shift.
Like every memory I had of him had suddenly moved half an inch to the left, revealing something dark behind it.
“Why?” I asked.
His jaw tightened.
“Because you’re upset.”
“I just watched your mother force pills into Lily’s mouth.”
“They’re not dangerous.”
Margaret snapped her head toward him.
That was all I needed.
“You know what they are.”
Daniel exhaled.
“Emily, listen to me.”
“No. You listen to me. Unlock that door.”
Lily squeezed my leg harder.
I could feel her trembling.
Daniel stepped forward.
I stepped back.
“Don’t come near us.”
His expression changed.
Not anger.
Fear.
And somehow that frightened me more.
“Give me the phone,” he repeated.
I held it behind my back.
“No.”
Margaret suddenly moved toward the pills.
I kicked one farther away.
“Don’t touch them.”
“For God’s sake,” she hissed. “Stop acting hysterical.”
“Hysterical?”
I pointed toward Lily.
“She’s five years old!”
Daniel rubbed both hands over his face.
Then he looked at his mother.
“Mom, go upstairs.”
Margaret stared at him.
“What?”
“Go upstairs.”
“You’re going to let her ruin everything?”
My heart stopped.
Everything.
Daniel’s eyes flashed.
“Mom.”
Margaret looked at me with pure hatred.
Then she walked out of the kitchen.
Her footsteps climbed the stairs.
One.
Two.
Three.
Until they disappeared.
Daniel turned back to me.
“Emily, I need you to understand something.”
“I understand plenty.”
“No, you don’t.”
“Then explain the basement.”
His face went pale.
That tiny reaction confirmed more than any confession could have.
“There is no basement,” he said.
Lily immediately cried, “Yes, there is!”
Daniel closed his eyes.
“Lily.”
“Don’t you say her name like that.”
I pulled my daughter behind me.
“She saw something, didn’t she?”
Silence.
“Daniel.”
His voice dropped.
“She saw something she misunderstood.”
“What?”
“I can explain.”
“Then explain.”
He hesitated.
That hesitation felt endless.
Finally, he said, “There’s an old storage room beneath the garage.”
I stared at him.
“You told me there was no lower level.”
“It isn’t really a basement.”
I almost laughed.
“A room under the house isn’t really a basement?”
“It was sealed before we moved in.”
“Then how did Lily get inside?”
Daniel looked toward the hallway.
“She must have found the access door.”
“And your mother drugged her so she wouldn’t tell me?”
“No.”
“Then why was she giving her pills?”
Daniel swallowed.
“They help her sleep.”
I stepped toward him before I could stop myself.
“You have been drugging our daughter?”
“Keep your voice down.”
That made me scream louder.
“YOU HAVE BEEN DRUGGING OUR DAUGHTER?”
Lily began sobbing again.
I immediately crouched beside her.
“Baby, look at Mommy.”
Her eyes were red.
Her lips trembled.
“Did you swallow any today?”
She shook her head.
“Grandma put one in my mouth, but I spit it out.”
“What about yesterday?”
Her eyes dropped.
“I don’t know.”
My stomach twisted.
“Do they make you sleepy?”
She nodded.
“Sometimes my head feels funny.”
I looked at Daniel.
Whatever he saw in my face made him take a step backward.
“I’m taking her to the hospital.”
“Emily, that’s not necessary.”
I grabbed Lily’s coat from the chair.
He moved between me and the kitchen doorway.
I froze.
“Move.”
“Just give me ten minutes.”
“You have ten seconds.”
“If you walk out of here and start telling people things you don’t understand, you could destroy this family.”
“You already did.”
I reached for Lily.
Daniel grabbed my arm.
I slapped his hand away.
“Touch me again and I will scream until every neighbor on this street comes running.”
His face hardened.
“You think the neighbors are going to help you?”
Something about the way he said it chilled me.
Then I remembered our next-door neighbor, Mrs. Carter.
Retired teacher.
Home almost every afternoon.
I inhaled and screamed.
“HELP!”
Daniel lunged toward me.
I screamed again.
“HELP ME!”
Margaret came running downstairs.
“Stop her!”
The kitchen exploded into chaos.
Daniel reached for my phone.
I threw it across the room.
It struck the wall.
The screen lit up.
Lily screamed.
Margaret grabbed for her.
I shoved Margaret away.
Then someone pounded on the front door.
“Emily?”
Mrs. Carter.
“Emily, are you okay?”
Daniel froze.
I screamed, “CALL THE POLICE!”
Daniel’s entire face changed.
He rushed toward the door.
Margaret hissed, “Don’t open it.”
Another voice sounded outside.
A man.
“Ma’am, step away from the door.”
Mrs. Carter must have gotten her son.
Or another neighbor.
I grabbed Lily and ran toward the living room window.
Daniel saw me.
“Emily, stop!”
I unlocked the window and shoved it upward.
Cold air rushed in.
“What are you doing?” he demanded.
“Leaving.”
“With my daughter?”
“Our daughter.”
I lifted Lily onto the sill.
Daniel grabbed my shoulder.
I turned and drove my elbow into his chest.
He stumbled.
Lily climbed through the window and dropped onto the flower bed.
I followed.
The moment my feet hit the ground, Mrs. Carter rushed toward us.
“Oh my God.”
“Call 911.”
“I already did.”
Daniel appeared in the open window.
“Emily!”
I backed away.
He didn’t climb out.
Maybe because three neighbors were watching.
Maybe because sirens were already approaching.
Margaret appeared behind him.
She pulled the curtain closed.
That frightened me more than anything.
At the hospital, a nurse took Lily from me for an examination while two police officers asked questions.
I told them everything.
The pills.
The basement.
Daniel locking the door.
Margaret forcing Lily down.
One officer, a woman named Ramirez, wrote quickly.
“Do you still have one of the tablets?”
“My phone fell near them.”
“We’ll secure the residence.”
“Please hurry.”
Her eyes lifted.
“Why?”
“Because they’re going to destroy whatever is downstairs.”
Officer Ramirez’s expression sharpened.
She stepped away and spoke quietly into her radio.
Twenty minutes later, Lily’s doctor entered.
Dr. Patel looked serious.
“Mrs. Hayes?”
“Yes.”
“We ran an initial toxicology screening.”
My mouth went dry.
“Was she drugged?”
“We found evidence of a sedating antihistamine in her system.”
I gripped the edge of the chair.
“Is she okay?”
“She appears stable. We’re continuing to monitor her.”
I started crying.
Not loudly.
Just one tear after another.
“I left her with them.”
“You brought her here.”
“But I left her with them.”
Dr. Patel crouched slightly so we were eye level.
“Right now, the important thing is that Lily is safe.”
Officer Ramirez came back into the room.
Her expression had changed completely.
“What happened?” I asked.
She glanced at the doctor, then at me.
“We entered the house.”
“And?”
“We found the access door your daughter described.”
My heartbeat thudded in my ears.
“There is a basement?”
“Yes.”
I swallowed.
“What’s in it?”
Officer Ramirez was silent for too long.
“Mrs. Hayes, we need you to answer a question.”
“What?”
“Does your husband have another child?”
I stared at her.
“No.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes.”
She took a slow breath.
“Because we found a child’s bedroom downstairs.”
My whole body went numb.
“A bedroom?”
“A bed. Toys. Clothes. Food.”
I could barely breathe.
“Was someone living there?”
“We don’t know yet.”
May you like
Then Officer Ramirez said the words that changed everything.
“But the photographs on the wall are all of a little girl who looks almost exactly like Lily.”
