Chapter 1
I came home early and found my six-year-old daughter kneeling on the living-room floor while my mother-in-law repeatedly struck her hands with a thin switch. Then my daughter told me what she had seen inside my bedroom.
I dropped my purse.
“Emma!”
My daughter looked up with tears streaming down her face.
“Mommy!”
She jumped up and ran straight into my arms.
Her little hands were red and trembling.
I pulled her against me.
“What happened?”
My mother-in-law, Diane, lowered the switch.
“She was being disrespectful.”
I stared at her.
“You hit my daughter for being disrespectful?”
Diane crossed her arms.
“She needs discipline since you clearly won’t give her any.”
Emma buried her face against my chest.
“Mommy, I didn’t do anything.”
I looked down.
“Tell me what happened, sweetheart.”
Diane stepped forward.
“Don’t encourage her lies.”
Emma immediately started shaking.
That reaction told me everything.
I moved her behind me.
“Emma, tell me.”
She pointed toward the hallway.
“Grandma went into your bedroom.”
Diane’s face changed.
Emma continued through her tears.
“I saw her open your drawer and take the money you keep in the envelope.”
Diane snapped, “That’s enough!”
Emma flinched.
“She told me if I told you, I’d be punished.”
Something inside me exploded.
I crossed the room and slapped Diane hard across the face.
She stumbled against the table and stared at me in disbelief.
“You put your hands on my child because she caught you stealing from me?”
Diane suddenly looked toward the front door.
Then she smiled.
May you like
“You have absolutely no idea whose money that really is.”
Before I could answer, Emma tugged my sleeve and whispered, “Mommy… Grandma didn’t take just money.”
