Chapter 2
Mark reached for my hand.
I stepped back so fast I hit the wall.
“Don’t touch me.”
“Sarah, you don’t understand.”
“Then explain.”
Ethan clung to my leg.
Rachel stood near the hallway, breathing hard.
For the first time since I had known her, she looked terrified.
Not guilty.
Terrified.
Mark held both hands out.
“Give me the card first.”
I laughed.
It came out shaky.
“You think I’m giving you anything?”
“It belongs to me.”
“Our son stole it because he was scared of you.”
“He doesn’t know what it is.”
Ethan looked up.
“Yes, I do.”
Mark froze.
My son’s voice was tiny, but steady.
“It’s where Daddy keeps the movies.”
My heart slammed against my ribs.
“What movies, baby?”
Mark moved again.
I grabbed the ruler from the table and pointed it at him.
“Stay back.”
Rachel snapped, “This is ridiculous.”
I turned on her.
“You hit my child.”
“He needed correction.”
“He is four!”
“He lies. He throws tantrums. He refuses meals. He—”
“He’s four!”
My scream filled the room.
Ethan covered his ears.
I immediately dropped the ruler.
“Baby, I’m sorry.”
I knelt and pulled him close.
Mark used that moment to reach for my fist.
I twisted away.
“No!”
He grabbed my wrist.
I screamed.
Ethan screamed too.
“Daddy, stop!”
That broke something in me.
I drove my shoulder into Mark’s chest and shoved him.
He stumbled backward.
I grabbed Ethan and ran toward the kitchen.
My phone was still in my purse.
Mark followed.
“Sarah, stop acting crazy.”
Crazy.
That word.
He had used it so many times.
When I questioned missing money.
When Ethan cried at night.
When I said Rachel made me uncomfortable because she seemed too familiar with our house.
When I asked why Mark had started locking his office.
I was always “crazy.”
I reached my purse and grabbed my phone.
Mark stopped in the doorway.
“Who are you calling?”
“Police.”
Rachel cursed.
Mark’s face changed.
“Sarah.”
“Move.”
“You call them, and you’re going to destroy this family.”
I stared at him.
“No. You already did.”
I dialed.
Mark lunged.
Ethan screamed again.
I backed into the pantry and slammed the door.
The lock was tiny.
Almost useless.
But I turned it.
“911, what’s your emergency?”
“My babysitter has been hitting my four-year-old son, and my husband knew.”
Mark pounded on the pantry door.
“Sarah!”
I pressed myself against the shelves.
Ethan buried his face against my shoulder.
“There’s also a memory card,” I continued. “My son says there are videos.”
“Are you in immediate danger?”
“Yes.”
That was the first time I said it.
Yes.
I was in danger.
Maybe I had been for months.
“Officers are on the way. Stay where you are if you can.”
Mark hit the door again.
“Sarah, open this door before Ethan gets more upset.”
The operator heard him.
“Ma’am, is that your husband?”
“Yes.”
“Do not open the door.”
I kissed Ethan’s hair.
Outside, Rachel shouted.
“This wasn’t what you promised me, Mark!”
Silence.
My eyes widened.
Mark whispered something I couldn’t hear.
Rachel raised her voice.
“You said she would never find out!”
My hand tightened around the phone.
The operator said, “Ma’am, stay quiet.”
I pressed the phone to my chest.
Then Rachel said the sentence that changed everything.
“You were supposed to delete the old footage after Daniel died.”
Daniel.
My brother.
My older brother had died eight months earlier.
A car accident.
A wet road.
Police said he lost control.
Mark had been the last person to see him alive.
I stopped breathing.
“Who is Daniel?” the operator whispered.
“My brother.”
Mark shouted, “Shut up, Rachel!”
Something crashed outside.
Rachel screamed.
I heard furniture scraping.
Then the back door slammed.
Mark cursed.
I looked through the narrow crack near the pantry hinge.
Rachel was gone.
Mark stood in the kitchen alone.
His chest rose and fell.
Then he looked directly at the pantry.
His expression became calm.
Too calm.
“Sarah,” he said.
I held Ethan tighter.
“I know you’re scared.”
I said nothing.
“I can explain Daniel.”
My knees almost gave out.
“Daniel?”
Mark moved closer.
“He was trying to destroy us.”
I opened my mouth but no sound came.
“He filled your head with doubts about me. About money. About Rachel. He wanted you to leave.”
My brother had told me something two weeks before his death.
If anything ever feels wrong, Sarah, trust yourself before you trust anybody else.
I had thought he was talking about my marriage.
Now I knew he had been warning me.
Mark placed his palm on the pantry door.
“I never wanted anybody hurt.”
Ethan whispered, “Daddy hurt Uncle Danny.”
I looked down.
“What?”
Mark heard him.
His face changed again.
“Ethan doesn’t know what he’s saying.”
My stomach twisted.
I crouched until I was eye level with my son.
“How do you know that?”
Ethan’s lips trembled.
“I saw Daddy’s movie.”
Mark kicked the pantry door.
The cheap lock snapped halfway out of the frame.
I screamed.
The operator shouted, “Police are almost there!”
Mark kicked again.
The door burst open.
I shoved Ethan behind me.
Mark entered.
His eyes went straight to my fist.
“The card.”
“No.”
“Give it to me.”
“No.”
“You have no idea what’s on it.”
“That’s why I’m going to watch it.”
His jaw tightened.
For a second, I didn’t recognize the man I had married.
Then police sirens sounded outside.
Mark looked toward the window.
I saw panic.
Real panic.
He turned and ran.
Not toward the front door.
Toward his office.
I grabbed Ethan.
“Come on.”
We ran outside.
Two police cars pulled up.
I nearly collapsed when an officer reached me.
“My son,” I gasped. “His hands. Please.”
An officer knelt beside Ethan.
Another ran inside.
A third asked where the babysitter was.
“She ran out the back.”
“Name?”
“Rachel Collins.”
He radioed the description.
Then I opened my hand.
The memory card sat against my sweating palm.
“This might have evidence.”
The officer took out a small evidence envelope.
Before I could drop the card inside, Mark appeared at the front doorway.
An officer had him by the arm.
Mark wasn’t handcuffed.
Yet.
He looked at me.
Then he looked at the card.
“Sarah.”
I ignored him.
The officer sealed it.
Mark’s face went white.
And Ethan whispered, “There’s another one.”
Everyone looked at him.
I crouched.
“Another memory card?”
He shook his head.
“Another camera.”
Mark closed his eyes.
May you like
My son pointed upstairs.
“In Mommy’s bedroom.”
