Chapter 1
"My husband threw our 6-month-old son onto the floor because he wouldn’t stop crying. I heard the thud from the kitchen and ran in just as my baby started screaming.
“Jason, what did you do?”
My husband stood over the baby, breathing hard.
“He wouldn’t shut up!”
I dropped to my knees and scooped Noah into my arms.
His tiny face was red, and his cries sounded different.
Terrified.
Painful.
I looked at Jason and slapped him across the face.
“Don’t you ever touch my son again!”
Jason grabbed my wrist.
“He’s my son too.”
“Then why did you throw him?”
“He fell.”
I stared at him.
“I watched you.”
Jason’s expression changed.
He released my wrist and lowered his voice.
“Emily, don’t make this bigger than it is.”
My hands were shaking as I checked Noah’s head.
Then I felt a swelling near the back of his skull.
“We’re going to the hospital.”
Jason stepped in front of the door.
“No.”
I froze.
“Move.”
“You tell a doctor what happened, and they’ll call the police.”
“They should.”
Jason slammed his fist against the wall beside my head.
“You’re not destroying my life over one mistake.”
Noah screamed again.
I pushed past him.
Jason grabbed my shoulder, but suddenly our 9-year-old daughter, Chloe, appeared on the stairs.
“Dad, stop!”
Jason turned toward her.
“Go to your room!”
Chloe didn’t move.
She was crying.
Then she looked at me.
“Mom… Dad did it before.”
Everything inside me went cold.
“What do you mean?”
Jason’s face went pale.
“Chloe, shut your mouth.”
She backed away from him.
“When you worked nights, he would shake Noah when he cried.”
I could barely breathe.
Jason lunged toward her.
I stepped between them.
Then Chloe pulled my old phone from behind her back.
“I recorded him last night because I was scared.”
Jason froze.
But when Chloe pressed play, the first thing we heard wasn’t Noah crying.
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It was Jason speaking to someone on the phone.
And the woman on the other end said, “Once the baby is gone, Emily will never know what we planned.”
