Chapter 1
The moment I walked into my Dallas mansion after a week-long business trip, I found my four-year-old daughter crying on the kitchen floor, eating from the dog’s bowl.
For a second, I thought I was seeing things.
“Emma?”
She froze with a piece of dog food in her tiny hand.
My wife, Vanessa, was standing over her.
“Go ahead,” Vanessa snapped. “If you want to behave like an animal, you can eat like one.”
Emma immediately dropped the food.
“Daddy…”
Her voice was so weak I barely heard it.
I dropped my suitcase and ran toward her.
“What the hell is going on?”
Vanessa rolled her eyes.
“Don’t start, Daniel. She refused to eat the dinner I made.”
I looked at the untouched dog bowl beside my daughter, then at the tears covering her cheeks.
“So you made my child eat dog food?”
“She needed discipline.”
Emma grabbed my pant leg.
“I was hungry, Daddy.”
Those four words made my stomach turn.
Vanessa folded her arms.
“She’s manipulating you again.”
I lifted Emma into my arms and noticed how light she felt.
Then I saw a small bruise near her wrist.
“What happened here?”
Emma buried her face against my chest.
Vanessa suddenly reached for her.
“Give her to me.”
“Don’t touch her.”
Vanessa laughed.
“You think because you’re some billionaire CEO, you know what happens in this house while you’re gone?”
Then she leaned toward Emma.
“Tell Daddy what happens to little girls who lie.”
Emma started shaking so badly I could feel it through my shirt.
Something inside me snapped.
I handed Emma to our housekeeper, turned around, and slapped Vanessa across the face.
She stumbled against the counter, staring at me in disbelief.
“You hit me?”
“You terrorized my daughter.”
Vanessa’s expression changed.
Not fear.
Almost amusement.
“You really have no idea what your precious little girl has been hiding from you.”
Before I could answer, Emma suddenly screamed from behind me.
“No, Daddy! Don’t let her go upstairs!”
Everyone went silent.
I turned toward my daughter.
Her little finger was pointing at the staircase.
May you like
Then she whispered the words that made Vanessa’s face turn completely white.
“Mommy keeps another little girl in the locked room.”
