Chapter 2
My thumb froze above the screen.
The person standing in Lily’s doorway was my younger brother.
Ryan.
For a moment, my brain refused to accept what my eyes were seeing.
Ryan lived fifteen minutes away.
He came to our house constantly.
He brought Lily coloring books.
He called himself her favorite uncle.
He had sat across from me at Thanksgiving and told me how lucky I was to have Amanda helping me raise Lily after everything we had been through.
And there he was.
Standing in the doorway while my wife towered over my daughter.
“Michael,” Amanda said quietly.
I looked up.
She wasn’t angry anymore.
She was scared.
“Give me the phone.”
I pulled it closer to my chest.
“Why is Ryan in this video?”
“Michael, you don’t understand.”
“Then explain it.”
Lily was still clinging to me.
Her tiny fingers gripped the back of my shirt.
Amanda glanced at her.
That look told me everything.
She didn’t see a frightened four-year-old.
She saw a witness.
I stood.
“Stay away from her.”
Amanda’s face hardened.
“You’re being dramatic.”
I pressed the first video.
The room filled with Lily’s crying.
The recording was shaky and low, probably because the phone had been propped beneath a pile of stuffed animals.
But the sound was clear.
Amanda’s voice came first.
“Stop pretending it hurts.”
Then Lily.
“It does hurt.”
“You want your father to feel sorry for you.”
“No.”
“Then stand up.”
“I can’t.”
A loud thud came through the speaker.
My stomach clenched.
On the screen, Amanda grabbed Lily beneath one arm and pulled her upright.
Lily’s prosthetic twisted awkwardly.
She cried out.
Ryan appeared in the doorway.
He didn’t rush forward.
He didn’t stop Amanda.
He simply said, “Amanda, maybe that’s enough.”
Amanda turned toward him.
“She has to learn.”
Ryan lowered his voice.
“If Michael sees bruises, he’s going to start asking questions.”
The video ended.
I couldn’t breathe.
Lily whispered, “Daddy?”
I realized my hands were shaking.
Amanda stepped closer.
“That’s not what it looks like.”
I stared at her.
“You hurt her.”
“She was being difficult.”
“You hurt my child.”
“Our child.”
The words exploded out of me.
“No.”
Amanda flinched.
I had never said that before.
Amanda had entered Lily’s life two years after Lily’s mother, Sarah, died in the car accident.
The accident had taken Sarah instantly.
Lily survived after three surgeries, but she lost the lower part of her left leg.
I spent the next year learning how to be both parents while trying not to collapse myself.
Amanda came into our lives like sunlight.
At least that was what I thought.
She met Lily at a community fundraiser.
She listened when I talked about Sarah.
She never seemed jealous.
She told me she loved Lily before she ever told me she loved me.
When we married fourteen months ago, Lily carried the flowers.
She called Amanda “Mandy.”
Amanda cried during the ceremony.
Now I wondered whether those tears had been real.
I clicked the second video.
Amanda moved fast.
She grabbed for the phone.
I turned away.
“Give it to me!”
Lily screamed.
That scream changed something inside me.
I shoved the phone into my pocket, lifted Lily and backed toward the hallway.
“Don’t touch us.”
Amanda’s breathing grew ragged.
“If you leave this house, you’re destroying this family.”
“You already did that.”
“I made mistakes.”
“Mistakes?”
I pointed toward Lily’s cracked prosthetic.
“That is not a mistake.”
Amanda started crying.
Not softly.
Not naturally.
It looked almost practiced.
“Michael, please.”
I kept moving.
Then she said something that stopped me.
“If you call the police, you’re going to regret it.”
I turned around.
“Is that a threat?”
“No.”
She wiped her face.
“It’s the truth.”
“Why?”
She glanced toward my pocket.
“Because you have no idea what’s on that phone.”
A chill moved through me.
I pulled it out again.
Seventeen videos.
I had only watched one.
“What else is on here?”
Amanda stayed silent.
I opened the second recording.
This one was filmed in the kitchen.
Lily sat at the table.
Amanda stood across from her.
Ryan leaned against the counter.
A plate of food sat in front of Lily.
“I’m not hungry,” Lily said.
“You’ll eat it.”
“My tummy hurts.”
Amanda grabbed the plate and shoved it closer.
Ryan sighed.
“Amanda.”
“She does this every time Michael isn’t here.”
Ryan lowered his voice.
“You need to calm down.”
“She knows exactly what she’s doing.”
Lily started crying.
Amanda leaned over the table.
“If you tell Daddy, he’ll send you away.”
My heart stopped.
Lily looked terrified.
“No.”
“Yes.”
“No, Daddy loves me.”
“Then don’t make him choose.”
The recording ended.
I looked down at Lily.
Her face was pressed into my shoulder.
“Sweetheart.”
She wouldn’t look at me.
I swallowed the rage rising in my throat.
“Did Amanda tell you I would send you away?”
Lily nodded.
“For how long?”
“A lot.”
“How many times?”
She shrugged.
“Amanda said Daddy wants a normal little girl.”
I closed my eyes.
I felt like someone had punched straight through my chest.
“I never said that.”
“I know now.”
Her answer nearly broke me.
Amanda suddenly snapped.
“She manipulates you!”
I turned.
“What?”
“She knows exactly how to make you feel guilty.”
“She’s four!”
“She’s not stupid.”
“No. She’s terrified.”
Amanda crossed her arms.
“You work all day, Michael. You have no idea what she’s like when you’re gone.”
I stared at her in disbelief.
Then another voice came from behind us.
“You need to leave, Mike.”
Ryan.
He stood in the hallway.
I hadn’t heard the back door open.
My brother looked pale.
His eyes moved from Amanda to me.
Then to Lily.
I instinctively stepped between him and my daughter.
“You.”
Ryan lifted his hands.
“I can explain.”
“You watched her hurt Lily.”
“It wasn’t like that.”
“I just watched the video.”
“Then you saw me tell her to stop.”
“You told her to stop because you were worried I would notice bruises.”
Ryan’s jaw tightened.
Amanda whispered, “Ryan, don’t.”
That was when I noticed it.
The way they looked at each other.
Too quickly.
Too knowingly.
My pulse slowed.
Something colder replaced my anger.
“What is going on?”
Neither answered.
I looked at Amanda.
Then Ryan.
“Why were you here when I was at work?”
Ryan looked toward the floor.
Amanda stepped forward.
“Michael—”
“No.”
My voice dropped.
“Why was my brother in my house while I was gone?”
Lily suddenly lifted her head.
“Uncle Ryan sleeps here sometimes.”
Silence.
I stared at her.
“What?”
Amanda closed her eyes.
Ryan muttered, “Jesus.”
I felt the floor shift beneath me.
Lily continued in the innocent voice of a child who didn’t understand what she had just revealed.
“He sleeps in your room when you go on work trips.”
I looked at Amanda.
Every part of her face answered before her mouth did.
I almost laughed.
Not because anything was funny.
Because the truth had become too large to process.
My wife.
My brother.
My daughter.
The bruises.
The videos.
“How long?” I asked.
Ryan stepped toward me.
“Mike, don’t do this in front of Lily.”
I moved back.
“Don’t come near her.”
“I never hurt her.”
“You let it happen.”
“I was trying to keep Amanda under control.”
Amanda spun toward him.
“Are you serious?”
Ryan glared back.
“You’re the one who lost control!”
Something ugly and familiar passed between them.
They had argued like this before.
Many times.
I suddenly understood that I was the outsider in my own house.
I pulled out my phone.
Not Lily’s hidden phone.
Mine.
Ryan saw it.
“What are you doing?”
“Calling the police.”
Amanda rushed forward.
“Michael, wait.”
I dialed.
She grabbed my wrist.
Lily screamed again.
I jerked away so hard Amanda stumbled backward.
“Touch me again and I swear—”
Ryan stepped between us.
“Everyone calm down.”
I stared at him.
“You don’t get to say that.”
The dispatcher answered.
“911, what’s your emergency?”
Amanda’s face drained of color.
I never looked away from her.
“My four-year-old daughter has been assaulted by my wife. I have video evidence, visible bruising, and damage to her prosthetic leg.”
Amanda covered her mouth.
Ryan whispered a curse.
The dispatcher asked if we were safe.
I looked at Lily.
“No.”
That answer came easier than I expected.
“No, I don’t think we are.”
I gave the address.
When I ended the call, Amanda’s tears were gone.
Her expression had changed again.
Now she looked furious.
“You think you won?”
I stared at her.
“This isn’t a game.”
“You’re about to find out.”
“Find out what?”
Amanda looked at Ryan.
Ryan shook his head slowly.
“Amanda, don’t.”
She smiled.
It was the first time I had ever been frightened by my wife.
“Ask your brother why he was really helping me.”
I looked at Ryan.
His face collapsed.
May you like
Then Amanda said five words that made my blood run cold.
“Ask him about Sarah’s accident.”
