Chapter 1
When I came home early and saw my seven-year-old daughter crying on the floor without her prosthetic leg, my wife pointed at our housekeeper and said, “She did this.” Then my daughter grabbed my shirt and whispered, “Daddy, she’s lying.”
I had left my office in Dallas two hours early because a meeting was canceled.
I expected to surprise my daughter, Lily, before dinner.
Instead, I heard screaming before I even opened the front door.
“Stand up!” my wife, Vanessa, shouted from somewhere upstairs.
Then came a hard knocking sound.
Again.
And again.
I ran toward Lily’s bedroom.
Vanessa was holding Lily’s walking cane and striking the lower part of her prosthetic leg with it.
“Stop!” Lily cried.
One more hit knocked her balance away.
My daughter collapsed onto the carpet, and her prosthetic leg came loose beside her.
Our housekeeper, Maria, rushed forward and pulled Lily into her arms.
“What is wrong with you?” Maria screamed.
Vanessa slapped Maria across the face.
That was when I entered the room.
“WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?”
Vanessa froze.
I dropped beside Lily and lifted her against my chest.
She was shaking so badly she could barely speak.
Vanessa immediately pointed at Maria.
“Michael, thank God you’re home—Maria was trying to force Lily to walk without her leg properly attached.”
Maria stared at her in disbelief.
“She’s lying.”
“Shut up!” Vanessa snapped.
I looked at my daughter.
“Lily, tell Daddy what happened.”
Vanessa stepped closer.
“She’s upset, Michael. Don’t confuse her.”
Lily buried her face against me.
Then she whispered, “Vanessa hits my fake leg when you’re gone.”
Everything inside me went cold.
Vanessa shook her head.
“She doesn’t understand what she’s saying.”
Lily looked up at me through tears.
“She makes me stand without it too.”
I slowly stood.
“How long?”
“Since your last trip.”
Vanessa grabbed my arm.
“She is making this up because I discipline her.”
I lost control and struck Vanessa once before Maria screamed for me to stop.
I immediately backed away, but Lily suddenly cried, “Daddy, that’s not the worst thing.”
The room went completely silent.
I knelt beside her again.
May you like
“What else did she do?”
Lily pointed toward the locked closet in Vanessa’s bedroom and whispered, “She makes me sleep in there when you travel... and there’s another little girl’s picture inside with my name written on the back.”
