Chapter 1 - THE FRONT DOOR
The first thing Daniel Brooks heard was his four-year-old daughter screaming for him.
“Daddy! Daddy, please!”
He had come home forty minutes early because a client canceled. He expected cartoons and dinner.
Instead, he heard crying from the hallway.
Then Noah shouted, “Don’t touch her!”
Daniel ran.
At the bottom of the staircase, Lily was on the floor, trying to crawl toward the first step. Her face was wet with tears. Behind her stood Rachel, Daniel’s thirty-nine-year-old sister, one hand tangled in Lily’s hair.
Noah, eight years old and shaking from head to toe, had both hands wrapped around Rachel’s wrist.
“Let her go!” he yelled.
Rachel grabbed Noah’s arm with her free hand. “Move. Now.”
“No!”
“Noah!”
“She didn’t do anything!”
Daniel stopped so hard his shoulder hit the wall.
“What are you doing?”
Every face turned toward him.
Rachel released Lily immediately.
Noah moved between them before Daniel could take another step. He planted himself in front of his little sister, arms spread, still crying.
“Dad,” he said, breathless, “don’t let her say we’re lying.”
Daniel’s stomach dropped.
“It looks like you had your hand in my daughter’s hair.”
“She was throwing a fit.”
Lily crawled around Noah and reached for Daniel.
He dropped to his knees and pulled her into his arms.
“Did she hurt you?”
Lily pressed her face into his shirt.
Rachel exhaled sharply. “Don’t put words in her mouth.”
Daniel looked up.
“Get your coat.”
“What?”
“Get out of my house.”
Rachel’s face changed. “You’re serious?”
Noah whispered from beside him, “Dad?”
Daniel turned.
His son’s eyes were not relieved.
They were terrified.
“Please check my room before she leaves,” Noah said.
“Why?”
May you like
Noah swallowed.
“Because if she gets upstairs first, she’ll take the notebook.”
