Chapter 1
I Came Home To Find My Wife Dragging My Four-Year-Old Daughter By Her Hair—Then A Hidden Key Fell From Her Pocket.
I heard Anna screaming before I reached the front door.
“Please! You’re hurting me!”
I burst into the living room and saw my wife, Vanessa, dragging my four-year-old daughter across the floor by her hair.
Anna’s face was soaked with tears as she desperately tried to hold Vanessa’s wrist.
“Let her go!” my eight-year-old son, Noah, shouted.
He ran forward and stood between them.
“Don’t touch my sister!”
Vanessa released Anna and slapped Noah hard across the face.
He stumbled backward and covered his reddening cheek.
That was when I kicked the door fully open.
“Get away from my children!”
Vanessa turned pale when she saw me.
“Daniel, I can explain.”
I crossed the room and slapped her across the face, knocking her away from Noah.
“What did you do to them?”
Anna crawled into her brother’s arms.
Vanessa touched her cheek and screamed, “They attacked me first!”
Noah shook his head.
“She’s lying, Dad.”
Vanessa lunged toward him again, but I stepped between them.
As she stumbled backward, a small brass key flew from her cardigan pocket.
It struck the floor beside my shoe.
The moment Anna saw it, she began shaking.
“That’s the bad-room key,” she whispered.
I picked it up.
“What bad room?”
Vanessa rushed forward.
“Give that back!”
I caught her wrist before she could reach it.
Noah pointed toward the locked door beneath the staircase.
“She puts Anna in there whenever you go to work.”
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Vanessa’s face lost all color.
I walked toward the door while she screamed for me to stop.
