Chapter 3
The bear camera still worked.
I found the old app on the tablet Laura used for Sophie’s nursery.
My hands shook as the videos loaded.
There were dozens.
Then hundreds.
Rachel yelling.
Rachel dragging Sophie by the arm.
Rachel taking food away.
Rachel locking her in the closet.
Rachel whispering, “If you tell Daddy, he’ll send you away.”
Sophie sat on my lap and cried into my shirt.
I shut the tablet.
The officer said gently, “We need copies.”
“Yes.”
My voice sounded dead.
But inside, something was breaking open.
Another video played before I could stop it.
Rachel sat at the kitchen table with her mother, Patricia.
Patricia said, “Daniel will choose you if you prove the child is unstable.”
Rachel answered, “He still worships Laura.”
Patricia leaned closer.
“Then break Laura’s memory through the girl.”
I stared at the screen.
This was not stress.
Not frustration.
Not a bad day.
This was a plan.
A plan against a child.
My child.
Rachel was arrested for assault and child abuse.
Patricia was named in the report.
Sophie was taken to the hospital for evaluation.
On the ride there, she whispered, “Daddy mad?”
I kissed her hair.
“Not at you.”
“Rachel says I ruin families.”
I closed my eyes.
“No, Sophie. You are my family.”
She held my hand tighter.
At the hospital, the doctor examined her scalp, bruises, and wrists.
Every mark felt like an accusation against me.
May you like
I had been in the same house.
And I had not seen.
