Chapter 2 - THE GARAGE
Grant drove home too fast.
Not reckless enough to crash.
Fast enough that every red light felt personal.
Caroline did not answer.
Noah’s smartwatch location showed the Whitmore house.
Not theirs.
Grant changed direction.
Preston lived twelve minutes away.
Grant made it in seven.
The side gate was locked.
The front door was unlocked.
No one answered when he shouted.
Then he heard Noah scream.
“DADDY! HELP ME!”
Garage.
Grant ran.
The interior garage door was bolted from the other side.
He hit it once.
Again.
Then drove his shoulder into it until the latch broke.
BANG.
The door flew inward.
Grant saw Noah hanging upside down by tied ankles from a low training beam Preston used for suspension exercises.
Not high.
Still horrifying.
Preston stood nearby with a leather belt.
Caroline stood beside him.
“STOP CRYING!” she shouted.
Preston raised the belt again.
Grant’s vision narrowed.
“NOAH!”
He crossed the garage and struck Preston once, hard enough to knock him backward.
“What the hell are you doing to my son?!”
Caroline screamed:
“HE NEEDED DISCIPLINE!”
Preston got up, furious.
“THAT BRAT HAS NO RESPECT!”
Grant ignored him.
He rushed to Noah.
Untied the restraints.
Lowered him carefully.
Noah collapsed into him.
“Daddy…”
Grant held him tight.
Then Caroline said:
“You’re spoiling him!”
Preston pointed.
“PUT HIM DOWN AND LET ME FINISH!”
Grant slowly turned.
Something in his face made both of them stop.
“You still won’t shut up?”
Caroline began arguing again.
Preston stepped forward.
Grant grabbed a metal toolbox beside the workbench and hurled it across the floor away from Noah but toward the space between the adults.
CRASH.
Both jumped backward.
“SHUT THE HELL UP!”
Silence.
Grant lifted Noah.
Carried him out.
Caroline followed.
“You can’t just take him!”
Grant turned.
“He’s my son.”
“He’s mine too!”
Grant stared at her.
Then looked at Noah trembling against his chest.
“Not tonight.”
He left.
In the truck, Grant called 911.
Then the pediatric ER.
Then an attorney.
That last call mattered.
Because by the time police reached Preston’s house, Caroline had already made one of her own.
Not to apologize.
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Not to ask about Noah.
To report Grant for violent behavior.
