Chapter 1 - OTHER CHILD
Rachel Morgan opened the front door and heard the stick before she understood what she was seeing.
A hard crack.
Eli was curled on the entryway floor with both arms over his head.
Ryan stood above him holding a wooden stick.
“ELI!”
Rachel dropped her clutch and charged forward.
She grabbed Ryan’s wrist.
Knocked the stick away.
Then slapped him across the face.
“DON’T TOUCH HIM!”
Ryan staggered sideways.
Rachel dropped beside Eli.
Her nine-year-old son was shaking.
Dark bruising already marked his upper arms and shoulder.
She pulled him against her.
Behind Ryan, Patricia Morgan stood with a coffee mug.
Calm.
David Morgan hovered several feet back.
Nervous.
Ryan rubbed his cheek.
“I disciplined him.”
Rachel looked at Eli’s arms.
Something inside her changed.
She gently settled Eli against the wall.
Then stood.
Ryan pointed toward the boy.
“He needed to learn!”
Rachel crossed the space between them and slapped him again.
“Touch my son again—”
Ryan’s arrogance faded.
Rachel stepped closer.
“—and I’ll make sure you never get near your other child again.”
Patricia’s coffee cup trembled.
David stared.
Ryan went completely still.
The other child was Sophie.
Seven years old.
Ryan’s biological daughter from his first marriage.
A family-court hearing in eleven days would decide whether Ryan’s parenting time with Sophie could expand from alternate weekends to a near-equal schedule.
Rachel had planned to testify for him.
She had already submitted a declaration saying:
Ryan had grown.
Ryan was patient.
Ryan understood appropriate discipline.
Now Eli was crying behind her with bruises on his arms.
Rachel looked at Ryan.
May you like
“You made me a liar.”
For the first time that night, Ryan looked afraid.
