Chapter 1 - The Echo in the Hall
The heavy oak doors of the Marion County courtroom seemed to shrink as Daisy walked down the center aisle, her small patent-leather shoes clicking softly against the polished stone floor. The worn gray rabbit clutched in her arms was missing one of its black plastic eyes, giving the toy a bewildered expression that matched the child’s wide, terrified gaze.
Penelope caught her breath, her hand tightening instinctively over her rounded belly. Daisy was Gabriel’s daughter from his first marriage—a little girl Penelope had raised, protected, and loved as her own for the past four years, ever since her biological mother had vanished from their lives. But over the last two months, ever since Bianca Shepherd had moved into the periphery of their lives, Gabriel had forbidden Penelope from seeing or speaking to the child.
He had claimed Daisy was staying with his sister two towns over.
Instead, the little girl was here. In the courthouse.
“Daisy, sweetie,” Penelope murmured, taking an involuntary half-step forward before the bailiff’s raised hand stopped her.
Gabriel stood up so fast his chair toppled backward, hitting the floor with a hollow, echoing crack. “Your Honor, this is completely out of order!” Gabriel shouted, his voice cracking slightly as panic broke through his veneer of corporate composure. “She’s a minor. She’s being manipulated by her soon-to-be ex-steppmother. She has no business being in a legal proceeding!”
“Sit down, Mr. Albright,” Judge Barrett said, her voice cutting through the room like cold steel. “The child approached the bench of her own accord while court was recessed. She told the bailiff she needed to tell the judge a secret about what her daddy and the mean lady did in the garage.”
Bianca’s face went chalk-white. The triumphant smirk vanished, replaced by a darting, feral look toward the side exit as if she were calculating her chances of outrunning the bailiffs.
May you like
Daisy stopped five paces from the judge’s bench. She didn't look at her father. She didn't look at Bianca. Her small chin trembled, and her large, tear-filled eyes locked directly onto Penelope.
“Mommy,” Daisy whispered, the word carrying across the dead silence of the room. “They told me not to tell. They said if I told anyone about the dark room under the stairs, bad things would happen to you and the baby.”
