Chapter 1
I came home from a business trip two days early and found my 4-year-old daughter on her knees, eating scraps from the dog's tray while my wife and her son ate pizza at the table. Then Lily looked at me and whispered, “Daddy, please don't make me stay here tonight.”
For a second, I couldn't move.
Lily's knees were red against the cold kitchen floor.
“Daddy!”
She dropped the plastic dog tray and ran toward me.
My wife, Vanessa, shot out of her chair.
“Michael, you're home early.”
I picked Lily up and felt her trembling against my chest.
“Why was my daughter eating from the dog's tray?”
Vanessa folded her arms. “Don't start before you know what happened.”
Her 7-year-old son, Aiden, kept eating his pizza without looking at me.
I pointed at the open pizza box.
“They're eating dinner, and Lily is eating leftovers on the floor?”
“She wasted her lunch,” Vanessa snapped. “I'm teaching her not to be spoiled.”
Lily buried her face in my shoulder.
“I said I was hungry.”
Something inside me broke.
“What did you make her kneel for?”
Vanessa rolled her eyes. “Michael, she's dramatic.”
I stepped closer. “Answer me.”
“She needed discipline.”
I slapped Vanessa across the face before I could stop myself.
The entire kitchen went silent.
Vanessa stared at me, shocked.
“You hit me over her?”
“Over my four-year-old daughter being treated worse than the dog.”
Aiden suddenly pushed his pizza away.
“Mom said Lily isn't really family.”
Vanessa's face changed instantly.
“Aiden, go upstairs.”
He didn't move.
I looked at him. “What else did she say?”
Vanessa grabbed his arm.
“Nothing. He's seven.”
But Lily lifted her head from my shoulder.
“She makes me sleep in the laundry room when you're gone.”
My stomach dropped.
I hadn't even known there was a blanket in there.
Then Aiden whispered, “That's not the worst thing.”
Vanessa turned white.
“Aiden.”
He looked straight at me.
“Mom has a box under her bed with Lily's name on it... and she told Grandma that once you signed the papers, Lily wouldn't live here anymore.”
I slowly turned toward Vanessa.
“What papers?”
May you like
She backed away from me.
And that was when someone knocked hard on our front door.
