Chapter 1 - The Man at the Door
The leather belt cracked against the kitchen table.
Ethan flinched so hard his shoulder hit the cabinet.
Broken glass glittered beside his sneakers. Green paint and water spread across the tile where a jar had fallen.
Gary raised the belt again.
“Look what you did!”
Nine-year-old Ethan backed away.
“I’m sorry!”
Brooke ran into the kitchen.
She saw the belt.
Saw her little brother shaking.
And saw their mother standing in the doorway doing absolutely nothing.
“Stay away from my little brother!”
Brooke kicked the wooden chair Gary had been slamming against the wall, forcing him backward.
Gary spun toward her.
“You think you’re tough?”
He lifted the belt.
Ethan cried:
“I’m scared! Stop it!”
Brooke stepped between them.
Gary advanced.
“I’m going to teach this brat a lesson.”
Brooke shoved him hard enough to send him into the edge of the table.
“Don’t you dare touch him.”
Then she looked at her mother.
“Mom?”
Her mother’s face was strangely calm.
That frightened Brooke more than Gary.
“You’re just going to stand there?”
Before she could answer, Gary grabbed Brooke’s jacket.
Then the phone on the table rang.
Everyone froze.
Brooke snatched it first.
“Hello?”
A man’s voice said:
“Brooke? Listen carefully. Don’t sign anything your mother gives you.”
Brooke’s blood went cold.
“How do you know my name?”
Three hard knocks struck the front door.
Gary turned pale.
So did Brooke’s mother.
The doorknob slowly turned.
The door opened several inches.
A tall man stood in the hallway.
Brooke had never seen him before.
But her mother whispered one word.
“No.”
The man looked past her toward Gary.
Then at Ethan hiding behind Brooke.
His expression hardened.
“Stay away from the kids.”
Gary released Brooke immediately.
Brooke stared at the stranger.
“Who are you?”
The man looked at her mother.
“She never told you?”
Her mother’s face drained of color.
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And suddenly Brooke realized the stranger wasn’t frightening Gary because he was dangerous.
He was frightening them because he knew something.
