Chapter 1 - The Knock at the Door
“GET AWAY FROM MY LITTLE BROTHER!”
I didn’t think.
I ran.
Gary had a leather belt in one hand and had just slammed a wooden chair against the kitchen wall hard enough to send crayons rolling across the floor.
Ethan was backed against the counter.
Nine years old.
Barely breathing.
Broken glass glittered beside his sneakers.
Green paint had spilled across the tile.
Gary snapped the belt down against the table.
CRACK.
Ethan flinched.
“Please stop! I’m scared!”
I kicked Gary hard enough to knock him sideways.
He turned toward me.
His face changed.
“You little—”
He raised the belt.
I stepped in front of Ethan.
“You’re not touching my brother.”
Gary came toward me.
Behind him, Mom stood in the doorway.
Watching.
That was the part I couldn’t understand.
“Mom!”
Nothing.
Her hands stayed folded in front of her cream cardigan.
Gary pointed at Ethan.
“This brat needs to learn a lesson!”
“He’s nine!”
“He destroyed my stuff!”
I looked at the broken glass.
The spilled green paint.
The chair.
Whatever Ethan had done could be cleaned.
The fear on his face couldn’t.
Gary grabbed the front of my hoodie.
“Stay out of this.”
Then the phone on the kitchen table started ringing.
Everyone froze.
Not because phones ring.
Because Mom’s face went white.
Gary slowly released my hoodie.
The phone vibrated again.
I grabbed it before he could.
Unknown number.
I answered.
“Hello?”
Nobody spoke for two seconds.
Then a man’s voice said:
“Brooke?”
My stomach tightened.
“Yes?”
“Are you and Ethan inside?”
I looked at Gary.
He was staring at the phone like it was a loaded weapon.
“Who is this?”
Before the man answered—
KNOCK.
KNOCK.
KNOCK.
Three sharp knocks at the front door.
Mom whispered:
“No.”
Gary backed away from me.
The doorknob slowly turned.
Then the man on the phone said:
“Keep your hands off those kids.”
The front door began opening.
I pulled Ethan behind me.
A tall man in a dark navy jacket stepped into the hallway.
Gary’s face drained completely.
Mom grabbed the doorframe.
I stared at the stranger.
He looked at Ethan first.
Then me.
And his eyes filled with something I never expected.
Recognition.
“Brooke,” he whispered.
May you like
I had never seen him before.
But apparently, he knew exactly who I was.
