Chapter 1 - The Voice on the Phone
“Pick it up and eat it.”
Vanessa kicked seventeen-month-old Noah’s chair so hard it slid backward across the polished kitchen floor.
His full plate had already been dumped beside his feet.
Chicken.
Mashed potatoes.
Green beans.
Everything scattered across the floor while Vanessa stood above him with her arms crossed.
Noah stared at the food.
His lower lip trembled.
“Please… I’m hungry.”
Vanessa pointed down.
“Dogs only eat bones.”
That was the moment Daniel Miller walked through the front door.
He stopped.
His son was crouched beside food on the floor.
Vanessa was standing over him.
Daniel crossed the room in three strides.
He knocked Vanessa’s hand away and shoved himself between her and Noah.
“Don’t touch my son!”
Vanessa stumbled against the dining table.
Daniel immediately dropped to his knees.
“Noah.”
The little boy threw both arms around his father’s neck.
Daniel felt how violently he was shaking.
“I’ve got you.”
Noah pressed his wet face against Daniel’s shirt.
Then he whispered something Daniel almost didn’t understand.
“She said Mommy left because of me.”
Daniel froze.
Slowly, he looked over his shoulder.
Vanessa’s face changed.
“What did he say?” Daniel asked.
Vanessa rolled her eyes.
“He’s a baby.”
“He said you told him his mother left because of him.”
“I said no such thing.”
Noah clung tighter.
Daniel was about to stand when the landline rang.
Once.
Twice.
Vanessa’s eyes snapped toward it.
Daniel noticed.
He reached across the counter and pressed SPEAKER.
“Hello?”
There was breathing.
Then a woman’s exhausted voice came through.
“Daniel?”
His entire body went cold.
The voice was weak.
But unmistakable.
“Please don’t hang up.”
Noah lifted his head.
His eyes widened.
“Mommy.”
Daniel stopped breathing.
His wife, Emily, had disappeared six months earlier.
Vanessa had told him Emily abandoned them.
Police had found no body.
No bank activity.
No phone.
Nothing.
And now her voice was coming through his kitchen.
“Emily?” Daniel whispered.
Vanessa turned white.
The woman on the line started crying.
“Daniel… don’t let Vanessa know where I am.”
Daniel looked directly at his wife’s sister.
Vanessa took one step backward.
Then another.
And for the first time in six months, Daniel understood something terrifying.
May you like
Emily hadn’t abandoned her family.
Someone had made Daniel believe she had.
