Chapter 1 - THE KENNEL
The padlock broke on the second strike.
I yanked open the kennel and Emily flew into my arms, barefoot, bruised, and shaking so hard I could barely hold her.
“Who the hell locked my daughter in here?!”
Mrs. Harris stood at the fence in her wool coat and slippers, the neighbor who had called me after hearing a child cry for two nights.
Emily looked past me toward the murky pool.
“Dad... don’t go there.”
Three black garbage bags rested beneath the water.
I carried her away from the kennel, but she clung to my shirt.
“He said if you saw them, you’d never come home again.”
A shadow moved behind the second-floor curtain. Only one shoulder and a hand appeared. The heavy black ring identified Jason Brooks.
I hooked the nearest bag with the pool net. Something struck from inside.
Emily screamed.
I dragged it onto the concrete and tore away the tape.
Inside was a child-sized air cylinder connected to a mechanical pusher and a speaker. A phone beside it turned on automatically.
The video showed Emily inside the kennel while Jason ordered her to tell me the bags contained bodies. A woman behind the camera warned him not to damage Emily’s face because they still needed custody photographs.
A file appeared:
MICHAEL CARTER — VIOLENT RECOVERY RESPONSE.
The entire backyard was a trap designed to record my rage and make me look dangerous enough to lose custody.
I put down the net, kept my hands visible, and called 911.
Then a woman appeared behind the upstairs glass holding another child.
Same height. Same hoodie. Same face as Emily.
Jason’s voice came through the speakers.
May you like
“One daughter leaves this house. You decide which one.”
Read Chapter 2 to discover why another girl had been made to look exactly like Emily.
