Chapter 1 - The Shattered Glass
The echo of the baseball bat hitting the floor rattled the quiet room.
Mark held his daughter tightly against his chest.
Her body trembled with a violence that terrified him.
Lily’s small hands clung to the fabric of his grey t-shirt.
"Daddy, help us..." she sobbed again.
Her voice was barely a whisper.
It was cut short by a choked gasp.
Mark looked up from the bruised arm of his six-year-old daughter.
His eyes locked onto his wife, Sarah.
Sarah stood frozen near the coffee table.
Her face was drained of all color.
Her chest heaved as she stared at the heavy wooden bat on the rug.
"What did you do?" Mark choked out.
His voice was thick with tears and sudden rage.
Sarah took a slow step backward.
Her hands hovered in the air as if trying to push the scene away.
"Mark, listen to me..." Sarah stammered.
"It’s not what it looks like," she whispered.
"Not what it looks like?!" Mark screamed.
The sudden roar made both young girls flinch.
Emma, the eight-year-old sister, curled deeper into the corner of the sofa.
She kept her eyes glued to the floor.
She was shaking too hard to speak.
Mark pulled Lily closer.
He examined the dark purple blotches marking her pale skin.
These were not fresh injuries from a fall.
These were deep, brutal contusions.
"You raised a bat at them, Sarah!" Mark bellowed.
Tears streamed down his face.
"My own wife... my own children..." he muttered to himself.
"Mark, you don't understand what's happening!" Sarah shouted back.
Her panic rapidly shifted into something colder.
Her eyes darted toward the open glass sliding doors behind him.
"You were supposed to be at work," Sarah said.
Her voice lost its tremble.
It became unnaturally steady.
Mark stood up slowly.
He kept Lily behind his legs.
"I forgot my laptop," Mark said softly.
"Thank God I forgot my laptop," he added.
Sarah swallowed hard.
She looked at the corner of the room.
Mark followed her gaze.
A small black device was blinking quietly on top of the bookshelf.
It was a motion sensor camera.
One he had never installed.
"What is that?" Mark asked, stepping forward.
Sarah immediately rushed to block him.
"Don't touch that!" she commanded.
Mark pushed past her without hesitation.
He grabbed the small device off the shelf.
It wasn't a standard home security camera.
It was a specialized wireless transmitter.
"Who are you broadcasting to, Sarah?" Mark asked, his voice shaking.
Sarah didn't answer.
Instead, she walked calmly toward the kitchen counter.
She picked up her phone.
Mark grabbed his own phone from his pocket.
"I'm calling 911," Mark declared.
He dialed the digits with trembling thumbs.
Sarah didn't try to stop him.
A cold smile touched the corner of her lips.
"Go ahead, Mark," she said quietly.
"Tell them everything."
Mark pressed the phone to his ear.
The line began to ring.
Ring.
Ring.
Then a voice answered on the line.
It wasn't the police dispatcher.
It was a man's deep, calm voice.
"We knew you'd come back early, Mark," the man said.
Mark froze.
He looked from the phone to Sarah.
Sarah stared back at him with emotionless eyes.
"Who is this?!" Mark demanded.
"Look at your front door, Mark," the voice replied.
May you like
The sound of heavy boots echoed from the porch outside.
The front door knob began to turn.
