Chapter 2
My father didn't touch his food that night.
He stood beside my chair, staring at Vanessa as though he had never seen her before.
“What cabinet?” he asked.
Vanessa folded her arms.
“I have no idea what you're talking about.”
Dad held up his phone.
“You just said I wasn't supposed to find something.”
“I said no such thing.”
I watched them argue while my fresh dinner grew cold.
I wanted to eat, but my stomach had twisted into a painful knot.
Whenever Vanessa became angry, I tried to predict what she would do next. I had learned to study the smallest changes in her face.
The tightening around her mouth.
The way she tapped her fingers against the table.
The smile that appeared just before she said something cruel.
Right now, she was doing all three.
Dad noticed me trembling.
He immediately turned away from Vanessa and crouched beside my chair.
“Baby, look at me.”
I lifted my eyes.
“You're not in trouble. Do you understand?”
I nodded.
He brushed a tear from my cheek.
“Finish your dinner. I'm staying home tonight.”
Those words made me want to cry again.
I had missed him so much.
For months, I had waited for him to notice that something was wrong. Whenever I tried to explain, Vanessa found a way to interrupt me.
Sometimes she told him I was misbehaving.
Other times, she claimed I was having nightmares because I missed my mother.
Dad believed her because he thought she was helping me adjust to life without my mom.
I didn't know how to explain that Vanessa was the reason I cried myself to sleep.
After dinner, Dad sent me upstairs to change into my pajamas.
I hesitated at the bottom of the staircase.
“Will you come check on me?”
He looked at me.
“Of course.”
“Even if Vanessa says I don't need you?”
His face went still.
“Especially then.”
I climbed the stairs.
When I reached my bedroom, I changed quickly and climbed beneath my blanket.
I could hear my father and Vanessa arguing downstairs.
Their voices rose and fell, but I couldn't make out every word.
Then I heard Vanessa say, “You are destroying this marriage over a child's tantrum.”
Dad answered, “I'm trying to understand why my daughter is afraid of you.”
Silence followed.
Then a door slammed.
I pulled the blanket over my head.
A few minutes later, Dad knocked softly.
“May I come in?”
I sat up.
He entered carrying a glass of water and my favorite stuffed rabbit.
He placed both beside my bed.
Then he sat on the edge of the mattress.
“Maya, I need you to tell me something. Have you been eating normally when I'm away?”
I stared at the rabbit.
“No.”
His breathing changed.
“What happens?”
Vanessa had warned me that if I told Dad about the food, he would become stressed and lose his job.
She said he worked so hard because of me.
She said a good daughter didn't make her father choose between his career and his wife.
But Dad was waiting.
So I told him.
I explained how Vanessa sometimes gave me leftovers after she finished eating. On other days, she said I had been disrespectful and made me sit at the table until everyone else finished.
Sometimes she locked the pantry.
Sometimes she told me that if I complained, she would send me to live somewhere else.
Dad listened without interrupting.
When I finished, he looked as though every word had hurt him.
“Why didn't you tell me sooner?”
I began to cry.
“I tried.”
He closed his eyes.
“I know, sweetheart. I'm sorry.”
He pulled me into his arms.
I buried my face against his shoulder and cried harder than I had in months.
He didn't tell me to stop.
He didn't tell me I was being dramatic.
He simply held me until I could breathe normally again.
That night, he slept in the armchair beside my bed.
When I woke up before sunrise, he was still there.
For the first time in a long time, I didn't feel afraid to open my eyes.
But the feeling didn't last.
At breakfast, Vanessa appeared wearing a cream blouse and perfectly styled hair.
She placed a plate of pancakes in front of me.
“Good morning, sweetheart.”
I froze.
She had never called me sweetheart before breakfast.
Dad watched her carefully.
“Sit down, Vanessa.”
She smiled.
“Of course, darling.”
He placed his phone on the table.
“I want to know about the message I received last night.”
Vanessa reached for her coffee.
“Someone is trying to cause trouble between us.”
“Then you won't mind if we check the cabinet in your bedroom.”
Her hand stopped.
Only for a second.
But Dad noticed.
“What cabinet?” she asked.
“The locked one.”
Vanessa put down her cup.
“You have no right to search through my personal belongings.”
Dad's expression hardened.
“Not when my daughter's safety is involved?”
She stood abruptly.
“This is unbelievable.”
She turned toward me.
“Are you happy now, Maya?”
I shrank back in my chair.
Dad immediately stepped between us.
“Do not speak to her like that.”
Vanessa stared at him.
Then she laughed bitterly.
“You have no idea what you've started.”
She stormed upstairs.
Dad waited until her footsteps disappeared before looking at me.
“Stay here, baby.”
He followed her.
I sat at the table, listening.
A door opened.
Something heavy scraped across the floor.
Then Vanessa screamed.
“Ryan, don't touch that!”
May you like
My father answered in a voice I had never heard before.
“What the hell is this?”
