Chapter 4
Dad did not show me the message at first.
I saw it anyway.
The words glowed on his phone in the dark bedroom.
You took my daughter. Now I’ll take your son.
My stomach turned cold.
Dad locked the screen quickly.
But it was too late.
“Is she coming back?” I whispered.
“No.”
His answer came too fast.
Dad saw that I did not believe him.
He sat on the edge of my bed and took both my hands.
“Listen to me, Ethan. I will not let Amanda near you.”
“What about Lily?”
“She won’t take Lily either.”
“But she’s Lily’s mom.”
Pain crossed his face.
“I know.”
That was the hard part.
Amanda was cruel to me.
But Lily still loved her.
Or loved the version of her she kept waiting for.
The mom who sang bedtime songs when Dad was home.
The mom who braided her hair gently before school.
The mom who became someone else when no one was watching.
Kids can love people who scare them.
I knew that before I knew multiplication.
Dad called Officer Grant.
Then his lawyer.
Then he walked through the house checking every window and lock.
Claire slept in Lily’s room.
Dad slept in the chair outside my door.
I woke three times that night.
Each time, he was still there.
The next morning, Amanda filed for emergency custody.
Not of Lily.
Of me.
Dad read the papers at the kitchen table and went so still that Claire took them from his hand.
“What?” I asked.
No one answered.
I hated when adults did that.
Lily sat beside me, clutching a cereal spoon.
Claire looked at Dad.
“She’s claiming Daniel is unstable and that Ethan made false allegations because he resents his stepfamily.”
My spoon dropped into my bowl.
Milk splashed.
“I didn’t lie.”
Dad came to me instantly.
“I know.”
Claire kept reading, face pale.
“She says Ethan is emotionally disturbed, food aggressive, and dangerous around Lily.”
Lily screamed.
“He is not!”
Dad pulled both of us close.
Amanda had left the house, but her voice had found another way in.
Through papers.
Through lies.
Through words adults might believe because they were typed neatly.
Dad’s lawyer, Ms. Romero, arrived that afternoon.
She was small, sharp, and carried a briefcase that looked older than me.
She sat across from us in the living room.
“Ethan,” she said gently, “I need to ask you some questions.”
Dad stiffened.
Ms. Romero looked at him.
“Daniel, if we want the court to hear him, we need to know what he can say.”
I looked at Dad.
He nodded, but his eyes were wet.
Ms. Romero asked about food.
About punishments.
About the laundry room.
About school lunches.
About whether Amanda ever hit me.
I answered as much as I could.
Sometimes my voice stopped working.
Lily filled in pieces.
“She made him stand by the table while we ate dessert.”
“She told him his mom left because he was hard to love.”
“She said Daddy would send him away if he complained.”
Dad stood suddenly and walked out.
I heard something break in the hallway.
Claire followed him.
Ms. Romero waited.
She did not rush me.
Finally Dad came back.
His eyes were red.
“I’m sorry,” he whispered.
I did not want his sorry.
I wanted the last year back.
I wanted every dinner where I watched food pass me by.
I wanted to be small without being scared.
Ms. Romero placed a folder on the table.
“We have the recordings. We have Lily’s statement. We have medical concerns. Ethan needs to see a doctor today.”
“Why?” I asked.
Dad’s face crumpled.
“To make sure your body is okay.”
I wanted to say I was fine.
But I was tired of helping adults feel better by pretending.
So I nodded.
At the clinic, the doctor weighed me.
Measured me.
Checked my arms, my ribs, my blood pressure.
Dad stood in the corner like a man being punished.
The doctor’s face was kind.
Too kind.
That made me scared.
She said words like underweight and nutritional neglect.
Dad closed his eyes.
Lily sat in the waiting room with Claire.
When I came out, she ran to me.
“Are you sick?”
“No.”
“Promise?”
I looked at Dad.
He knelt beside us.
“We are going to help Ethan get strong again.”
Lily nodded seriously.
“I’ll eat noodles too.”
I almost smiled.
Dad kissed her hair.
“No, sweetheart. Nobody has to suffer to make it fair.”
That evening, Ms. Patel came back.
She spoke with Lily alone.
Lily cried afterward for a long time.
Not because Ms. Patel was mean.
Because truth hurts when you say it out loud.
The emergency hearing was set for Friday.
Three days away.
Dad said Amanda could not come near the house until then.
But the next day, at school pickup, Amanda was there.
She stood by the gate wearing sunglasses and a soft pink sweater.
Like a mother from a picture book.
Lily saw her first.
“Mom?”
Amanda opened her arms.
“Baby.”
Lily took one step.
I grabbed her hand.
Amanda’s smile froze.
“Ethan,” she said sweetly. “Let go of your sister.”
My skin went cold.
“She’s not supposed to be here.”
Amanda crouched.
“Lily, honey, come to Mommy. Your father is confused right now.”
Lily began to shake.
“I want Daddy.”
Amanda’s face twitched.
Then she looked at me.
Low enough that only I could hear, she said, “This is your fault.”
A black car stopped behind her.
Vivian stepped out.
Two men followed.
I backed up, pulling Lily with me.
Amanda reached into her purse.
For a moment, I thought she had a weapon.
Instead, she pulled out a paper.
A court order.
“I have temporary visitation,” she said loudly.
The teacher at the gate hesitated.
Amanda smiled.
“Hand me my daughter.”
May you like
Then Vivian pointed at me.
“And that boy too.”
