Chapter 2
I gave Sophia bread before I asked another question.
Vanessa laughed.
“Of course.”
I looked at her.
“What?”
“She cries and suddenly everyone feeds her.”
Sophia froze with the bread halfway to her mouth.
That told me more than Vanessa intended.
I crouched.
“Eat.”
Sophia looked at Vanessa first.
Not me.
Permission.
From the woman who had starved her.
I moved between them.
“You never need her permission to eat.”
Sophia took one bite.
Then another.
Too quickly.
Maria started crying.
“I packed meals every morning.”
Vanessa rolled her eyes.
“And she kept wasting expensive food.”
Maria turned.
“You hid them.”
“I controlled portions.”
“She is three!”
Vanessa smiled coldly.
“Then maybe her mother should earn enough to feed her somewhere else.”
Maria flinched.
Grant laughed from the floor.
“There. Problem solved.”
I looked at him.
“Stay down.”
His smile faded.
I returned to the security archive.
Five days.
Vanessa taking Sophia’s breakfast.
Vanessa throwing lunch away.
Vanessa holding up bread while the child cried.
“If Mommy finishes every room before midnight, maybe you eat.”
Another clip.
Sophia whispered:
“I’m thirsty.”
Vanessa poured water into the sink.
“People who snoop don’t get rewards.”
I stopped the footage.
“Snoop?”
Vanessa said nothing.
Maria looked terrified.
“What did Sophia see?”
Grant stood slowly.
“Children see things constantly.”
“What?”
“Things they don’t understand.”
Vanessa smiled at Sophia.
“You remember what happens when little girls tell stories?”
Sophia dropped the bread.
I stood.
“Speak to her again.”
Vanessa raised an eyebrow.
“Or what?”
I didn’t answer.
She looked away first.
I continued through the archive.
Then Grant’s voice appeared on a clip from two nights earlier.
He entered the kitchen after midnight.
Vanessa whispered:
“Daniel won’t be back until Friday.”
Grant answered:
“Good. That gives us four more days.”
My hand stopped.
I had told only five people when I was coming home.
Not Vanessa.
Not Grant.
I looked at them.
“How did you know my schedule?”
Grant’s face changed.
May you like
And Maria whispered:
“That’s what they were trying to make Sophia forget.”
