“He adopted me not out of kindness, Mom,” she cried, looking up at me with eyes full of a heartbreaking, agonizing truth. “He kept me close because he knew I was the only witness, and keeping me under his roof was the only way to keep me silent. But I couldn’t carry it anymore. Today, looking at that pie… looking at you crying over a ghost he helped create… I couldn’t live another day pretending he is an innocent man.”
Before I could process the terrifying weight of her words, the sharp, familiar sound of tires crunching on the gravel driveway outside pierced the silence of the house.
The front door unlocking clicked with chilling finality.
Daniel’s heavy footsteps echoed in the hallway.
