Chapter 5 - THE HOUSE THAT WASN’T SAFE ANYMORE
I didn’t answer Tove’s call.
Not yet.
I needed time.
Time to think.
Time to breathe.
Time to protect my daughter.
I took Mireya home after school.
But when we pulled into the driveway, she didn’t move.
She just stared at the house.
“Sweetheart?”
She held onto the seat belt.
“Do we have to go inside?”
That question told me everything.
Because a home should never feel like a place you need permission to enter.
I turned off the engine.
“Mireya.”
She looked at me.
“You’re safe with me.”
She nodded.
But she still looked afraid.
I walked her inside.
Tove was waiting in the kitchen.
Arms crossed.
“You ignored my calls.”
Her voice was calm.
Too calm.
“I was busy.”
Her eyes moved toward Mireya.
Then back to me.
“What did she tell you?”
The question came too quickly.
I noticed.
And for the first time…
I stopped defending her.
“What makes you think she told me something?”
Tove’s expression changed.
Only for a second.
But I saw it.
Fear.
“You’re acting strange.”
“No.”
I stepped closer.
“I’m seeing things clearly.”
She laughed softly.
“Cullen, don’t do this.”
“Do what?”
“Let a child manipulate you.”
I stared at her.
“A six-year-old?”
“Yes.”
The way she said it made my stomach turn.
“She knows exactly how to make you feel guilty.”
I looked toward Mireya.
My daughter was standing behind me.
Holding my shirt.
Then I asked the question I had been avoiding.
“Why did you throw her inhaler?”
Tove didn’t answer immediately.
That silence was an answer.
“She didn’t need it.”
“You’re not a doctor.”
“She was being dramatic.”
I felt anger rising.
But I kept my voice low.
“Her breathing was failing.”
“She was having a tantrum.”
I looked at her.
A tantrum.
That was the word she chose.
For a child fighting to breathe.
Then something happened.
Something small.
Something Tove probably didn’t notice.
Mireya stepped backward.
Away from her.
Like her body moved before her mind could stop it.
And Tove saw.
Her eyes narrowed.
“Mireya.”
The little girl froze.
“Come here.”
I immediately stepped between them.
“No.”
Tove looked at me.
“No?”
“No.”
The room went quiet.
Because for the first time in our marriage…
I was standing against her.
Not beside her.
She stared at me.
“You’re choosing her.”
I answered without hesitation.
“She’s my daughter.”
Tove’s face hardened.
Then she whispered:
“You have no idea what you’re starting.”
That sentence stayed in my mind.
Because it didn’t sound like a warning.
It sounded like a threat.
That night, after Mireya fell asleep, I searched through old security footage from our house.
I didn’t know what I was looking for.
I just knew I needed proof.
Then I found something.
A video from three weeks earlier.
The camera showed Mireya sitting alone in the living room.
Crying.
Tove walked into the frame.
She leaned down.
And whispered something into my daughter’s ear.
I turned up the volume.
May you like
And when I heard what Tove said…
I knew this was much worse than I imagined.
