Chapter 1 - THE CAGE
Noah screamed my name before I even reached the back door.
“DADDY!”
I froze.
It wasn’t the normal cry of a seven-year-old who had scraped his knee or lost a toy.
It was raw.
Terrified.
The kind of scream that tells a parent something is already terribly wrong.
I dropped the grocery bags.
A jar of pasta sauce hit the tile and exploded across the kitchen floor.
“Noah?”
Another scream came from the backyard.
Then silence.
I ran.
Through the glass door, I saw Vanessa dragging my son across the patio by the back of his shirt, one hand tangled in his hair.
Noah kicked wildly.
“Stop! Please! Dad!”
And then I saw where she was taking him.
An old iron dog cage.
The one the previous owner had left behind the shed.
My chest locked.
Vanessa shoved Noah inside.
She closed the metal door.
Then she turned the latch.
For one impossible second, I couldn’t move.
Noah was curled inside that cage with one sneaker missing. His knees were pressed to his chest. Tears covered his face.
A stainless-steel dog bowl sat beside him.
It was filled with dry kibble.
Vanessa stood over him.
Smiling.
I threw open the glass door so hard it slammed against the wall.
“What the hell are you doing?”
Vanessa turned slowly.
Her smile didn’t disappear.
“He needed to learn his place.”
I stared at her.
“What did you just say?”
“He’s been disrespectful all day.”
“He’s seven.”
“He’s old enough to understand consequences.”
Noah grabbed the bars.
“Daddy…”
His voice broke.
“Help me.”
Something inside me snapped.
I crossed the patio in three steps.
Vanessa moved in front of the cage.
“Daniel, don’t.”
“Move.”
“You’re going to ruin everything I’ve been trying to teach him.”
“MOVE.”
She saw my face and stepped aside.
My hands shook so badly I could barely lift the latch.
“Noah, I’m here.”
I opened the cage.
He crawled toward me.
Then I saw something beside his bare foot.
A black plastic rectangle.
Small.
Thin.
Half-hidden under a dirty towel.
At first, I thought it was an old phone.
Then I noticed the tiny blinking red light.
I picked it up.
Vanessa’s face changed instantly.
The color drained from her cheeks.
“Give me that.”
I looked at the device.
Then at her.
“What is this?”
She lunged for it.
I pulled it away.
“Daniel.”
Her voice was different now.
No anger.
No confidence.
Fear.
“Give it to me.”
Noah grabbed my shirt.
“Daddy…”
I looked down.
He whispered something so quietly I almost didn’t hear it.
“She talks to the camera when you’re gone.”
I slowly turned toward Vanessa.
“What camera?”
And that was when I heard a voice coming from the device in my hand.
A man’s voice.
“Vanessa?”
She stopped breathing.
The voice came again.
“Vanessa, are you there?”
I looked at her.
May you like
She looked at the gate.
And then she ran.
