Chapter 4 - THE POLICE AT THE DOOR
Grant looked toward the windows.
“You called the police?”
Caroline answered.
“I did.”
He turned toward Mom.
“You see what she did?”
Mom looked confused.
“What who did?”
“Emma.”
I almost couldn’t believe him.
“You think I called them?”
“You started this.”
Sophie pressed against me.
The doorbell rang.
Then a knock.
“Police.”
Grant took one step toward me.
William moved between us.
“Don’t.”
Grant’s face burned red.
Two officers entered after Caroline opened the door.
Officer Ramirez spoke first.
“We received a report regarding possible domestic violence and medical neglect involving minors.”
Grant immediately transformed.
His shoulders dropped.
His voice softened.
He became the charming man everyone outside our home knew.
“Officer, this is a misunderstanding.”
Ramirez glanced toward my swollen ankle.
“Is it?”
Grant smiled sadly.
“My stepdaughter has been struggling since her father died.”
The room spun.
Dad.
He always used Dad when he needed to make me look unstable.
My father, Michael Carter, had died in a construction accident four years earlier.
Grant entered our lives eleven months later.
Within a year, he married Mom.
Within two, I barely recognized her.
Ramirez turned toward me.
“How did you hurt your ankle?”
Grant answered.
“She slipped.”
Ramirez held up one hand.
“I asked her.”
I swallowed.
“Grant pushed me.”
Mom gasped.
“Emma.”
I looked at her.
“What?”
“You fell.”
“No.”
She shook her head.
“You were angry.”
“I was angry because he hid Sophie’s medicine.”
Ramirez looked at Sophie.
Her partner, Officer Hayes, crouched nearby.
“Sophie, do you feel safe here?”
The question changed everything.
My sister stared at Grant.
Then at Mom.
Then at me.
Grant smiled.
“Of course she does.”
Sophie whispered, “Sometimes.”
Ramirez’s expression hardened.
“Sometimes?”
Sophie nodded.
“When he’s not mad.”
Grant laughed.
“Children say things.”
William spoke from behind him.
“I have an audio recording.”
Grant spun around.
“You secretly recorded me in my own home?”
“I recorded from the porch.”
Grant looked at the officers.
“That’s illegal.”
Ramirez didn’t react.
“Let us worry about that.”
William handed her his phone.
A moment later, Grant’s voice filled the room.
“You two just destroyed my life.”
Then mine.
“You hid her medicine.”
Then Grant again.
“I was protecting this family!”
Then Mom shouting his name.
A loud impact.
Sophie screaming.
The recording stopped.
Ramirez looked at Mom.
“Did he push you?”
She stared at the floor.
“No.”
I felt something break inside me.
Not surprise.
Hope.
Officer Hayes asked me to sit.
He examined my ankle.
“You need an X-ray.”
“I’m okay.”
“No, you’re not.”
Grant laughed bitterly.
“Everyone suddenly cares about Emma.”
I looked at him.
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
He stared back.
Then smiled.
It was a strange smile.
Too calm.
“You really want to do this?”
“Do what?”
“Tell the truth?”
My skin went cold.
Grant looked at Mom.
“Because if we’re telling the truth tonight…”
Mom’s face drained of color.
“Grant, don’t.”
He turned toward me.
“…then maybe Emma deserves to know what really happened to her father.”
Nobody moved.
I forgot about my ankle.
Forgot about the police.
May you like
Forgot about everything.
“What did you just say?”
