Chapter 2 - THE RULES

I jumped to my feet.

“Stay here.”

Lily grabbed my wrist.

“Dad, don’t.”

The panic in her voice stopped me harder than a locked door ever could.

“It’s okay.”

“No, it isn’t.”

Those three words came from my eight-year-old like she had been waiting years to say them.

I crouched again.

“Tell me what you mean.”

She shook her head.

“Not while she’s here.”

Another crash came from downstairs.

Claire shouted my name.

“Daniel!”

Noah crawled behind Lily.

I made a decision.

Not a good decision.

Not a bad decision.

Just the only one that mattered.

I grabbed my car keys.

“Put your shoes on.”

Lily stared at me.

“Where are we going?”

“Aunt Megan’s.”

Noah whispered, “Is Mom coming?”

“No.”

The relief on his face made me sick.

We moved fast.

I shoved clothes into a duffel bag. Chargers. Toothbrushes. Noah’s stuffed dinosaur. Lily’s inhaler.

I opened the bedroom door.

Claire was halfway up the stairs.

“Where are you going?”

“Move.”

She looked at the bag.

Her eyes sharpened.

“You’re not taking my children.”

“They’re my children too.”

“You’re being insane.”

I walked the kids behind me.

Claire blocked the stairs.

“Daniel.”

“Move.”

“This is ridiculous.”

“Move.”

“You want to destroy this family over one stupid mistake?”

Lily whispered behind me.

“It wasn’t one.”

Claire heard her.

Her entire face changed.

“Lily.”

One word.

Soft.

Almost sweet.

Lily froze.

Claire smiled.

“Come here, honey.”

Lily grabbed the back of my shirt.

Claire’s smile disappeared.

“Lily. Now.”

I stepped forward.

“Don’t talk to her like that.”

Claire looked at me with pure hatred.

“You have no idea what they’re like when you’re gone.”

“No,” I said. “Apparently I don’t.”

I pushed past her.

She grabbed my arm.

I looked down at her hand.

Then up at her.

“Take your hand off me.”

She did.

Not because she was afraid of me.

Because Lily was watching.

We got outside.

Claire followed us onto the porch.

“You leave with them, don’t bother coming back!”

I buckled Noah in.

Lily climbed into the other side.

Claire kept shouting.

“You hear me, Daniel?”

I shut the door.

Then Lily said something through the open window.

“We know.”

Claire stopped.

I looked at Lily.

“What does that mean?”

Lily stared straight ahead.

“Nothing.”

But Claire’s face had gone pale.

We drove away.

Ten minutes passed before Noah spoke.

“Are we allowed to talk now?”

I gripped the steering wheel.

“You’re always allowed to talk.”

“No,” he said. “I mean about home.”

I looked at him in the mirror.

“Yes.”

He glanced at Lily.

She shook her head.

“Noah.”

“What?” he said.

“We promised.”

I pulled into an empty church parking lot and stopped the car.

“What promise?”

Silence.

I turned around.

“What promise?”

Lily started crying.

Finally.

Hard, shaking sobs.

“She said if we told you, she’d make you leave.”

I felt numb.

“She told you I would leave?”

“No.”

Lily wiped her face.

“She said she’d make you leave.”

“How?”

Lily looked down.

“She said she knew how to make people believe things.”

My hands went cold.

“What things?”

Noah answered.

“That you hurt us.”

I stared at him.

“What?”

“She said if we ever told, she’d tell everybody you did it.”

Lily nodded.

“She made us practice.”

“Practice what?”

Lily looked at me.

Her eyes were full of shame that never should have belonged to her.

“What to say if a police officer asked.”

Then Noah whispered:

“We had rules.”

“How many?”

He held up both hands.

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