Chapter 7 - The Door
I called 911 while driving.
My sister Amy locked herself and Sophie upstairs.
Rachel stood on the porch.
She did not break in.
She did something smarter.
She livestreamed.
“My husband kidnapped my daughter.”
Thousands of viewers watched.
Rachel cried into the camera.
She claimed I had manipulated doctors.
She claimed Sophie was frightened of me.
She held up printed screenshots of my supposed threats.
By the time police arrived, her video had been shared everywhere.
Rachel smiled when she saw my car.
“You wanted a record?”
She lifted her phone.
“Now we have one.”
Police arrested her for violating the protective order.
She kept filming until the phone was taken.
That night, the internet decided our family’s guilt in both directions.
Some called Rachel a monster.
Others called me controlling.
I stopped reading.
Sophie did not need a public jury.
She needed sleep.
Then a woman messaged Claire.
Her name was Melissa Grant.
She had been Rachel’s college roommate.
She wrote one sentence.
THIS IS NOT THE FIRST CHILD RACHEL HAS BEEN ACCUSED OF HURTING.
I read it twice.
Rachel had no other children.
At least none I knew about.
Melissa sent a name.
Emily Cross.
Daniel Cross’s daughter.
May you like
And suddenly Rachel’s divorce attorney was no longer just her lawyer.
