Chapter 1 - Enough MoneyKaylee heard Mason crying before Tara’s hand came down again.
She twisted her body and wrapped herself tighter around her seven-year-old brother.
“Mom, please!”
Mason buried his face against Kaylee’s shoulder.
At eleven, Kaylee was not big enough to shield anyone.
She did it anyway.
Tara stood over them in the corner of the living room, breathing hard, her jaw tight with rage.
The upscale house looked almost beautiful around them.
Cream-colored walls.
Tall windows.
A polished coffee table.
A vase of white flowers.
Anyone walking past outside would have seen the kind of home people associated with money.
They would not have seen two children crouched beside the bookcase.
They would not have heard Tara shouting.
“You know how much you were supposed to bring home!”
Kaylee flinched as Tara struck toward them again.
The blow landed against Kaylee’s shoulder.
Mason screamed.
“Stop!” Kaylee cried. “Don’t hit Mason anymore!”
“Then maybe he should learn to work harder.”
“He tried!”
Tara stared down at them.
“Where is the rest?”
Kaylee’s throat tightened.
They had brought home one hundred and forty-three dollars.
Tara had demanded two hundred.
They had spent six hours walking through neighborhoods selling candy bars and cheap coupon booklets Tara called “community fundraising.”
Some people gave them five dollars without taking anything.
One elderly woman gave Mason twenty and asked where their parents were.
Kaylee had lied.
“Our mom’s waiting in the car.”
Tara had actually been three streets away drinking coffee.
Now fifty-seven dollars had become the most important thing in the room.
“We’ll get enough tomorrow,” Kaylee sobbed. “I promise.”
“You promised yesterday.”
“We’ll stay longer.”
Mason clung tighter.
“I’m sorry, Mommy.”
Tara’s eyes moved toward him.
Kaylee immediately shifted to block him.
Tara raised her hand.
Then—
The front door burst open.
Everyone froze.
Gerald stood in the doorway.
Kaylee had not seen her grandfather in almost four months.
He wore a dark coat despite the mild afternoon and held several sheets of paper in one hand.
His expression was calm.
Terrifyingly calm.
“Tara.”
Tara slowly lowered her arm.
“What are you doing here?”
Gerald stepped inside.
“Enough.”
That one word changed the room.
Kaylee looked up through her tears.
Gerald had always frightened her a little.
He rarely shouted.
He never needed to.
When he spoke, Tara usually listened.
But today his gaze went first to Kaylee.
Then Mason.
Then the red marks beginning to show on Kaylee’s arm.
Something in his face softened.
Or seemed to.
“What happened?” he asked.
Tara laughed.
“Don’t start.”
Gerald raised the papers.
“I’m not starting anything.”
Tara stared at them.
“What is that?”
“An emergency temporary custody order.”
Her face changed.
Kaylee did not understand the words.
Mason whispered, “What’s custody?”
Gerald answered without looking away from Tara.
“It means you’re coming with me.”
Tara crossed the room.
“You can’t just walk in here and steal my children.”
“I’m not stealing anyone.”
Gerald held the first page toward her.
“A judge granted temporary physical custody to me pending a full hearing.”
“You went to court behind my back?”
“I went to court after receiving evidence that you were endangering them.”
Tara’s expression flickered.
Not confusion.
Fear.
Gerald noticed.
“You don’t get to take them anywhere anymore.”
Tara lowered her voice.
“You have no idea what you’re doing.”
“I know exactly what I’m doing.”
For several seconds they simply stared at one another.
Kaylee felt Mason trembling.
Then Gerald looked toward them.
“Come here.”
Kaylee hesitated.
Gerald crouched a few feet away.
His voice softened.
“You’re safe now.”
Safe.
Kaylee had imagined that word so many times she had almost stopped believing it meant anything.
Mason moved first.
Kaylee kept one arm around him as they crossed the room.
Gerald removed his coat and draped it around Kaylee’s shoulders.
She started crying harder.
Not from fear.
Relief.
“Grandpa,” Mason whispered, “we didn’t get enough money.”
Gerald’s eyes shifted briefly toward Tara.
Then back to Mason.
“You don’t need to worry about money anymore.”
Tara suddenly stepped forward.
“Gerald.”
Something urgent had entered her voice.
Gerald stood.
“What?”
“Talk to me privately.”
“No.”
“You need to.”
“I’ve heard enough from you.”
Tara glanced at Kaylee.
It happened so quickly Kaylee nearly missed it.
A warning.
Not anger.
Not hatred.
A warning.
Then Tara said something strange.
“Kaylee, remember what I told you about his house.”
Gerald’s head snapped toward her.
“Stop.”
Kaylee stared at her mother.
“What?”
Tara took another step.
Gerald positioned himself between them.
“I said stop.”
Tara’s face had gone pale.
“Gerald, she doesn’t know anything.”
Gerald looked at Tara for a long moment.
Then smiled.
A small, controlled smile.
“I know.”
He led Kaylee and Mason outside.
Neither child looked back until they reached the car.
When Kaylee did, Tara was standing in the doorway.
She was no longer furious.
She looked terrified.
Gerald drove for nearly an hour.
Mason eventually fell asleep against Kaylee.
Gerald spoke gently from the front.
“You’ll have separate rooms.”
Kaylee nodded.
“You’ll eat properly.”
Another nod.
“No more walking neighborhoods.”
Kaylee finally whispered, “Thank you.”
Gerald met her eyes in the rearview mirror.
“You’re family.”
For the first time all day, Kaylee believed everything might be over.
She was wrong.
Three hours later, she stood alone in an enormous unfamiliar bedroom inside Gerald’s house.
Mason was gone.
Her regular clothes were gone.
Someone had left a simple gray servant-style dress on the bed.
Gerald had told her to put it on.
She had obeyed.
Now she stood in the corner, arms wrapped around herself.
The bedroom door opened.
Gerald entered.
He quietly closed it behind him.
The warmth had vanished from his face.
His eyes were flat.
Cold.
Kaylee’s heart began pounding.
“Where’s Mason?”
Gerald ignored the question.
He looked at the dress.
Then at her.
“You know what you need to do.”
Kaylee’s breath caught.
Across the bedroom stood another closed door.
Tara’s strange warning returned.
Remember what I told you about his house.
May you like
Kaylee slowly turned her eyes toward the second door.
And suddenly understood why her mother had been afraid.
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