Chapter 1: The Promise at Christmas
My five-year-old niece whispered that her chair hurt during Christmas dinner.
When she showed me the terrifying secret hidden under her clothes, I realized her parents were lying.
I traveled four hours to spend Christmas with my brother’s family, expecting a warm holiday dinner.
Instead, five-year-old Sophia stood beside her chair in a red velvet dress, frightened to sit down.
“It hurts, Mommy,” she sobbed softly.
My brother kept carving the roast without even glancing at her.
“Not this again,” he snapped coldly.
“Sit down.”
When Sophia finally lowered herself onto the seat, tears quietly rolled down her flushed cheeks.
Her father called her attention-seeking, but every time his voice grew louder, she flinched.
Afterward, she followed me into the kitchen, clutching her stuffed rabbit.
Her hands shook uncontrollably.
“Uncle Michael…
would you believe me?” she asked in a tiny voice.
I knelt next to her and promised she could tell me anything.
That was when she slowly pulled up her sleeve and showed me the severe br*ises hidden beneath her clothes.
She whispered that there was a terrifying secret in that house she was afraid to talk about.
Suddenly, her mother’s piercing voice echoed from the dining room.
“Sophia!
Get in here right now!”
Sophia grabbed my hand firmly.
“Are you going to help me?”
I glanced at my brother, who was still laughing with the rest of the family as if everything were normal.
“Yes,” I whispered.
“I promise.”
Confronting them right there at the table would only make things worse for her.
So I smiled, finished my plate, and stepped out of that house.
The second I got to my car, I dialed a number that would change everything forever.
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Will Michael uncover Sophia’s secret before her parents realize what he’s doing?
Comment “NEXT” for Part 2.
