Chapter 1 - The Faint Pulse
A weak rhythm fluttered against my fingertips.
Violet was still alive.
I screamed at the dispatcher that my daughter had a pulse and needed help immediately.
The wail of sirens finally pierced the quiet suburban neighborhood.
Paramedics swarmed the hallway and pushed me aggressively out of their way.
They loaded my sixteen-year-old girl onto a yellow transport stretcher.
Her blood stained the hardwood floor of the home I had paid for with my sweat and absences.
Two local police officers walked through the front door with their notebooks out.
They glanced at the scene and immediately began talking about a string of local burglaries.
I pointed to the alarm keypad glowing green on the wall.
I told them the alarm had not been forced or bypassed in any way.
I explained that the door was opened by someone who explicitly knew the code.
The older cop patted my shoulder and told me that trauma plays tricks on the mind.
He confidently stated that burglars get lucky sometimes.
I knew in that exact moment that the local police were completely useless.
If I wanted to find the monsters who did this, I had to hunt them myself.
I knelt beside the pool of blood where Violet had been lying.
Her crushed school backpack was still resting on the floor.
I carefully unzipped the front pocket to look for her cell phone.
Instead of her usual pink case, my fingers brushed against cold and heavy metal.
I pulled out a thick tactical burner phone that no teenager should ever own.
The screen was cracked, but the power was still somehow on.
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There was only one unsent text message saved in the drafts.
The message warned her mother that the men had found her secret and were coming to kill them.
