Chapter 1 - The Broken Bones
The doctor’s words hung in the sterile air of the waiting room, choking the breath right out of my lungs.
"What do you mean, it didn't happen today?" I asked, my voice trembling with a mixture of rage and confusion.
He adjusted his glasses and pointed to the glowing white screen on the wall.
"These X-rays tell a very disturbing story, Mr. Calder," the doctor explained in a low, careful whisper.
"Drew has a fresh fracture on his tibia, which likely occurred tonight, but there is more."
He traced his pen along the ghostly white image of my nephew's leg.
"There are micro-fractures all along the bone that have already begun to calcify and heal."
"This boy has been subjected to severe physical trauma repeatedly over the course of at least six months."
I stared at the screen, feeling a cold sweat break out across my forehead as the horrific truth set in.
Reena had not just been keeping them away from me out of grief.
She had been systematically hiding a monster behind the closed doors of my brother's house.
I thought about Drew dragging himself across seven blocks of concrete in the dead of night.
I thought about little Lily, shaking like a leaf, clutching that cracker as if it were her last meal.
"I need to call the police right now," I said, reaching for my phone with a shaking hand.
The doctor placed a firm hand on my shoulder and nodded grimly.
"I have already contacted Child Protective Services, as is my legal obligation, and they dispatched officers ten minutes ago."
Before I could even thank him, the heavy double doors of the emergency room burst open.
A frantic, crying woman ran into the lobby, her mascara running down her cheeks perfectly to frame her distressed face.
It was Reena.
She spotted me immediately, but instead of looking guilty, her eyes flared with a triumphant, terrifying malice.
She turned to the two uniformed police officers walking right behind her and pointed a shaking finger directly at my chest.
"That's him, officers!" she screamed, her voice echoing through the silent hospital ward.
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"That's the crazy uncle who broke into my house and kidnapped my babies in the middle of the night!"
The two officers immediately unclipped their radios and placed their hands on their holstered weapons as they moved toward me.
