Chapter 4 - “Daddy Said I’m Bad”
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Noah woke at 3:00 a.m.
Screaming.
Adrian ran into the bedroom.
“Noah.”
The boy kicked at the blanket.
“No cage!”
Adrian stopped.
“No cage. You’re home.”
Noah opened his eyes.
Then reached for him.
Adrian lifted him.
For twenty minutes, he simply sat there.
No lawyers.
No files.
No money.
Just his son.
Eventually Noah whispered—
“Daddy?”
“Yeah?”
“Am I bad?”
Adrian’s throat closed.
“No.”
“Vanessa said you know I’m bad.”
Adrian pulled him back.
“What?”
“She said Daddy knows.”
“Noah, look at me.”
The child did.
“I never said that.”
“But she said—”
“She lied.”
Noah’s face crumpled.
“She said Mommy left because I cry.”
Adrian felt the room tilt.
“What?”
“Mommy didn’t like crying babies.”
Claire had adored him.
Even while sick, she asked to hear Noah laugh.
Adrian pressed his forehead against his son’s.
“Your mommy loved you more than anything.”
“Really?”
“More than anything.”
Noah began sobbing.
Not loudly.
Like a child who had been holding something in for too long.
Adrian held him until he fell asleep.
At sunrise, he went downstairs.
Vanessa was waiting with her attorney.
She had changed clothes.
Perfect hair.
Perfect makeup.
Almost no expression.
“You turned my home into a prison.”
Adrian stared at her.
“My home?”
Vanessa’s attorney intervened.
“My client denies intentionally harming Noah.”
Rebecca placed three printed photographs on the table.
Dog cage.
Food bowl.
Teddy camera.
Vanessa looked away.
Then Rebecca placed the trust invoices beside them.
Her attorney’s face changed.
He clearly had not seen those.
Vanessa spoke quickly.
“Miles handled the billing.”
“Through your company?”
“It’s an investment.”
“In fake treatment for my son?”
“He does have behavioral problems.”
Adrian’s voice lowered.
“Because you created them.”
Vanessa’s face hardened.
“You’re emotional.”
“Yes.”
She seemed surprised he admitted it.
“I’m furious.”
He leaned forward.
“But that doesn’t make you right.”
Rebecca opened another file.
Vanessa had emailed Noah’s preschool twice.
She described “violent outbursts.”
The school replied both times.
They had seen none.
Then Vanessa sent a third email.
PLEASE DOCUMENT ANY INCIDENT, EVEN MINOR.
Adrian looked at her.
“You needed a paper trail.”
Vanessa laughed.
“You have no idea how difficult that child is.”
Adrian stood.
Her attorney immediately tensed.
But Adrian did nothing.
“You will not call my son ‘that child’ again.”
Vanessa stared at him.
Then she smiled.
“You still don’t know everything.”
Adrian waited.
She continued—
“Ask Claire’s brother why that teddy bear started recording again.”
Adrian froze.
Rebecca looked at him.
Claire’s brother, Ethan, had barely spoken to Adrian since her funeral.
And according to Vanessa, he knew the camera had been watching.
May you like
👉 Vanessa had just dragged Noah’s dead mother’s family into the secret—and Adrian suddenly realized someone else had known his son was in danger.
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