CHAPTER 3: THE TRUTH COMES OUT
That night, Leo didn’t want to leave my side.
He sat curled next to me on the couch, wrapped in a blanket, his small fingers gripping my shirt like I might disappear.
“Has this happened before?” I asked gently.
He hesitated.
Then nodded.
Every answer that followed felt like a knife.
The punishments.
The isolation.
The threats.
“She said if I told you… you’d send me away,” Leo whispered.
I closed my eyes.
Vanessa didn’t just hurt him.
She broke his sense of safety.
His trust.
His childhood.
“I’m so sorry,” I said quietly. “I should’ve been here.”
Leo looked up at me.
“You’re here now,” he said.
That nearly destroyed me.
That night, after he finally fell asleep, I made three calls:
My lawyer.
May you like
Child protective services.
And the police.
