CHAPTER 2 — WHAT WAS NEVER SUPPOSED TO BE SEEN
I didn’t wait for permission.
I walked.
Chloe stayed close beside me, her small hand wrapped tightly around mine.
The guests parted instinctively as I moved through them. No one stopped me now.
Rachel followed.
Fast footsteps behind us.
“Stop!” she snapped. “You’re humiliating me in front of everyone!”
I paused at the bathroom hallway.
Turned.
For the first time, my voice dropped completely calm.
“No,” I said. “You did that yourself.”
She froze.
And I opened the door again.
The bathroom was exactly as we left it.
Small. Cold. Too quiet.
Chloe stepped slightly behind me, like her body still remembered fear.
I noticed something I hadn’t before.
The lock had been forced from the outside.
Not accidental.
Not temporary.
Intentional.
Rachel looked at the door and quickly said, “She’s exaggerating. Kids lock themselves in—”
But she stopped when I picked something up from the floor.
A small bracelet.
Chloe’s bracelet.
Broken.
My jaw tightened.
May you like
This wasn’t neglect.
This was control.
