Chapter 1 - Don’t Take It Off
The first sound Ethan heard was not Sophie crying.
It was the hard crack of a broom handle striking plastic.
He came through the kitchen doorway and saw his eight-year-old daughter on the hallway floor.
Sophie’s white prosthetic lower leg had taken the blow.
Maya stood over her with the broom raised again.
“Stop pretending it hurts!”
“GET AWAY FROM HER!”
Ethan crossed the hallway before Maya could swing again.
He ripped the broom from her hands and shoved her back into a laundry basket.
Clothes scattered across the floor.
Then he dropped beside Sophie.
“Baby, look at me.”
Sophie grabbed his sleeve.
Her face was wet with tears.
But when Ethan examined the prosthetic, her fear changed.
A thin crack ran along the outer shell.
“Sophie, I need to take this off.”
Her fingers immediately clamped around it.
“Dad… don’t.”
Ethan stopped.
Maya stopped too.
That bothered him more.
“Why not?”
Sophie shook her head.
Maya reached down.
“Give me the leg.”
Ethan blocked her hand.
Something faintly rattled inside the prosthetic.
Three people heard it.
Maya’s face went completely still.
Ethan carefully disconnected the damaged prosthesis while Sophie remained against the wall.
He rotated it.
Under the cracked shell was a narrow panel.
Not part of the manufacturer’s design.
“Who put this inside my daughter’s leg?”
Sophie whispered:
“I don’t know.”
Maya stepped backward.
Ethan saw.
He pried the panel loose.
Before he could look inside, Maya spoke.
“Ethan…”
Her voice had changed.
“She was never supposed to find that.”
Ethan slowly raised his eyes.
“Find what?”
Sophie’s crying softened.
Then she whispered:
“Dad… Mom put it there before she died.”
Ethan’s hand tightened.
Sophie’s mother, Claire, had been dead for three years.
Maya went pale.
Ethan started pulling the hidden object out.
Then Sophie grabbed his wrist.
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because Mom said if Maya ever saw it…”
May you like
She looked toward Maya.
“…we had to leave the house first.”
