Chapter 1 - The Rope by the Pool

The first thing Daniel Reed saw was not the cake.

It was the rope around his daughter's wrists.

White balloons floated over the patio. A banner read HAPPY BIRTHDAY, LILY. Half a dozen adults stood near the pool with paper plates and silent faces.

And Lily stood beside a metal garden post, soaked from head to toe.

"Daddy..."

Her voice was barely there.

Daniel dropped the gift box.

Across the lawn, his wife, Vanessa, still held the empty plastic bucket.

"What happened?" Daniel asked.

Nobody answered.

He crossed the patio so fast that a chair tipped behind him.

Vanessa moved in front of him. "Daniel, wait. You're seeing this out of context."

"Move."

"It was a discipline game. She kept lying, and-"

"Move."

Vanessa reached for his arm. Daniel knocked her hand away and kept going.

"Calm down, man."

Daniel spun and knocked Kyle's hand away.

"Don't touch me."

Kyle grabbed him again. Daniel drove him backward with one hard shove. Kyle stumbled into a patio chair.

Vanessa shouted something Daniel never heard.

His eyes were on Lily.

He dropped to his knees, pulled at the wet knots around her wrists, and realized her ankles were tied too.

"Lily, look at me. I'm here."

She was shaking.

"I thought you weren't coming."

That sentence nearly broke him.

Behind him, Vanessa shouted, "She ruined everything! She was screaming and embarrassing me in front of everyone!"

Daniel slowly stood with Lily in his arms.

"She's six."

The yard went silent.

Then a woman near the fence whispered, "Daniel... there's something you need to know."

Her name was Rachel Bennett.

She was Vanessa's oldest friend.

And she was holding a phone.

Daniel stared at it.

Rachel swallowed.

"I recorded the whole thing."

Vanessa's face went white.

Daniel looked from Rachel to his wife.

"Send it to me."

Vanessa took one step forward.

"Rachel, don't."

Rachel's thumb hovered over the screen.

Then another guest spoke from behind Daniel.

"You should send him what happened before the party too."

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Daniel turned.

And for the first time that afternoon, Vanessa looked afraid.