Chapter 4

Alan's POV

Hannah frowned, clearly annoyed. "I only married Cody so we could get the kids registered. Once the youngest is officially listed under his name, I'll divorce him.

"Don't say things like that just because you're upset."

The moment she finished speaking, her phone rang.

As soon as she answered, Mom's anxious voice came through. "Cody has a fever. Get him to a hospital, quickly!"

Hannah's face fell. She turned around and hurried out.

The bedroom fell silent again.

Exhausted in every way, I drifted off to sleep until thick smoke choked me awake.

At some point, the room was engulfed in flames.

I felt a jolt of panic and rushed to save the children, only to find the door locked from the outside.

I pounded on the door and pleaded for help. "Open the door! Help me! I'm still trapped in here!"

Then I faintly heard the children outside.

Shawn sounded excited. "Daddy said if we burn the evil man to death, he'll take us to the theme park!"

Another young boy started clapping happily. "Make the fire bigger, Shawn! The evil man isn't dead yet!"

I was pressed against the burning-hot door, yet a chill ran through me.

I stopped pounding on the door and sank against the wall. My breathing grew harder as despair took over.

Just as I was about to pass out, the door was kicked open.

Hannah rushed in with a fire extinguisher.

"Alan, stay awake! I'm getting you out!"

She didn't let go of me until we made it outside.

The moment we were out in the open, several rocks came flying at me.

The five children stood nearby, glaring at me. "You evil man, why didn't you burn to death?"

"Daddy was right. You're a monster who hurts people!"

Shawn even stepped forward to try to spit at me.

I shot to my feet and smacked Cody hard across the face as he came rushing over.

The slap rang through the yard.

Seeing that, Shawn shoved me hard enough to knock me down. The other four children surrounded me and started kicking and hitting me.

I curled up on the ground and stared at Cody, my voice hoarse and full of rage.

"It was you! You told the kids to set the fire. You've raised them to be heartless monsters!"

"You're lying!" Margot shouted. "Cody is a good man. He may spoil the kids, but he would never tell them to hurt anyone!"

Cody dropped to his knees in front of me with tears streaming down his face. "Alan, you've never raised children. You don't know how a father can go easy on his kids.

"They did something wrong because I failed to teach them better. I'll take the blame. Just don't take it out on the children!"

With just a few words, he twisted everything around and made me look like I was the one mistreating the kids.

Hannah helped him up and stared at me with open hostility. "If you hadn't scared the kids with your behavior, they wouldn't have taken things this far."

I looked at them. Suddenly, I no longer had the strength to defend myself.

Just then, Cody swayed and collapsed.

"Cody!" Hannah panicked and immediately rushed him to the car.

Everyone hurried after them, leaving me lying helplessly on the ground.