Chapter 2

I opened Annette's message.

"Look, I was right! Bryan has been eating so well lately. He used to be such a picky eater, but he's finally gotten over it. I took him to the hospital for a checkup today, and the doctor said he's no longer allergic to any foods.

"We have the new Ms. Jones to thank for that. She said she used some kind of desensitization therapy. I can't thank her enough."

As I stared at the message, my brows slowly tightened. How could an allergy just disappear like that?

When it came to allergies, even doctors had their hands tied. How could Ms. Jones have possibly treated Bryan with some kind of desensitization therapy?

My fingers flew across the screen as I carefully composed my reply.

"Perhaps you shouldn't celebrate just yet, Annette. Allergies aren't something to take lightly. If even the doctors at the hospital couldn't do anything about it, how could it suddenly get better so easily? Also, Caleb said he saw a teacher take Bryan away and put him in a punishment room.

"I know you sent me the video, but I still have a bad feeling about it. Please check Bryan and see if he has any injuries. If something really happened, we can confront the kindergarten together and get some answers."

After reading my message, Annette grew worried and said she would check him immediately.

I gripped my phone and waited for more than ten minutes, my heart in turmoil. I hoped Bryan was fine, but I also couldn't shake the niggling feeling I had after hearing what Caleb told me. There was no reason for him to say those things if they weren't true.

Suddenly, my phone started ringing with an incoming call, and Annette's name appeared on the screen.

I hurriedly answered, but before I could even speak, a barrage of angry shouting exploded in my ear, leaving me dumbfounded.

"What on earth is wrong with you! Just because you don't know how to teach your own child, you let him go around making things up? I just asked Bryan, and there was absolutely no such thing as a teacher taking him to some kind of punishment room!

"What's Caleb's problem anyway? He and Bryan are such good friends. How could he say such things about Bryan, as if he wanted Bryan to be suffering somehow? This all happened because you haven't raised him properly! You had me scared half to death just now! What's your deal?"

Gripping the phone tightly, I stood there with my lips parted. I didn't know how to refute her words, so all I could do was hastily apologize.

Considering what Annette had just said, I figured Bryan was fine. If he were injured, as his mother, Annette would've surely marched over to demand answers from the kindergarten. She wouldn't be wasting her time blowing up at me instead.

Could Caleb really have been lying?

But I knew Caleb too well. He had never made up something this outrageous.

The doubts in my mind only grew. After ending the call, I stared blankly at my phone for a long time, my thoughts a complete mess.

After the family day event ended, Caleb fell asleep in my arms, looking pretty worn out. I stared at his sleeping face. In the end, I couldn't bring myself to question him again. I simply stroked his head gently, thinking I would talk to him about it tomorrow.

It was almost midnight when my husband, Isaac Sheridan, finally came home, dragging his exhausted body through the door. He was a police officer. Recently, he'd been busy with a kidnapping case, which meant constantly working long hours and barely spending any time at home.

I pulled him down onto the couch and told him everything that had happened during the day, leaving out nothing—not Caleb's words, not Annette's reaction, and not Ms. Jones' strange behavior.

Listening to the story, Isaac frowned at first, but then he chuckled.

"You're just too worried. How could anything that bizarre actually be happening? Kids don't necessarily lie, but they can easily mix reality and imagination together and start saying all kinds of things.

"Besides, there are surveillance cameras all over the kindergarten. Parents can request to see the footage whenever they want. What teacher would be bold enough to take a child away in broad daylight and lock him up in some sort of punishment room?"

He paused, as if recalling something, before adding, "Oh, right. A few days ago, I told Cal about a case where someone kidnapped his enemy's child, right?

"I used it to teach him not to leave with strangers. Maybe the details of the story somehow got mixed up with his memories, and he thought it happened to Bryan."