Chapter 2

Margaret cut her off.

“Let your dad do it. Hannah, come eat. I made shrimp especially for you tonight. Your little brother wanted some too, but I wouldn't let him touch any. I saved it all for you.”

With that, Margaret headed into the kitchen to bring out the food.

Hannah put down her backpack and followed her in to help.

Watching how thoughtful and well-behaved my daughter was, I couldn't connect her at all with the blood-soaked monster from my previous life.

After dinner, once everything had been cleaned up, I hesitated for a long time before finally going into Hannah's room.

I wanted to talk to her.

I pulled over a chair and sat beside her, keeping my voice gentle.

“Hannah, has anything been bothering you lately? If something's wrong, you can talk to me.”

She shook her head.

“I'm fine.”

I refused to give up.

“No matter what it is, you can tell me. I'll always be on your side. Whatever happens, you can always rely on me.”

The moment I said that, I noticed her grip tighten around her pen.

She looked up at me.

Her lips parted slightly.

I held my breath.

For one second, I thought she was finally going to tell me the truth.

Then a sharp crash of breaking glass came from the living room.

Every trace of emotion vanished from Hannah's face.

She immediately lowered her head back to her workbook and refused to say another word.

I went out to see what had happened.

Ethan and Margaret had both decided Hannah needed warm milk before bed.

And apparently, each of them had insisted on being the one to bring it to her personally.

In the middle of their little tug-of-war, the glass had slipped and shattered across the tile, spilling milk everywhere.

Things like this happened in our house all the time.

Not long ago, Ethan and Margaret had even argued over which of them had bought Hannah the more comfortable clothes.

I crouched down to help clean up the glass.

“You two act like you're constantly competing for Hannah's attention.”

Ethan laughed as he wiped up the milk.

“Of course we are. Hannah's the little queen of this family. We've got to compete for her favor.”

Margaret immediately took advantage of the distraction and hurried off with a fresh glass of milk for Hannah.

By the time we finished cleaning everything up, I tried to go back to Hannah's room.

But this time, she wouldn't let me in.

“Mom, it's really late. I still haven't finished everything I planned to review today.”

I stared at her closed bedroom door.

For some reason, it felt just like staring at her heart.

Shut tight.

Impossible to read.

Still uneasy, I went back to the master bedroom.

Ethan was already stretched out in bed, ready to sleep.

I couldn't.

So I pulled out my phone and opened the camera feed.

On the screen, Hannah sat quietly at her desk, working through practice questions.

Everything she did looked completely normal.

I watched for more than an hour.

Nothing happened.

Finally, I started to think maybe I'd been wrong.

I was just about to close the app and go to sleep when Hannah suddenly moved.

I immediately sat up straighter.

She opened a drawer and took out a pair of scissors.

Then she left her desk.

The next second, she drove the scissors straight into the stomach of the stuffed doll lying on her bed.

Again.

And again.

Each stab was vicious.

And the movements were far too practiced.

This clearly wasn't the first time she'd done it.

My eyelid started twitching violently.

For one horrifying moment, all I could see was the memory of Hannah stabbing Margaret over and over again.

I couldn't take it anymore.

I shook Ethan awake.

He bolted upright in alarm.

But when he saw that Hannah was only stabbing a stuffed doll on the camera feed, he let out a breath of relief.