Chapter 1
My Boyfriend Dragged My Daughter Into Our Muddy Backyard and Ordered Me to Bury Her—Because She Had Discovered the Secret He Was Desperate to Keep Hidden
I knew something was wrong when I heard my fourteen-year-old daughter screaming behind our house outside Dallas.
“Mom! Don’t listen to him!”
I ran through the back door and stopped cold.
My boyfriend, Ryan, was dragging Emma across the muddy yard by her arm.
Her clothes were covered in dirt, and she was crying so hard she could barely speak.
“Ryan, let her go!”
He turned toward me with a look I had never seen before.
“Get the shovel, Sarah.”
I thought I had misheard him.
“What?”
He pointed toward a freshly dug hole near the back fence.
“Your daughter has caused enough trouble.”
My knees nearly gave out.
Emma screamed, “Mom, he’s lying to you!”
I stepped between them.
“You touch her again and I’m calling the police.”
Ryan laughed and pulled my phone from his pocket.
“You mean this?”
That was when I realized he had taken it from the kitchen.
“Why are you doing this?”
His expression changed instantly.
“Because Emma went somewhere she was told never to go.”
Emma looked at me desperately.
“The locked room in the basement.”
Ryan shouted, “Shut up!”
I grabbed my daughter and pulled her behind me.
“What did you see?”
Emma reached inside her muddy sweatshirt.
Ryan suddenly lunged toward her.
“Give that to me!”
I shoved him back.
Emma pulled out a small key attached to a metal tag.
The number engraved on it meant nothing to me.
But Ryan went completely pale.
“There were pictures downstairs, Mom,” Emma whispered.
“Pictures of what?”
She looked toward Ryan.
“Women.”
Ryan’s face twisted with panic.
“And there was one picture of you.”
My blood went cold.
Emma tightened her fist around the key.
“But Mom… that wasn’t the worst thing I found.”
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Ryan suddenly turned toward the house as headlights appeared in our driveway.
Emma stared at the approaching car and whispered, “That’s the woman from the basement photos.”
