Chapter 7
The saved recording changed Madeline’s breathing.
Only slightly.
But enough that she could think beyond the first five minutes.
Liam needed warmth.
Water.
Food.
A doctor.
A safe adult voice.
Maybe a bath later, but not yet. Not if touch frightened him.
She needed to get him out without triggering Jeffrey into a physical struggle and without giving Noelle a chance to claim Madeline was unstable.
The mansion was full of cameras.
Jeffrey had installed them after a neighborhood burglary and bragged that every entrance was covered.
Madeline wondered now which cameras had been turned off.
Which files had been deleted.
Which angles still existed.
She needed to move carefully.
“Liam,” she said softly, lowering herself slightly without kneeling too close. “I’m going to sit right here. You don’t have to come out. I’m just here.”
Liam peered from behind the chair leg.
His lips were cracked.
Madeline’s stomach twisted.
She reached slowly into her handbag and removed the small red bus keychain from London.
Jeffrey frowned.
“What are you doing?”
Madeline ignored him.
She placed the keychain on the marble halfway between herself and the table, then slid it gently closer.
Liam stared at it.
His fingers twitched.
Recognition flickered.
Not enough to run to her.
But enough.
Madeline whispered, “I promised.”
His eyes filled.
Noelle looked irritated.
“Oh, for God’s sake.”
The recording caught that too.
Cynthia crossed her arms.
“This is manipulative.”
Madeline looked up.
“Yes. A toy bus for my traumatized child is the manipulative part.”
Jeffrey snapped, “Stop calling him traumatized.”
“Then stop giving me evidence.”
The sentence struck him silent.
Liam slowly reached one dirty hand toward the red bus.
Madeline did not move.
The effort took everything.
Every instinct screamed to scoop him up.
But if she rushed, he might retreat again.
So she waited.
Liam’s fingers closed around the keychain.
He pulled it under the table and held it against his chest.
Madeline blinked back tears.
Noelle said coldly, “He has always been dramatic.”
Liam flinched.
Madeline turned her head toward Noelle, eyes ice-calm.
“Say that again.”
Noelle finally understood the danger of being invited to repeat herself.
May you like
She did not.
Read Chapter 8 👉 Because Liam reached for the toy from London before he reached for his mother, and Madeline understood how carefully she had to win him back.
