Chapter 2: The Call from Renee
We were halfway through the pizza when my phone started blowing up.
Daniel.
Three times.
Then my mother.
Then an aunt I hadn't spoken to in two years.
I let them ring.
Ethan was on his second slice, finally smiling, telling me about a video game he wanted for Christmas.
I wasn't going to interrupt that.
But then a text came through from my cousin Renee.
*"Mark.
You need to see what Victoria just said to your mother in front of everyone.
I recorded it."*
My hand went still.
I excused myself and stepped outside into the cold.
Renee picked up immediately.
"She waited until you left," Renee said.
"Then she turned to your mom and said — and I'm quoting — 'Well.
At least now we know where Mark's priorities are.
That boy was raised in a kitchen.
What did anyone expect?'"
I didn't speak.
"Mark, your mom didn't say a word back.
She just sat there."
I looked through the window at Ethan laughing at something on his phone, completely unaware.
"There's something else," Renee said, her voice dropping lower.
"This wasn't the first time."
My chest tightened.
"What do you mean?"
She hesitated.
"Thanksgiving, Mark.
Ethan was kept in the den.
Your mom knew that time too."
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What Renee revealed next — and what Mark found out his own mother had been hiding for months — is in the full story.
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