Part 3
For one second, I thought I had misheard her.
The hospital hallway seemed to stretch longer, colder, quieter.
“What did you just say?” I asked.
Marissa exhaled like I was wasting her time.
“I said those aren’t our children anymore. Brian and I signed temporary placement papers last week. Lily’s adoption was always too much for this family, and Mason has behavioral issues because of her. We were waiting for the agency to pick them up.”
The police officer beside me frowned.
“What agency?” he asked.
I repeated the question.
Marissa didn’t answer.
Brian came back on the line, his voice tight. “Dad, don’t make this worse. We had a plan.”
“A plan?” I said. “You drugged Lily and locked Mason in a closet.”
“He wasn’t locked,” Brian said quickly.
Mason, sitting on a hospital bed with a blanket around his shoulders, whispered, “Yes, I was.”
The officer heard him.
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That changed everything.
The call ended when Marissa grabbed the phone and hissed, “You have no idea what that girl has cost us.”
Then silence.
The police took Mason’s tablet to charge it. While we waited, a child services worker arrived, along with a hospital social worker. I sat between both children like if I moved, someone might take them from me.
Lily slept with an IV in her arm.
Mason didn’t sleep at all.
He kept watching the door.
When the tablet finally powered on, Mason showed us the video.
It was shaky, filmed from behind the cracked closet door. Brian and Marissa stood in the kitchen, suitcases by the garage entrance. Lily could be heard crying off-camera.
Marissa said, “I’m not losing another vacation because of her.”
Brian said, “She has a fever.”
Marissa snapped, “Then give her the medicine. She’ll sleep. Your father checks his phone every night. If she calls him, he’ll handle it.”
Then came the twist that made my chest feel crushed.
Brian said, “What about Mason?”
Marissa looked toward the closet.
“He knows too much.”
Mason’s breathing in the video became shaky.
Brian lowered his voice. “He’s my son.”
“And she isn’t my daughter,” Marissa said. “But you chose her adoption to look noble after your promotion. Now your little charity case is ruining this family.”
Lily’s weak voice came from the hallway.
“Mommy, please don’t go.”
Marissa walked out of frame. A second later, Lily cried out.
The video ended with Mason whispering, “Grandpa, please come.”
But the tablet died before he could send it.
