Chapter 1: The First Twenty-Four Hours
Chapter 1: The First Twenty-Four Hours
By the time we reached my little house on the South Side, Hannah had fallen asleep in the passenger seat.
Not because she felt safe.
Because she was exhausted.
I gently woke her and helped her inside.
Only then did I truly see the damage.
Bruises covered both arms.
There were fingerprints around her wrists.
Her scalp was red where clumps of hair had been ripped away.
And across her back...
There were fading welts.
I closed my eyes for one long second.
"How long?"
Hannah couldn't meet my eyes.
"Almost a year."
A year.
Three hundred and sixty-five days.
While I believed my daughter was busy adjusting to married life, she had been surviving it.
I hugged her carefully.
"This ends today."
She whispered,
"They own judges... lawyers... suppliers..."
I smiled sadly.
"They've never met an angry mother."
That afternoon, I called someone I hadn't spoken to in almost fifteen years.
"Daniel?"
The deep voice on the other end immediately recognized mine.
"Evelyn Carter?"
"I'm calling in a favor."
Daniel Brooks had once eaten breakfast in my diner every morning while building his law practice.
Back then he couldn't always afford to pay.
I fed him anyway.
Today...
He was one of Chicago's most respected trial attorneys.
"What happened?"
I told him everything.
When I finished, there was silence.
May you like
Then Daniel quietly said,
"I'll be at your diner in thirty minutes."
