“Mom, where are you? Megan is worried—where’s Noah?”

“I’m at the hospital,” I said quietly.

Silence.

“What?”

“Noah is hurt.”

Panic filled his voice.

“What are you talking about?!”

“The doctor says someone squeezed him hard enough to cause internal bleeding.”

A long pause.

“That’s impossible,” Daniel said.

“I know. But someone did.”

Then Megan took the phone.

“Are you sure it’s from today?” she asked.

My stomach turned.

“What do you mean?”

“He had that bruise yesterday…”

I froze.

“You saw it yesterday?”

“Yes… we thought it was nothing.”

Something felt wrong.

Then she added:

“It was smaller.”

A cold realization crept in.

“If it got worse today…”

My voice dropped.

“Who was alone with Noah?”

Silence.

Then—

“The babysitter…”

Her name was Laura.

She had started two weeks ago.

“Was she alone with him today?”

“Yes… about an hour.”

My chest tightened.

“And… did you notice anything unusual?”

“No. She seemed professional.”

“Does she have children?”

“…yes.”

My heart sank.

“A little girl.”

At that moment, Dr. Patel returned.

“We found something else.”

He handed me the scan.

I stared at it.

Then I saw them—

Small, oval marks around the bruise.

“Those look like…”

“Finger pressure marks,” he confirmed.

“But too small to be an adult’s.”