At 3 a.m., I jolted awake when I heard my daughter’s bedroom door click open. My husband slipped inside quietly, just like every night. My hands trembling, I opened the hidden camera app I had secretly placed inside her stuffed animal a few days earlier… ‘Daddy… please don’t…’ her sobbing voice came through the speaker.

Both of them spun toward her—Mia tear-streaked and trembling, Daniel stumbling back like he’d been caught mid-crime. Which, in a way, he had.

“What are you doing?” Nora rasped.

Daniel’s mouth opened, but the guilt in his eyes spoke first.

Nora rushed to Mia, pulling her close. Mia melted into her, sobbing silently—like she thought crying itself was forbidden. That broke Nora more than anything.

“You’re safe,” she whispered, stroking her hair. “You’re safe now.”

Then she turned, voice hardening. “Stay away from her.”

Daniel stammered, “Nora, you’re misunderstanding. She’s been having nightmares—”

“Nightmares that happen only when you walk in? Nightmares she never had before? Nightmares she begs you not to cause?”

He blinked, but she cut him off.

“I saw the footage. I heard her. Come one step closer and I call the police.”

He didn’t deny it again.

Nora lifted Mia and walked out. They left everything behind. By the time she strapped Mia into the car, her hands were shaking so hard she could barely turn the key. They drove straight to the police station.