Chapter 8
Following the arrest, emergency child protective services workers arrived to conduct a formal evaluation of little Maya. Clara sat with her daughter in the back of a medical van, wrapping a warm blanket around the little girl's shoulders.
"You're safe now, baby girl, Mommy is never letting you out of her sight again," Clara whispered against Maya's hair. Maya nodded slowly, her breathing finally returning to a normal, peaceful rhythm as the trauma began to subside.
May you like
Richard walked up to the back of the medical van, his face etched with deep guilt and overwhelming exhaustion. "Clara... I genuinely had no idea she was treating Maya like that," Richard muttered, staring at the floorboards.
"Your ignorance was just as dangerous as her cruelty, Richard," Clara answered without a trace of warmth in her voice. "I'm signing over full emergency custody first thing tomorrow morning, and I'll testify against her," Richard promised desperately.
