At one in the morning, I was jolted awake by a rapid-fire series of text notifications. It was from the mother of a boy in my son’s kindergarten class. She sent a photo of my son Leo’s arm. On it was a faint, shallow bite mark. The text that followed read: "Is this Leo's mom? Did my Dylan bite your son today?" I figured she was texting to apologize, so I quickly replied that it was no big deal, that kids will be kids. I thought that would be the end of it. Then she sent another picture: a receipt from an emergency dental clinic. Confused, I was about to type a reply when my phone started ringing. It was her. "Leo's mom," she said, her voice sharp. "My Dylan chipped his front tooth when he bit your son. What are you going to do about this?" 1. The words chased the last remnants of sleep from my brain. A sharp pain started throbbing in my temples. Is this something a human being would actually say? I thought I must have misheard her. I pressed my forehead and asked for clarification. "Jessica, are you saying that your son bit my son, and because your son's tooth got chipped in the process, you want me to be responsible?" "Yes, that's exactly what I'm saying." Her voice on the other end was shrill and laced with an incredible, unearned arrogance. "What else would I mean? If your son's arm wasn't so tough, would my Dylan's tooth have chipped? What kind of parents are you, anyway? Raising him to have skin like armor. What are you feeding him, gravel?" She was on a roll now. "Talking to people like you is a waste of time. I guess it’s true what they say, people with nothing going for them just pop out kids and don't even teach them basic manners." I was so angry I started to laugh. "Jessica, if you’re sick, go see a doctor. Don't call me in the middle of the night to have a psychotic episode. My son was the one who got bitten. We weren't going to make a big deal out of it, but now you're coming after me?" She cut me off with a shriek. "Oh, so now you're getting an attitude? You pathetic little nobody." "Let me tell you, this isn't over! Your son is responsible for my son's chipped tooth and the severe emotional distress this has caused him. Tomorrow, I want you and your son on your knees, begging for forgiveness. Then we can put this behind us." "Otherwise, I'll be at that school every single day, making such a scene that your son will be forced to leave!" On our knees? She really thought she was somebody. I don't respond well to threats. Wasting another word on a woman like this was pointless. "Your son bites people because you don't have him on a leash. That has nothing to do with my son. Maybe you should spend less time harassing me and more time taking him to a vet." I hung up and blocked her number. The rest of the night was sleepless. Having Leo in the same class as a kid like that was a ticking time bomb. I decided I would find a new school for him. The next morning, I brought up the idea of transferring. Leo's little lip quivered, his eyes instantly welling up with tears. "But Mommy, I don't want to change schools. Today is rehearsal for the class play! Me and Sophie are supposed to recite a poem together." Seeing his heartbroken face, my resolve melted. Fine. One more day. What could happen? That woman, Jessica, was probably all bark and no bite. The school has teachers, security cameras everywhere. What could she possibly do? With that thought, my anxiety subsided. "Leo, if anyone, and I mean anyone, bothers you at school today, you call me immediately. Do you understand?" "Okay, Mommy! I'm going now!" Just in case, I sent a long text to his teacher, Ms. Davis, asking her to please keep an extra eye on Leo. With everything seemingly in order, I drove to work. My firm had just landed a major development project downtown, and I was buried in work. It wasn't until two in the afternoon that I finally had a second to grab a drink of water. I opened my phone and habitually checked my texts with Ms. Davis. The last message was still the long one I had sent that morning. Usually, no matter how busy she was, she'd reply with a quick "Got it." Today, there was nothing. The knot of anxiety I’d felt earlier returned, tighter than before. I called her cell. It went straight to a cold, robotic voice: "The number you have dialed has been turned off." My heart sank. I tried calling Leo's smartwatch. The result made my blood run cold. "We're sorry, the number you are calling is currently unavailable." 2. A powerful sense of dread seized me. I abandoned my half-eaten lunch, grabbed my keys, and sprinted out of the office, heading for the kindergarten. I burst through the main doors and nearly collided with Ms. Davis. I grabbed her arm. "Where is Leo?" "Leo's mom, the children are on a field trip today for a day camp. Didn't you know?" Ms. Davis’s face was arranged in its usual professional smile, but when she saw me, a flicker of panic crossed her eyes. I didn't have time for her games. I demanded the address of the camp and turned to leave. "Leo's mom, please don't worry, the children are perfectly safe there, we have teachers watching them," she called after me, but I was already peeling out of the parking lot. The day camp was in a large state park on the outskirts of the city. I followed the signs, searching every designated activity area—the playground, the picnic grounds, the nature center. Not only was Leo not there, but I didn't see a single child from his class. I found a park ranger, who told me there were no kindergarten field trips scheduled for today at all. My blood turned to ice. "Where did you hide my son?!" I spun around to face Ms. Davis, who had just arrived. I grabbed the front of her shirt. "What did you do with my son?!" "Leo's mom, please calm down. There are people here. Can't we discuss this calmly?" "Yes, you're being very aggressive. This isn't helping anything," another teacher said, joining her. They surrounded me, not to help me find my son, but to criticize my behavior. In their eyes, my missing child was somehow proof that I was the one being unreasonable. If he wasn't in the activity areas, I would search elsewhere. The woods, the fields, the lake... I scoured the entire park like a madwoman. "Leo's... Leo's mom, if you don't stop, we're going to have to call the police!" one of the teachers threatened, her voice shaking. "Go ahead! Let's see who they arrest when they get here!" That shut them up. Just then, I heard it. A muffled, suppressed cry. It was coming from an old, abandoned cabin on a small hill. The teachers' faces went white. They exchanged terrified glances. "Leo's mom, that area is off-limits! It's dangerous! You can't go over there!" I shook them off and ran towards the cabin. Their warnings were just noise. The only thing in my mind was getting through that door. It was locked from the inside. I threw my entire body against it, again and again, until the lock finally splintered. When I saw what was inside, I felt a murderous rage so intense I wanted to tear them all apart with my bare hands. My Leo, my precious baby, was kneeling on the floor. His hands and feet were tied to a thick wooden pole. A woman was holding his head, forcing him to bow it to the ground in front of another boy. "Get your hands off him!" Leo heard my voice and started crying harder, struggling against his bonds. I lunged towards my son, but a group of people—other parents—surged forward, forming a human wall between us. The woman in the center, the one holding my son, stood up slowly. I recognized her. It was Dylan’s mother, Jessica. "Leo's mom, I warned you last night," she said, her voice dripping with venom. "I told you to teach your son some manners. You didn't listen. So I guess I have to do it for you." As she spoke, she shoved my son's head down again, hard, against the cold wooden floor. Leo's forehead was already a mess of purple bruises. His lip was split and he was sobbing so hard he could barely breathe. My heart felt like it was being crushed in a vice. I could barely breathe. My sweet boy, who I had never even raised my voice to, was being tortured. "Leo's mom, don't be so dramatic," Ms. Davis said, blocking my path with a ridiculously earnest expression. "Jessica is just teaching Leo a valuable lesson about respect." "That's right," another parent chimed in. "This is a community. We can't have one child ruining it for everyone. Why shouldn't he be held responsible for chipping another boy's tooth? If he gets away with it, it sets a bad example for our children. Can you take responsibility for that?" I can understand some parents being ignorant. But the teachers? They were educated professionals. How could they stand by and let this happen? 3. I tried to push through them, but there were too many. Jessica had come prepared. There were at least a dozen other parents she had rallied. They linked arms, and I couldn't break through. My eyes were burning with tears of rage. "Let my son go! This is child abuse! It's a felony!" Leo's head was swelling, and his breaths were ragged. But he tried to be brave for me. "Mommy... it doesn't hurt... I'm a big boy." Jessica let out a cold laugh. "You hear that? Your son himself says it doesn't hurt." She turned back to Leo. "Okay, sweetie, you've apologized. Now, if you just crack open these ten walnuts with your forehead, I'll let your mommy off the hook. She won't have to get on her knees." "Really, ma'am? You promise?" Leo asked, his voice small. "NO!" I shrieked. "Leo, don't listen to her! Mommy said no!" Leo hesitated, his little mouth clamping shut. The next second, Jessica grabbed a handful of his hair and yanked his head back. Another parent rushed to pin his arms. Leo let out a piercing scream of pain. "You monsters! Let him go! If anything happens to him, I swear to God, none of you are walking out of here!" "I already called the police on my way here! They'll be here any minute! Every single one of you can look forward to having this on your permanent record!" That gave them pause. The human wall wavered. I saw an opening and was about to charge through when Jessica laughed again. "The police? And who do you think they'll listen to? In this city, the Harrison family calls the shots!" She gave a smug smile. "So you can all stop worrying. In fact, if you help me keep this crazy woman under control, I'll have my Mark send a few projects your companies' way. A thank you, from me." The Harrison family? Mark? Mark Harrison! That's my husband's name! Since when was he her Mark? My mind reeled. A few of the parents, hearing the promise of business deals, lit up. One man lunged forward, grabbed my hair, and slapped me hard across the face. "That's for messing with Mrs. Harrison!" Jessica's smile widened. The others took their cue, pushing and shoving me. I was a rag doll in the middle of a vicious mob. I screamed, my voice raw. "She's a liar! She's not Mrs. Harrison! I AM!" Leo was on the verge of passing out, his small body limp. "Leo's mom, lying isn't a good habit," Ms. Davis sneered. "No wonder your son is so badly behaved. He learned it from you." I couldn't take it anymore. I spun around and slapped her across the face. "You shut your mouth!" "You don't believe me? I can video call Mark right now!" Jessica sauntered over, her eyes full of contempt. "A video call? In the age of deepfakes? Please. You want to prove who you are? You'll need more than that. Besides," she added, her voice dropping to a conspiratorial whisper, "you've been 'calling the police' for a while now. Do you see any cops?" It had been almost two hours since I called 911. Even with a slow response time... My heart sank into a black pit. She savored my expression. "Let me be clear. The Harrisons have had this whole park cleared out. No one is coming to save you. Unless... you have your precious son crack this entire basket of walnuts. Otherwise, neither of you is leaving." She gestured to a man in a suit standing by the door. "Mr. Evans, bring in the 'dessert' I prepared for Leo." The man walked in. When I saw his face, I felt like I'd been struck by lightning. It was Mr. Evans, Mark's most trusted executive assistant. 4. I couldn't process why he was with Jessica. All I could think about was saving Leo. I scrambled towards him and grabbed his sleeve. "Mr. Evans, please! You have to help us! Get us out of here!" He looked at me as if I were a complete stranger and pried my fingers off his arm, one by one. "My apologies, madam. I only take orders from Mrs. Harrison." I felt a chill spread through my entire body. Mrs. Harrison. Jessica. A thousand little details suddenly clicked into place. The late nights "at the office." The strange business trips. The 'LW' necklace he wore, which he claimed was his mother's, Loretta's. It stood for Lin Wei, Jessica's name in Chinese. No, in English it's Jessica... was it Jessica Williams? JW? Or... wait, her name was Lin Wei. LW. He had told me her name was Jessica. She was Chinese-American. The necklace was LW. For Lin Wei. A lie within a lie. And what about me? Our eight years of marriage, building his company from nothing... what was all that? Seeing my devastation, Jessica burst out laughing. "Some people just can't accept their place in the world. Always dreaming of a life they don't deserve. Tell me, Leo's mom, do you still insist you're the real Mrs. Harrison?" "I'm sorry," I whispered, my voice breaking. "Please... Mrs.... Mrs. Harrison... have mercy on my son. I'll teach him better, I promise." My knees gave out, and I knelt on the floor in front of her. Even though Mark and I were legally married, Leo's life was on the line. I couldn't provoke her further. The more I humbled myself, the more she would gloat. And maybe, just maybe, Leo would suffer a little less. "Like mother, like son," she sneered. "Trash begets trash." "Mrs. Harrison, don't let her off so easy!" one of the other parents shouted. "Her son chipped a tooth today, who knows what he'll do tomorrow! He'll probably become a school shooter! And she wasted so much of our time! You need to teach her a lesson!" Someone kicked me hard in the back. A coppery taste filled my mouth, and I coughed up a spray of blood onto the floor, splattering Leo's broken smartwatch. The thought of him, trying desperately to call me for help... my heart felt like it was being shredded. "Since you all feel so strongly about it," Jessica announced, "I'll do you all a favor. For every walnut this little bastard cracks, I'll give you one hundred thousand dollars." I looked up, my eyes bloodshot. She was going to kill him. "No! He's just a child! He'll die!" But my voice was drowned out by the greedy shouts of the parents. They swarmed around Leo, a pack of vultures. He cried out in terror as they pushed and shoved him, his small voice quickly lost in their taunts. "I am Ava Prescott! My father is the chairman of the Prescott Group! If you stop now, I can forget this ever happened. Otherwise, I will hold every single one of you accountable!" Ms. Davis laughed. "Leo's mom, that lie wasn't believable the first time. Why would it be the second?" "Mrs. Harrison," another parent suggested, "I think we should just knock all of the little brat's teeth out. That'll stop him from growing up to be a liar like his mother." Jessica smiled. "An excellent suggestion. I'll do it for free." She pulled a small hammer from her purse and crouched down next to my son. "NO! JESSICA, YOU PSYCHO, STOP!" Leo was barely conscious, a broken doll in their hands. He heard my voice and struggled to open his eyes, to look for me. But I was pinned to the floor, helpless, forced to watch. Jessica kicked Leo hard in the ribs, then pried his mouth open. She raised the hammer. Just as she was about to bring it down, the door to the cabin was kicked open from the outside. "What the hell is going on in here?" The man standing there... it was Mark.
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