My Sister's Daughter: A Novella by Liv Constantine

Author:Liv Constantine [Constantine, Liv]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Podium Publishing
Published: 2025-01-07T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Ido my best to compose myself. I can’t let anyone see how upset I am. Tomorrow is Monday, and I’ll call Dr. Cassidy to tell her what’s going on. Surely, she would have an inkling if Serena was dangerous. When I reach the family room, Luna is sitting on the sofa on her phone.

“Where is everyone?”

She points outside. “Maddox and Serena are on the trampoline. Dad wanted to get the leaves off the generator.”

“We should get going.” I open the door just as Elliott is coming toward me. I call out. “Can you get Maddox and Serena?”

He walks over to the trampoline and I watch as Maddox jumps one more time and propels himself forward. As if in slow motion, I see the netting give way and his little body fly through. I scream just as Elliott runs over and catches him before he hits the ground. I’m out the door and dashing toward them. Maddox is laughing. Serena has climbed down, her expression one of shock.

“That was fun. Do it again,” Maddox says.

I grab him from Elliott and hug him to me. “What happened? How did he go through the net?”

Elliott walks over to the trampoline and examines the netting. He shakes his head. “This looks like it has been cut.”

“What?” I put Maddox down and walk over.

“See?” He holds it out to show a long rip down the net. I look closer and notice some scotch tape has come loose. Elliott notices it too.

“Someone taped it so it wouldn’t be noticed,” he says.

“Who would do that?” Serena asks.

We both turn to look at her, saying nothing. A chill runs through me. Who is this child living in my house?

“You think I did this?” She starts to speak again, but no words come out of her mouth. She shakes her head and runs inside.

“What the hell? Why would she do that?” I say.

Elliott’s eyes are wide. “If I hadn’t been here, Maddox would have been seriously hurt.”

Maddox tugs on my shirt. “Mommy, I taped it.”

“What?”

“It was ripped. I fixed it.”

“Oh, sweetie, you should have told Mommy and Daddy right away. You could have been really hurt.” I look at Elliott and raise my eyebrows. “How would it rip?”

He walks over to take a closer look. “Maddox and Simon play with their trucks and cars there. Maybe somehow a sharp edge cut it.

I hope he’s right. “I guess we’d better go apologize to Serena.”

“You go ahead, I’ll be up in a minute. I want to open the flap all the way so no one forgets and falls out.”

When I get to Serena’s room, the door is closed, and I knock. I hear her crying. I push the door open and she’s sitting on the bed. Luna is next to her with her arm around her. Luna looks up, anger in her eyes.

“What’s your guys’ problem?” Luna says.

I put a hand on Serena’s shoulder. “I’m sorry, Serena. We just didn’t know what to think.”

Luna looks at me with hostility, and Serena is quiet.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.