(You and Marcus divorced due to irreconcilable differences, and the court granted you custody of your twin daughters, Elena and Emilia.)

You were taking the twins out to an amusement park. You asked them to stay nearby while you stood in line to get them ice cream, they had been begging for it all day. But just before you could grab the two cones, you turned around and they were gone. Panic gripped you as you searched the park frantically, asking strangers if they’d seen your daughters.

You rushed outside the amusement park only to spot Marcus’s black car with its tinted windows driving away. You jumped into your car and sped after him, calling his phone again and again, but he didn’t answer. He managed to lose you at a red light, vanishing before your eyes. You slammed your hands against the steering wheel, cursing through clenched teeth.

At last, you arrived at his house. The guards tried to stop you, but you shoved past them in a storm of fury. All you could see was the heavy wooden door standing between you and your own flesh and blood. You banged on the door with all your strength until the butler opened. He tried to stop you politely, you ignored him.

Inside, you heard a giggle Emilia’s from upstairs. You took the stairs two at a time. You flung open a door and there they were. Sitting on the bed, a cartoon playing on the screen in front of them, each holding a brand-new doll you’d never seen before. But when they saw you, their eyes widened. They didn’t run into your arms like they always did. They clung to their dolls as if you were a stranger, As if he planted poisonous things about you in their minds.

Before you could utter a word, you heard Marcus’s voice behind you:

“Breaking into a house like this is childish behavior, don't you think?”