Chapter 3: Echoes in the Dark
The first few weeks were a nightmare of un-doing. Un-doing the honeymoon, un-doing the joint accounts, but most importantly, un-doing the psychological damage inflicted on my son.
My late wife, Sarah, had passed away three years ago. I thought marrying Vanessa would give Leo a mother figure again. Instead, I had invited a predator into our sanctuary.
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As Leo slowly opened up in therapy, the truth bled out. Locking him in the study wasn't an isolated incident. It was the climax of months of quiet, calculated emotional abuse that happened strictly behind my back. Vanessa had systematically tried to erase Sarah's memory, throwing away Leo's drawings and whispering cruelties when I was at work.
I spent my nights sitting outside Leo’s door, consumed by guilt. How did I not see it?
