\u201cLet\u2019s go inside, sweeties,\u201d I said gently, rising to my feet. I shifted Theo higher on my hip and helped Maisie stand, supporting her weight. She clung to my hand as if letting go would mean losing her footing entirely.<\/p>\n
The walk back to the house felt like crossing a battlefield. Every rustle of leaves, every whisper of wind seemed charged with danger. I could feel Maisie\u2019s anxiety radiating from her in waves, matching my own heartbeat, which thudded loudly in my ears.<\/p>\n
Once inside, I locked the door with shaking fingers, double-checking each bolt. I set Theo down in his playpen, relieved when he stirred and opened his eyes, looking around the room with bleary confusion before settling back to sleep. His innocence was a small comfort; he didn\u2019t understand the gravity of what had happened.<\/p>\n
Maisie sat on the couch, hugging her knees to her chest. I sat beside her, wrapping an arm around her shoulders. \u201cYou\u2019re so brave, Maisie,\u201d I said, kissing the top of her head. \u201cI\u2019m so proud of you.\u201d<\/p>\n
Her small voice broke through the quiet. \u201cI was scared, Mommy.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI know, baby. But it\u2019s over now. You did everything right.\u201d<\/p>\n
As I dialed Tom\u2019s number, Maisie nestled closer, her trust in me a fragile, precious thing. I promised myself I would never let anyone harm them again. As the call connected, I steeled myself for the conversations and decisions to come. We would face this together, no matter what it took.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u201cLet\u2019s go inside, sweeties,\u201d I said gently, rising to my feet. I shifted Theo higher on my hip and helped Maisie stand, supporting her weight. She clung to my hand as if letting go would mean losing her footing entirely. The walk back to the house felt like crossing a battlefield. Every rustle of leaves, … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4067","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-latest"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/factznews.xyz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4067","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/factznews.xyz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/factznews.xyz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/factznews.xyz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/factznews.xyz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4067"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/factznews.xyz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4067\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4073,"href":"https:\/\/factznews.xyz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4067\/revisions\/4073"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/factznews.xyz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4067"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/factznews.xyz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4067"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/factznews.xyz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4067"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}