For several seconds, I couldn't move.

My brother's face remained frozen on my phone.

Marcus Bennett.

Forty-seven years old.

My father's youngest son.

A man I had once trusted with my business, my money, and my children's lives.

A man I had forbidden from entering our home three years earlier.

“Dad?”

Jordan's voice dragged me back into the room.

“Why would Uncle Marcus want me gone?”

I looked at Maya.

She was trembling so badly that Claire had to guide her onto the sofa.

“Maya,” I said carefully, “tell me what happened.”

She pressed both hands over her face.

“I can't.”

“Why?”

“He'll know.”

My stomach tightened.

“Who will know?”

She didn't answer.

Claire knelt in front of her.

“Sweetheart, you're safe here.”

Maya suddenly began shaking her head.

“No, I'm not.”

Those words frightened me more than anything else she had said.

Jordan took another step backward.

“So she made up a story about me because Uncle Marcus told her to?”

“Jordan,” I warned.

“No, Dad. I need to know.”

His voice broke.

“Because five minutes ago, my own mother looked at me like I was some kind of monster.”

Claire flinched.

“Jordan, I was trying to protect your sister.”

“What about protecting me?”

She opened her mouth.

Nothing came out.

I returned my attention to the recording.

Marcus stood beside our coffee table, dressed in a dark jacket.

He placed the envelope into Maya's hands.

She pushed it back.

He leaned close and said something.

Then he took out his phone.

Maya looked at the screen.

Her shoulders collapsed.

A moment later, Marcus pointed toward the staircase.

Jordan reached toward my phone.

“Can you turn up the sound?”

“The living-room camera doesn't record audio.”

Nia spoke from behind us.

“But I heard some of it.”

Every head turned.

“What did you hear?” I asked.

Nia twisted her fingers together.

“I came downstairs because I heard Maya crying.”

“Did you see Marcus?”

“Only when he was leaving.”

“And what did he say?”

She hesitated.

“He said, ‘Do what we agreed, or everybody finds out.’”

Maya suddenly stood.

“STOP!”

Her scream startled us.

She looked at Nia with tears streaming down her cheeks.

“Please stop talking!”

Nia started crying too.

“Maya, he's hurting you.”

“You don't understand!”

“Then help us understand,” I said.

Maya stared at me.

For one heartbreaking moment, I saw the little girl who used to climb onto my shoulders and ask me to carry her around the backyard.

Then her expression hardened.

“I already told you what happened.”

Jordan looked devastated.

“You're still saying I did something?”

She looked away.

“Jordan, please.”

“Look at me.”

She wouldn't.

“I'm your brother.”

Her chin trembled.

“I know.”

“I helped you learn how to ride a bicycle. I stayed awake with you when you had nightmares.”

“Stop.”

“I drove you to school when everybody was making fun of your braces.”

“Jordan, please!”

He pointed toward the screen.

“And now you're letting Uncle Marcus turn me into somebody I'm not?”

Maya burst into tears.

I stepped between them.

“That is enough.”

Jordan stared at me.

“You're still protecting her.”

“I'm protecting both of you.”

“No. You're protecting the person accusing me.”

The accusation hurt because there was truth in it.

I had demanded answers from Jordan.

But I hadn't demanded the same from Maya.

I took a slow breath.

“Maya, I need to ask you something important.”

She looked at me.

“Did Jordan threaten you, hurt you, or behave inappropriately toward you?”

Her eyes widened.

I continued gently.

“You can tell me the truth. Whatever it is, we'll make sure you're safe.”

She looked at Claire.

Then at Jordan.

Then down at the floor.

A long silence followed.

Finally, she whispered, “No.”

Jordan closed his eyes.

Claire covered her mouth.

I felt relief for one moment.

Then anger.

Terrible anger.

“Then why did you accuse him?”

Maya began sobbing.

“Because Uncle Marcus said I had to.”

Jordan sank into a chair.

I turned away before my daughter could see the rage on my face.

Marcus.

After everything he had done, he was using my children.

Again.

I thought about calling him immediately.

Then I remembered the envelope.

“Maya, where is it?”

She looked up.

“What?”

“The envelope Marcus gave you.”

Her face changed.

“I threw it away.”

“Where?”

“In the trash.”

Nia shook her head.

“No, you didn't.”

Maya stared at her.

Nia walked toward the hallway.

“I saw you hide it in the umbrella stand.”

She returned with a small brown envelope.

Maya made a frightened sound.

I opened it.

Inside was a printed photograph.

A photograph of Nia.

She was leaving her school building.

The picture had clearly been taken without her knowledge.

On the back, someone had written six words.

I read them silently.

Then read them again.

CLAIM YOUR SON IS DANGEROUS.

OR YOUR SISTER IS NEXT.

My hands went cold.

Claire looked over my shoulder.

When she saw the photograph, she gasped.

Nia stared at it.

“That's me.”

I immediately checked the front door.

Locked.

Then the back door.

Locked.

I called our security company and requested that the exterior cameras be checked.

But before I could finish explaining, my phone vibrated.

An unknown number.

One message.

I opened it.

It contained a photograph taken from outside our house.

Through our living-room window.

The photograph showed all five of us standing together.

And underneath it were four words.

YOU SHOULD HAVE OBEYED.