Chapter 2Lioness

A powerful sense of dread seized me. I abandoned my half-eaten lunch, grabbed my keys, and sprinted out of the office, heading for the kindergarten.

I burst through the main doors and nearly collided with Ms. Davis.

I grabbed her arm. "Where is Leo?"

"Leo's mom, the children are on a field trip today for a day camp. Didn't you know?" Ms. Davis’s face was arranged in its usual professional smile, but when she saw me, a flicker of panic crossed her eyes.

I didn't have time for her games. I demanded the address of the camp and turned to leave.

"Leo's mom, please don't worry, the children are perfectly safe there, we have teachers watching them," she called after me, but I was already peeling out of the parking lot.

The day camp was in a large state park on the outskirts of the city. I followed the signs, searching every designated activity area—the playground, the picnic grounds, the nature center.

Not only was Leo not there, but I didn't see a single child from his class.

I found a park ranger, who told me there were no kindergarten field trips scheduled for today at all.

My blood turned to ice.

"Where did you hide my son?!"

I spun around to face Ms. Davis, who had just arrived. I grabbed the front of her shirt. "What did you do with my son?!"

"Leo's mom, please calm down. There are people here. Can't we discuss this calmly?"

"Yes, you're being very aggressive. This isn't helping anything," another teacher said, joining her. They surrounded me, not to help me find my son, but to criticize my behavior. In their eyes, my missing child was somehow proof that I was the one being unreasonable.

If he wasn't in the activity areas, I would search elsewhere. The woods, the fields, the lake... I scoured the entire park like a madwoman.

"Leo's... Leo's mom, if you don't stop, we're going to have to call the police!" one of the teachers threatened, her voice shaking.

"Go ahead! Let's see who they arrest when they get here!"

That shut them up.

Just then, I heard it. A muffled, suppressed cry.

It was coming from an old, abandoned cabin on a small hill.

The teachers' faces went white. They exchanged terrified glances.

"Leo's mom, that area is off-limits! It's dangerous! You can't go over there!"

I shook them off and ran towards the cabin. Their warnings were just noise. The only thing in my mind was getting through that door.

It was locked from the inside. I threw my entire body against it, again and again, until the lock finally splintered.

When I saw what was inside, I felt a murderous rage so intense I wanted to tear them all apart with my bare hands.

My Leo, my precious baby, was kneeling on the floor. His hands and feet were tied to a thick wooden pole. A woman was holding his head, forcing him to bow it to the ground in front of another boy.

"Get your hands off him!"

Leo heard my voice and started crying harder, struggling against his bonds.

I lunged towards my son, but a group of people—other parents—surged forward, forming a human wall between us.

The woman in the center, the one holding my son, stood up slowly.

I recognized her. It was Dylan’s mother, Jessica.

"Leo's mom, I warned you last night," she said, her voice dripping with venom. "I told you to teach your son some manners. You didn't listen. So I guess I have to do it for you."

As she spoke, she shoved my son's head down again, hard, against the cold wooden floor. Leo's forehead was already a mess of purple bruises. His lip was split and he was sobbing so hard he could barely breathe.

My heart felt like it was being crushed in a vice. I could barely breathe. My sweet boy, who I had never even raised my voice to, was being tortured.

"Leo's mom, don't be so dramatic," Ms. Davis said, blocking my path with a ridiculously earnest expression. "Jessica is just teaching Leo a valuable lesson about respect."

"That's right," another parent chimed in. "This is a community. We can't have one child ruining it for everyone. Why shouldn't he be held responsible for chipping another boy's tooth? If he gets away with it, it sets a bad example for our children. Can you take responsibility for that?"

I can understand some parents being ignorant. But the teachers? They were educated professionals. How could they stand by and let this happen?