“Daddy, Mommy said I was a burden and locked me here,” my 7-year-old wept from inside a dog cage. Returning from war, my heart shattered. Then, my wife walked out in silk with a stranger, shocked to see me alive. She thought I was dead-unaware that a trained soldier’s wrath had just begun…

wrists, red and raw where the wire had chafed her.

“They’re gone?” I asked.

“They packed the big suitcases,” Emma said. “Marcus told me to stay in the ‘Thinking Box’ until they came back. He said if I yelled, the monsters would hear me.”

I stood up, holding her like she was the only thing keeping the world from spinning off its axis. I started toward continue reading …