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My six-year-old nephew dragged his broken leg across seven blocks of pavement to reach my porch, with his starving three-year-old sister clinging to his shirt. I was fixing a loose hinge when I heard scraping on the steps and turned to see Drew crawling toward me, pale, shaking, and whispering, “She locked us downstairs again.” I called 911 before I even understood the whole story. But when he told me about Reena’s punishment room, I knew my brother had died believing a terrible lie.

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months ago.”

Aaron snapped his notebook shut. “That was just paperwork.”

“No,” Dad said quietly. “It was protection.”

Gerald took one step toward him. “Protection from whom?”

Mom set the tea tray on the entry table.

“From people who walk into someone else’s home and start dividing it among their relatives.”

Gerald’s jaw tightened. “My son cannot sign away continue reading …

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