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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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at the color, and then ran her hand across the mantel as if checking for dust.

I remained near the front door, one hand resting on the curve of my pregnant stomach.

My parents stood beside me.

Dad still had white paint beneath his fingernails from finishing the nursery trim that morning. Mom held a silver tray with iced tea, lemon slices, and the pecan continue reading …

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