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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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her in.

“I need to speak with Rebecca,” Patricia said.

I joined them on the porch.

Patricia twisted a tissue between her fingers.

“I know you hate us.”

“I don’t hate you.”

“That almost feels worse.”

She looked toward the roses Mom had begun planting beside the steps.

“Gerald told Aaron that using the accounts was temporary. He said successful families move continue reading …

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