Chapter 4

The door had barely cracked open when a painfully thin little figure came stumbling out and threw herself into my arms.

"Mommy, you finally came back," Mia sobbed. "They kept saying you didn't want me anymore."

I held my daughter tight because my composure was shattering as the tears finally spilled over.

My precious Mia had vanished for only a few short months, yet she had withered away to nothing.

She was dressed in filthy, ragged clothes, and her bare arms were a patchwork of dark purple bruises.

A collective gasp rippled through the neighbors as they traded horrified looks.