She Locked The Door

The words left Emma’s mouth quietly, almost apologetically, as though she were somehow responsible for what had happened to her. “She locked the door,” she whispered, her small voice cracking on the final word, fresh tears spilling down cheeks already raw from crying. David went very still, the warmth in his expression hardening into something colder, something far more dangerous than the fear he’d felt just moments earlier. “What did you say?” he asked, though he’d heard her perfectly clearly, needing somehow to hear it again, needing to be absolutely certain he understood exactly what his daughter had just told him. Emma nodded, her small hands twisting anxiously in the fabric of her shawl. “Isabelle told me to come outside. She said there was a surprise. And then she locked the door and didn’t come back.” David’s jaw tightened, a muscle working visibly along the side of his face as the full weight of what his daughter was describing settled over him. He’d left Emma in Isabelle’s care for less than twenty minutes, trusting her completely, trusting that the woman he was about to marry would look after his daughter the same way he would. Instead, Emma had been abandoned outside, alone, cold, and terrified, while the party continued without a single person noticing she was missing. Around them, the small crowd of curious guests had grown larger, murmurs spreading quickly through the group as word of what was happening began to circulate. David rose slowly to his feet, lifting Emma up with him, cradling her protectively against his chest as his eyes swept the crowd, searching until they landed on the one person he needed to see. Isabelle stood near the edge of the gathering guests, her expression shifting rapidly from polished composure to something far more uncertain as she registered the fury building visibly in David’s expression.