At 3 a.m., I jolted awake when I heard my daughter’s bedroom door click open. My husband slipped inside quietly, just like every night. My hands trembling, I opened the hidden camera app I had secretly placed inside her stuffed animal a few days earlier… ‘Daddy… please don’t…’ her sobbing voice came through the speaker. I jumped out of bed, my heart about to explode, but what I saw next was more horrifying than any nightmare I’ve ever had. Moms… what am I supposed to do…?”

For weeks, Emma had been unable to explain the unease curling inside her, a constant whisper that something was wrong. Lily had become withdrawn, flinching at sudden sounds, avoiding eye contact with her father, Mark. Whenever Emma asked what was bothering her, Lily would force a smile too quickly, like she’d rehearsed it.Continue reading…Three nights ago, after another unexplained bruise on Lily’s arm, Emma made a decision she prayed she’d never regret: she hid a tiny nanny-cam inside Lily’s stuffed rabbit. She told herself it was paranoia. She told herself she would watch the footage and feel foolish for even suspecting anything.

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