Chapter 2 - The Man at the Door
Derek shoved the partly open front door all the way inward.
It struck the wall with a heavy bang.
Noah stood pressed against the entryway wall, one arm held against his chest. Toy cars, a stuffed bear, and his dropped phone were scattered across the tile.
Travis stood six feet away in a black hoodie.
A wooden baseball bat hung beside his leg.
Derek crossed the threshold and immediately placed himself between them.
“Move away from the boy.”
Travis tightened both hands around the bat.
“This is none of your business.”
Derek did not answer immediately.
He glanced back once.
Noah’s cheeks were wet. His small fingers curled around his injured arm. He was trying not to make another sound.
Derek turned toward Travis again.
Whatever Travis saw in his face made him shift his feet.
But humiliation and fear are dangerous when they happen together.
Travis raised the bat toward shoulder height.
He never completed the motion.
Derek stepped inside the arc, caught his wrist with both hands, and forced the arm downward before the swing could begin.
No punch.
No wild struggle.
Only a fast, controlled movement that turned the weapon away from Noah.
“Drop it. Now.”
The bat struck the tile and rolled through the toy cars.
Travis stumbled backward into the wall.
Derek released him immediately and returned to the space between him and Noah.
Then Lena appeared outside the open door with her car keys in one hand.
She looked at the bat.
Then at Noah’s arm.
Then at Travis.
The color left her face.
Derek raised his phone.
My voice came through the speaker.
“Derek… is Noah safe?”
“He is now.”
Sirens were approaching.
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Travis heard them too.
For the first time, he looked less like an angry man and more like someone trying to calculate which lie could still survive.
