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“What about the other stuff like school and shit?” Mr. Franks asked.

I smiled. “Right now, Danika is nowhere near ready for all the other stuff. For all intents and purposes, she is a newborn. You two are starting from scratch with her. Your priority must be making Danika feel safe. She needs to accept and rely on the fact that neither one of you is going anywhere. What do you do for a living, Mr. Franks?”

“I’m a security consultant. I own my own company in a way.”

“How often do you travel for work?”

“Only when I need to. Generally, I can do what I need to do from home.”

Nodding, I made a few notes in my book. “That’s good. And what about you, Mr. Sharp?”

“I too own my own tech company, but I work out of the house.”

“And neither of you are from this area, correct?”

“No,” Mr. Sharp answered quickly. “We live in New York City, but we will do anything for Danika. That’s why we are here seeing you. When we started looking for the best child therapist, your name was highly recommended.”

“I’m good, but not the best. That would be Dr. Gideon Scott, who happens to live in New York City.”

“He was unavailable,” Mr. Franks stated flatly.

Mr. Sharp quickly added, “Dr. Jefferson, we will do anything for our little girl. If that means moving to Oklahoma City, so she gets the services she needs, then we will do it.”

Closing my book, I stated, “I would like to see Danika every day. The faster we get her on a set schedule, the easier it will be for her to adjust. Right now, she needs to be your primary concern. Nothing else. I know that’s going to be hard, considering both of you run your own companies, but I can’t stress this enough. Danika’s mental well-being is fragile. She knows nothing of limits or boundaries. Right now, predictability will make the world less scary for her.”

“We understand. Anything she needs,” Mr. Sharp assured.

Leaving the office, I watched as they walked down the hall. I was good at my job. I had been helping children overcome trauma for more than a few years now. But Danika was a case unlike any I’d had before.

I considered reaching out to Dr. Scott in New York, but there was something about the way Mr. Franks responded when I suggested him that had me second-guessing that option.

I had met Dr. Scott once. He gave a lecture in New York when I was in college. It was the first time I had flown in an airplane, and I was terrified. But I didn’t want to miss out on the opportunity to hear the man speak. The man was brilliant when it came to the mind of an abused child and what they needed to heal. After attending that lecture, I devoured everything I could that had been written and published by him. I owed my career to that man.

But I owed my patients more. Unless I got into an area that I could not handle, I would abide by Mr. Franks’ and Mr. Sharp’s wishes.

Picking up my recorder, I made some notes to be transcribed later this evening at home. Mr. Franks had stressed that none of Danika’s records could be accessed by anyone other than me. Going so far as to say that if I could not accommodate that request, they would seek out someone else.

If they weren’t willing to seek out Dr. Scott, then I was their best option. I only barely had my doctorate in psychology, and there were others who had been doing this longer than me. Some of them, decades longer. But I had a special insight that allowed me to help children through their trauma. One that I suspected might be similar to Dr. Scott’s.

“It would need to be made clear to Mr. Franks and Mr. Sharp both that child therapy is not just for the child. They both appear guarded in their responses. They need to trust in the process and in my confidentiality. They both need to take an active role in Danika’s therapy. Including therapy for themselves. Mr. Sharp especially. The circumstances of Danika’s birth, abduction, and his lack of knowledge of her existence require forgiveness on his part. He needs to forgive himself. Despite rescuing her the moment he learned of her birth and what she had been through, I could see that he blames himself for circumstances that were far beyond his control.”

Setting my recorder on my desk, I turned and looked out my window. I tried not to think about my childhood.

It wasn’t healthy to dwell on things in the past that couldn’t be changed. You learned from your experiences, good and bad. They molded each and every one of us into the person we were today. My childhood was the reason I chose a degree in child psychology.

I felt a special connection to Danika. Neglect, abandonment, abuse. I had experienced it all, except the abduction. Though there were times I prayed someone would take me away.

Then one day, my older brother did. He joined a motorcycle club when he was twenty-one. Until then, he stayed at home to protect me. He dropped out of high school when he was sixteen. Working odd jobs during the day while I was in school, so I never had to be home alone; ensuring I had enough food to eat and clothes to wear.

When he joined the club, he moved out and took me with him. My parents barely noticed. They didn’t put up much of a fuss when he forced them to sign the papers transferring guardianship to him.

He saved me that day.

He never knew how much.

When I was seven years old, my brother ran into my room when I woke up screaming at the man who stood over me, pleasuring himself.

It hadn’t been the first time, either.