“My sister arrived trembling, br.uised, and begging me, ‘Don’t tell Dad anything.’ What she confessed about the woman living in her house chilled me to the bone. We looked so alike… that night I understood I could use my face to unmask the horror.”

I went to the bathroom so I wouldn’t lose my temper and break something in the living room. I stared at my reflection in the mirror and realized that for the first time, I didn’t just see myself; I saw Geneve’s pain looking back.

I walked back into the room with my heart feeling like it was on fire. “Go pack a small bag for me,” I told her firmly.

She looked at me with wide, confused eyes. “What are you talking about, Gabby?”

I took her shaking hands in mine and forced her to look at me. “Tonight, you stay here and pretend to be me, and I’m going back to that house as you.”

Geneve began shaking her head frantically, telling me I was insane and that Francine would hurt me too. But I couldn’t be stopped, so I took photos of every bruise on her body and sent them to a lawyer I knew.

I hid a small digital recorder inside the pocket of her oversized sweatshirt and pressed my apartment keys into her palm. “For once, that woman is going to mess with the daughter who knows how to fight back,” I said.