The young woman raised a hand to shield herself from the light.
“Please don’t call my stepfather,” she said.
I didn’t know what to answer.
Daniela stood in front of them.
—This is Valentina. The boy is her brother, Nico.
—How long have you been here?
—Four days.
I felt my legs give way. My daughter had hidden two children in our house for four days. They had stayed in the closet while I was home, eating our food and using the bathroom when they thought I couldn’t hear them.
My first reaction was anger.
“What were you thinking?” I yelled. “I could have called the police thinking someone had broken in. You could be in legal trouble. You don’t even know if this story is true.”
Valentina hugged her brother tighter. Daniela began to cry.
—I had nowhere else to go.
I ordered him to explain everything to me.
Valentina lived with her mother, her stepfather, and Nico. She said her mother had been hospitalized after a serious fall. Her stepfather told neighbors it happened on the stairs, but Valentina insisted he had pushed her during an argument.
When the mother was hospitalized, the man began to take out his anger on the children. He screamed, broke things, and threatened to send Nico to another family if Valentina spoke out. One night, after drinking, he tried to take the boy away in his car. Valentina intervened and was hit on the arm.
Then he grabbed a backpack, wrapped his brother in a blanket, and left the house while his stepfather slept.
First he tried staying with a neighbor, but the woman was afraid to get involved. Then he called an aunt who lived far away, but she never answered. Finally, he wrote to Daniela, his partner of two years.
My daughter told him to come to our house.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” I asked.
—Because I thought you’d call the police and they’d take them back to him.
—The police do not release children without investigating.
Valentina says that no one believes him. He always seems kind in front of others.
I looked at the girl. She had a dark bruise around her arm and a small cut near her eyebrow. Nico remained silent. He was too quiet for a child his age.
My anger began to mix with another emotion: fear. I was no longer afraid that my daughter was doing something dangerous out of rebellion. I was afraid that two children were actually running away from a serious situation and that any wrong decision could make it worse.
I knelt in front of Valentina.
“I’m not going to call your stepfather. But you can’t stay hidden here any longer. We need to find help safely.”
The young woman denied it desperately.
—She’s taking Nico away. She says I’m not his mother and I can’t make any decisions.
—You’re right that you can’t face this alone. Neither can Daniela. But there are adults and professionals who should protect them.
Valentina started to cry. My daughter sat next to her and took her hand.
