Mark rushed across the slippery marble floor and dropped down onto his knees right beside her.
He gently took the crying infant into his warm arms and pulled Emily close to him.
The baby boy was shivering wildly from the cold air sweeping under the back garden door frame.
Mark wrapped his heavy wool overcoat around both of his children on the freezing marble ground.
He noticed red marks on Emily's slender wrists and deep dark circles underneath her weary eyes.
Mark: I'm right here, daddy's got you. Tell me who did this to you!
Emily buried her wet face into her father's shoulder, her small frame shaking with violent sobs.
Emily: I tried, I tried so hard to protect him from her...
Mark: Speak to me! What did she do?
Emily: Mom told us if we made a single sound, she'd lock us away again!
Mark felt a wave of cold shock travel through his chest as he stared at his daughter.
He could not comprehend how Brenda could ever treat innocent young children with such cruel disregard.
Mark: Where has she been keeping you two while I was away in New York?
Emily: She locked the main house doors and moved all our things into the dark basement room.
Emily wiped her face with her torn sweater sleeve while holding onto Mark's suit jacket sleeves tightly.
Emily: She took my phone so I couldn't call your hotel or dial emergency dispatch operators.
Emily: She said you spent all our money and left us forever without leaving any cash behind.
Mark squeezed his eyes shut as an overwhelming surge of anger flared deep inside his heart.
He had left three thousand dollars in cash inside the kitchen counter drawer before leaving for New York.
He had also set up a credit card specifically for grocery shopping and children's winter supplies.
Mark: That is a complete lie, sweetheart. I would never abandon you or baby Toby ever.
Emily: She brought strange men into the main house and spent all day drinking expensive wine.
Emily: When Toby cried because he was hungry, she shut us in the storage room under stairs.
Mark looked down at baby Toby's pale cheeks and felt tears filling his own tired eyes.
The baby was sucking hungrily on his small thumb, desperate for warm milk and fresh clothes.
Mark: Did she touch you? Did she push you down those wooden basement steps, Emily?
Emily: I slipped while trying to fetch Toby's baby formula from the high pantry shelf yesterday.
Emily: She watched me fall and just laughed before taking the keys away from my hands.