I recognized him immediately, even though my mind desperately refused to accept what I was seeing.

It was my husband’s brother — the man we had not spoken to for several years after a loud family conflict and a court order banning him from approaching children.

The officer nodded, confirming my suspicions: he had already been identified through databases and arrested the very same day.

It turned out he had gotten a job at the school using forged documents as a temporary technical worker and had been observing the classes for several weeks.

The investigation established that on the day of the incident he gave my son “vitamins,” assuring him they were a gift from his father.

The pills caused a severe reaction in his body, but fortunately did not cause irreversible harm. Doctors managed to intervene in time.

When my husband was called in for questioning, his coldness found its explanation: he knew about his brother’s return to the city and had hidden it, hoping the past would not resurface.

That choice cost him his family. After the trial, in which the man was sentenced to real prison time, I filed for divorce and obtained a complete ban on any contact.

My son began to recover, and for the first time in a long while, I felt not fear, but a firm certainty: the truth, no matter how terrifying it may be, is always better than silent lies.