A Simple Game Ended Up Saving My Daughter’s Life

The polite mask completely dropped and I saw what Iris had been dealing with. Pure rage twisted his face as he grabbed a baseball bat from beside his desk.

He said nobody was leaving until Iris admitted she was a lying bitch and apologized for trying to get him in trouble. I pushed Iris behind me and told her to run downstairs and get to my car.

She hesitated and I screamed at her to go now. She ran and I heard her footsteps thundering down the stairs.

Cody tried to get past me to follow her and when I blocked him, he swung the bat at my head. I barely ducked in time and felt it whistle past my ear.

He swung again and this time connected with my shoulder, sending white hot pain shooting down my arm. I tackled him before he could swing a third time and we crashed into his desk, scattering papers and electronics everywhere.

We fought on the floor, him trying to reach the bat and me trying to keep him pinned. He was stronger than I expected and managed to shove me off.

I scrambled backward as he stood up with the bat raised again. That’s when I heard sirens getting closer.

Iris must have called 911 from my car. Cody heard them too and froze, the bat still raised above his head.

His eyes darted between me and the window and the door, calculating whether he could finish what he started before the police arrived. I saw him make the decision to run.

He dropped the bat and bolted past me, shoving me into the wall as he went. I heard him crashing down the stairs and then the back door slamming.

By the time I made it downstairs, red and blue lights were flooding through the front windows and two police officers were coming through the door with their hands on their weapons. I raised my hands and started explaining who I was and what happened, the words tumbling out in a confused rush.

One officer went to check on Iris in my car while the other took my statement. Within minutes, more units arrived and started searching the area for Cody.

An officer found him hiding in his neighbor’s shed 20 minutes later. They brought him back in handcuffs and he was yelling the whole time about how this was all a misunderstanding and I’d attacked him in his own house.

But then Iris showed the officers her bruises and told them about the months of escalating control and violence. They took photographs of Iris’s injuries under the bright lights of the police cruiser and I saw bruises I hadn’t noticed before.

Fingerprints on her upper arms, a faded black eye she’d covered with makeup, marks on her neck that were shaped like hands. The photographer documented everything while Iris stood there shaking and crying.

The officers asked if we wanted to press charges and I said yes immediately. One of them explained that with the physical evidence and the witnessed assault with the bat, Cody would likely be charged with multiple felonies including assault, battery, and false imprisonment.

They took Iris’s smashed phone as evidence and collected the bat from upstairs. A female detective arrived and took Iris to a separate car to give a more detailed statement.

I watched through the window as my daughter described months of abuse while the detective took notes. My ex-wife showed up 30 minutes later, having gotten a call from one of the officers.

She took one look at Iris’s bruises and started crying. She kept saying she didn’t know, she had no idea this was happening.

And I wanted to scream at her for not believing me when I said something felt wrong. They took us to the hospital to document Iris’s injuries more thoroughly and check for any that weren’t visible.

The doctor who examined her found three cracked ribs, extensive bruising across her torso, and signs of strangulation from a week prior that she’d hidden under turtlenecks. Each new injury made me feel sicker.

The doctor very gently asked Iris if there had been any sexual assault and Iris shook her head no, thank God. They kept her overnight for observation and gave her resources for counseling and support groups.

The detective came by the next morning to tell us that Cody had been charged with aggravated assault, battery, false imprisonment, and assault with a deadly weapon for the bat. He was being held on a $100,000 bail that his parents couldn’t afford.

The detective said they’d done a deeper investigation and found texts from Cody to his friends bragging about controlling his girlfriend and posting photos of Iris crying with captions about putting her in her place. Social media evidence that would make the case against him much stronger.

Over the next few days, the full story came out. Cody had started getting possessive about a month into their relationship, checking Iris’s phone constantly and getting angry if she talked to other boys.

He’d isolated her from her friends by starting fights whenever she made plans without him. He’d started pushing her around during arguments, then progressing to slapping and punching.

He’d threatened to kill himself if she ever tried to break up with him, showing her pills he’d supposedly collected for that purpose. He’d convinced her that nobody would believe her if she told anyone, that he’d make sure she got blamed for everything.

And it had worked. Iris had been trapped, terrified and completely alone because he’d systematically cut her off from her support system.

The only thing he hadn’t controlled was that one text message, the one she’d managed to send while he was in the bathroom. She’d packed it full of every code phrase she could remember, praying I’d recognize them after all these years.

She told me later she’d almost given up hope that I’d notice, that she thought maybe I’d forgotten the system or would think she was just using random words.

The preliminary hearing happened three weeks later. Iris had to testify about the abuse while Cody sat 20 feet away glaring at her.

She was terrified but got through it, her voice shaking but clear as she described each incident. The judge found probable cause for all charges and ordered Cody to stay away from Iris, our house, her school, and any place she was likely to be.

A restraining order was issued and he was fitted with an ankle monitor when his parents finally scraped together bail money. The trial was scheduled for six months later and the prosecutor told us the evidence was strong enough that Cody’s lawyer was already discussing a plea deal.