Chapter 4 - Lily Finally Tells Her Father
Richard returned home before sunrise.
Lily was awake in his bed, wrapped in a blanket with her stuffed rabbit
under one arm.
Her hair had been gently cleaned around the stitches.
Richard sat beside her.
“I’m sorry.”
Lily looked confused.
“You didn’t break the vase.”
“No. I’m sorry I didn’t know you were scared of Victoria.”
Lily’s eyes lowered.
Richard did not push.
“You can tell me anything. You won’t get in trouble.”
After a long silence, Lily whispered:
“She said you’d send me away if I made you choose.”
Richard felt his chest tighten.
“Choose between who?”
“Me and her.”
He took Lily’s hand.
“That was never true.”
“She said I was difficult.”
“You’re a kid. Kids have difficult days.”
“She said Mommy would be disappointed in me.”
That hurt most.
Lily’s mother, Caroline, had died when Lily was three.
Victoria entered Richard’s life two years later.
Richard had believed Victoria’s interest in Lily was kindness.
Lily revealed a different reality.
Victoria punished her when Richard traveled.
She cut small pieces of her hair when Lily talked back.
She threw away drawings.
She told Lily expensive objects mattered because “people like you don’t
understand what things cost.”
The ballroom incident was simply the first time Victoria lost control in
front of witnesses.
Richard did not interrogate Lily.
He stopped when she became tired and promised trained professionals
would speak with her gently later.
Before she slept, Lily asked:
“Is Victoria coming back?”
“No.”
“Ever?”
Richard chose his words carefully.
“She won’t be living here.”
Lily relaxed for the first time.
Downstairs, Richard found Claire waiting.
“You really didn’t know?” she asked.
“No.”
Claire’s anger softened.
“Then know now.”
Richard nodded.
He would.
Police interviewed Victoria that morning.
She insisted Lily’s cut was accidental and denied prior mistreatment.
Witnesses from the ballroom described what they saw.
Richard provided security footage.
Then Maya called.
She had found a recent payment from Victoria to Andrew.
Not $180,000.
Only $2,400.
The memo read:
LILY — ORIGINAL DOCUMENT.
Richard stared.
Why was his daughter’s name attached to a payment involving Andrew?
Maya had another discovery.
Caroline, Richard’s late wife, had signed a document with Andrew eleven
years earlier.
Richard had never known they had met.
May you like
Whatever Andrew disappeared to protect had somehow involved Caroline
too.
