CHAPTER 2
I called 911 from the kitchen.
Victoria laughed when she realized what I was doing.
At least she tried to.
“You’re calling the police because Lily washed dishes?”
I kept Lily against me.
“I’m calling because her hands are burned and she says you hurt her every day.”
“Daniel, hang up.”
“No.”
Her expression changed.
The beautiful, controlled woman disappeared.
Something colder replaced her.
“You are making a mistake.”
I looked at Lily.
“No. I already made the mistake.”
My mistake had been trusting her.
Within twelve minutes, two sheriff’s deputies entered my house.
An ambulance followed.
Lily refused to leave my arms until one of the paramedics showed her a stuffed dolphin from his emergency bag.
Even then, she held my sleeve.
The paramedic examined her hands.
His face told me enough before he spoke.
“These burns need to be evaluated.”
Victoria folded her arms.
“She has sensitive skin.”
The paramedic looked at her.
“This is more than sensitive skin.”
One deputy separated us.
Victoria was taken into the living room.
I went with Lily.
At the hospital, a pediatrician named Dr. Patel examined her.
The burns were superficial.
Painful, but unlikely to leave scars.
I almost cried from relief.
Then Dr. Patel lifted the back of Lily’s nightgown.
I stopped breathing.
There were faint marks across her thighs.
Some yellow.
Some purple.
Some already disappearing.
“Lily,” the doctor said gently, “do you know how these happened?”
Lily stared at the wall.
I wanted to answer for her.
I wanted to take every question away.
But Dr. Patel had already explained that Lily needed to speak in her own words.
So I sat beside her and said nothing.
Finally Lily whispered, “When I’m bad.”
“Who says you’re bad?”
“Victoria.”
My chest tightened.
“What happens when Victoria says you’re bad?”
Lily looked at me.
“She makes me stand in the closet.”
My throat closed.
“How long?”
“I don’t know.”
“Does she do anything else?”
Lily nodded.
“She takes Rabbit.”
Rabbit was the stuffed rabbit Lily had slept with since she was one.
“What does she do with Rabbit?”
“Puts him in the trash.”
My eyes burned.
“She says if I tell Daddy, she’ll make Rabbit go away forever.”
I turned my face.
For four years, I had negotiated contracts worth hundreds of millions of dollars without letting emotion interfere.
I could not hear my daughter explain why she had been silent without falling apart.
Dr. Patel touched my arm.
“There may be more she isn’t ready to say tonight.”
I nodded.
Child Protective Services arrived before midnight.
So did my attorney, Rachel Kim.
Rachel had worked with me for eight years.
She had seen me furious.
She had never seen me frightened.
“What happened?” she asked.
I told her.
Then I told her about Michael Hale.
Her eyes sharpened.
“The old report?”
“You said it was irrelevant.”
“I said it looked unrelated to your financial review.”
“Find him.”
“Daniel—”
“Find Michael.”
Rachel nodded.
“I will.”
Around one in the morning, a deputy came into the room.
Victoria had not been arrested.
Not yet.
The police needed statements, medical documentation and further investigation.
But an emergency protective order would prevent her from returning home that night.
I should have felt relieved.
I didn’t.
“Where is she?”
“She left with her mother.”
Evelyn Hale.
I had met Victoria’s mother dozens of times.
Elegant.
Soft-spoken.
Always pleasant.
The woman who had changed her statement after Michael’s hospitalization.
A memory came back to me.
Three Christmases earlier, Evelyn had watched Victoria snap at Lily for spilling juice.
Evelyn had gone completely silent.
At the time, I thought she was embarrassed.
Now I wondered if she had been afraid.
Lily finally fell asleep around two.
Her burned hands rested above the blanket.
I sat beside her.
Rachel stood near the window.
“Daniel.”
I looked at her.
“You need to prepare yourself.”
“For what?”
“Victoria will fight.”
“She hurt Lily.”
“I know.”
“Then what is there to fight?”
“Custody. Reputation. Money. Public perception. She will have an attorney by sunrise.”
My jaw tightened.
“She won’t get near Lily.”
Rachel hesitated.
“That depends on evidence.”
I stared at her.
“Her hands are evidence.”
“Yes.”
“The bruises are evidence.”
“Yes.”
“My daughter’s statement is evidence.”
“Yes.”
“Then why are you talking like she might walk back into our lives?”
“Because family court isn’t television.”
The words made me furious.
Rachel did not flinch.
“I’m telling you because I need you to be careful. No threats. No angry messages. No social media. Nothing she can use to claim you are unstable.”
I understood.
Victoria knew me.
She knew where to press.
And she would press everywhere.
At three thirty, my phone vibrated.
Victoria.
I almost ignored it.
Then I saw the message.
You have no idea what you just started.
A second message appeared.
Ask your precious daughter what really happened to Maria.
I stared at the name.
Maria.
I knew no Maria.
Rachel read over my shoulder.
“Don’t respond.”
I didn’t.
But another message arrived.
You think Lily is innocent because you’re never home.
My hands began shaking.
Then one final text appeared.
Michael lied too.
Rachel looked at me.
“That may be useful.”
“For what?”
“She just connected herself to him.”
I looked at Lily sleeping.
“What does Maria mean?”
“I don’t know.”
At seven that morning, I brought Lily home.
Police had photographed the kitchen.
The riding crop was gone as evidence.
The broken glass had been cleaned away.
But when we entered, Lily stopped.
Her breathing changed.
“Daddy?”
“Yes?”
“Can we not go in the kitchen?”
The question broke something inside me.
“Of course.”
We went upstairs.
I let her choose my bedroom.
She crawled into the middle of my bed with Rabbit, whom police had found stuffed beneath a laundry basket.
I thought she would sleep.
Instead, she whispered, “Daddy?”
“I’m here.”
“Miss Rosa tried to help me.”
I turned toward her.
“Rosa?”
Our former housekeeper.
Victoria had fired her six weeks earlier.
“She said Rosa stole jewelry.”
Lily shook her head.
“Victoria yelled at her.”
“What did Rosa do?”
“She took pictures.”
My heart started pounding.
“Pictures of what?”
Lily looked at her hands.
“Me.”
Within seconds, I was calling Rachel.
“Find Rosa too.”
Her answer was immediate.
“Already working on it.”
I looked at my daughter.
For weeks I had believed Rosa left our home because she was dishonest.
Now I knew differently.
She had seen something.
Maybe she had tried to stop it.
Maybe she had proof.
And suddenly Victoria’s threat did not scare me nearly as much.
May you like
Because for the first time since I walked into that kitchen, I understood that Lily had not been completely alone.
Someone else knew the truth.
