Chapter 2 - THE FIRST RECORDING
Police arrived in eleven minutes.
Victoria spent nine of them explaining that Grace had attacked her first.
Marcus backed her story until Nathan played Emma's video.
Then both of them stopped talking.
Grace sat at the kitchen table with an ice pack against her shoulder. Lily would not let go of her sleeve.
Detective Lena Ortiz crouched beside the child.
"Did Ms. Victoria hurt you before today?"
Lily looked at Grace.
Grace nodded carefully.
"You can tell the truth, baby."
Lily whispered, "She makes me hide when Mr. Nathan comes home."
Nathan felt something cold move through him.
"Why?"
Lily looked at him again.
"She says you don't like kids."
Victoria laughed from across the room. "She's four. She says whatever Grace tells her."
Emma unlocked a second video.
Different day. Different room.
Victoria was standing outside the laundry room while Lily cried inside.
"You come out when you can say your mother is a liar," Victoria said on the recording.
Nathan turned to Grace.
"Why didn't you tell me?"
Grace's face hardened.
"Because every time I tried, someone made sure you weren't available."
Marcus looked away.
Nathan noticed.
Detective Ortiz noticed too.
The officers separated everyone.
Victoria was removed from the estate pending charges. Marcus was told not to return.
When the room finally quieted, Nathan knelt in front of Lily.
"Why did you call me Daddy?"
Grace's hand tightened around the ice pack.
Lily pointed toward Nathan's study.
"Because Mommy has your picture."
Nathan looked at Grace.
She closed her eyes.
"Not here," she whispered.
May you like
Then Emma spoke from behind them.
"It needs to be here. Because Victoria already knows who Lily's father is."
