Chapter 11 - LILY TELLS THE TRUTH
“Daddy?”
“Yeah, bug?”
“Are you mad at me?”
He leaned closer. “Never.”
“I didn’t tell you.”
“You were scared.”
“Mommy said you’d get mad if I ruined her work.”
Daniel swallowed hard. “I’m mad at the grown-ups who scared you. Not you.”
Lily watched him carefully.
Then she reached under her pillow and pulled out a folded piece of paper.
A drawing.
Their house.
Daniel in the driveway.
Lily in an upstairs window.
Melissa standing beside a black car.
And another man wearing glasses.
“Who is that?” Daniel asked.
Lily tapped the man with one finger. “Mr. Evan.”
Daniel went still.
“When did he come to the house?”
“When you were gone.”
“How many times?”
She shrugged. “A lot.”
“What did he do?”
“He talked to Mommy in the blue room.”
Daniel’s pulse quickened.
“Did you hear them?”
Lily nodded.
“What did they say?”
She looked toward the door as if Melissa might walk in.
Daniel squeezed her hand. “You’re safe.”
Lily whispered, “They said after Friday, you wouldn’t be my daddy anymore.”
Daniel felt something inside him break.
“Why?”
“Mommy said we were going somewhere new.”
“Where?”
“I don’t know.”
She unfolded the paper farther.
On the back was another drawing.
A house beside water.
A long dock.
A red roof.
Daniel stared at it.
“The lake house,” he whispered.
Lily nodded.
Then she pointed to a tiny square she had drawn beneath the dock.
“What’s that?” he asked.
Her face tightened.
“The box.”
“What box?”
“The one Mommy said I’d have to sit in if I didn’t do the last video right.”
Daniel’s blood went cold.
May you like
He stood so fast the chair fell backward.
And for the first time, Lily saw fear on her father’s face.
