Chapter 3 - WHY LILY RECORDED
At the hospital, Ethan’s X-ray confirmed a small fracture near the wrist.
Victor sat beside the exam table while Lily stood against the wall, twisting her fingers together.
“Why were you recording?” he asked.
Lily did not answer immediately.
“Because I knew nobody would believe me without proof.”
Victor flinched.
“Did I give you a reason to think that?”
She looked at him carefully. “You love your son. But you also loved Serena.”
The words were fair. That made them hurt more.
Lily explained that two months earlier Ethan had begun becoming strangely frightened whenever Serena entered the nursery. He would bury his face in Lily’s shoulder. He stopped reaching for Serena. Twice, Lily found finger-shaped marks on his upper arm.
“I asked Serena about them,” Lily said. “She told me toddlers bruise.”
“And you didn’t come to me?”
“I tried once.”
Victor’s chest tightened again.
“When?”
“The night of your Chicago investor dinner. I waited outside your study.”
Victor remembered. Serena had stepped into the hallway and told him Lily had gone home sick.
He had believed her.
Lily reached into her bag and removed her phone.
“I started documenting everything. Dates. Photos. Audio.”
“How much?”
“Enough that she tried to get me fired four times.”
Victor looked at Ethan asleep against a pillow, tiny cast temporary and bright white.
“Send me all of it.”
Lily hesitated.
“There’s something else.”
She opened a folder.
A photograph appeared on the screen.
It showed a prescription bottle sitting on Serena’s vanity.
Victor leaned closer.
The name on the bottle was Ethan Blackwood.
But Victor had never approved the medication.
May you like
“What is that?”
Lily whispered, “That’s what I’ve been trying to find out.”
