Chapter 1 - AGAIN

Three-year-old Lily Mercer was already crying when Vivian poured the second glass of water beside her knees and said, "Again."

Lily stared at it, confused. She had almost dried the first spill. Her little blue dress was soaked at the hem, one shoe hung loose from her heel, and the scrub brush in her hand was too big for her fingers.

Around her, nearly sixty guests stared anywhere but at the child.

"Go on," Vivian said.

Lily scrubbed.

"Daddy," she whispered.

Grant Mercer stood ten feet away with a bourbon in his hand and two investors beside him. He heard her. Everyone saw him hear her.

"Finish what you started," he said.

Lily's mouth trembled. "Daddy."

"Still dirty."

"Daddy!"

The cry cut through the reception hall.

Then the front doors opened.

Dante Rourke walked in with his longtime manager and one security guard. At sixty-eight, Dante was still instantly recognizable, but nothing in his face was theatrical when he saw Lily.

Vivian pressed one hand to Lily's shoulder when the girl tried to rise.

"You're not finished."

Dante started walking.

Grant noticed him and instantly changed faces. "Dante! Glad you made it."

Dante passed him without answering.

He crouched beside Lily. "Give me the brush, sweetheart."

Lily looked at Grant before she obeyed.

Dante set the brush down. "You're done."

Vivian folded her arms. "She made the mess."

"She is three."

"This is called teaching responsibility."

Lily pushed herself against Dante's leg.

Vivian reached for her.

Dante moved the child behind him. "Don't."

"Then act like it."

She shoved him.

Then Vivian slapped him.

The room gasped. Dante answered with one defensive open-handed strike, sending Vivian back into a chair.

Grant charged.

Dante turned, caught his arm, and redirected him into the edge of a cocktail table. Glass shattered. Grant hit the floor cursing.

Dante looked down at him.

"You had one job," he said. "Protect your kid."

"Please don't let them take me upstairs again."

May you like

My Son Sat There While His Wife Slapped My 4-Year-Old Granddaughter Hold...

MY SON WATCHED HIS WIFE HIT MY FOUR-YEAR-OLD GRANDDAUGHTER—BUT WHAT LILY WHISPERED NEXT MADE MY BLOOD RUN COLD.My four-year-old gr...

**My Wife Secretly Unplugged the Nursery Camera, Then Approached My 6-Mo...

My Wife Secretly Unplugged the Nursery Camera—Then I Saw Her Standing Over My 6-Month-Old Son With a Red-Hot Iron. But What She Sa...

I Came Home Early and Found My 5-Year-Old Daughter Eating Scraps Beside...

I thought I was coming home to an ordinary dinner.Instead, I found my five-year-old daughter sitting on the kitchen floor beside t...

Dante slowly turned around.

And for the first time that night, Grant Mercer looked afraid.