Chapter 3
The closet Lily mentioned was inside Renata’s dressing room.
Small.
Windowless.
No toys.
No light except beneath the door.
Grant stood inside it for less than ten seconds.
That was enough.
He imagined Lily there.
Four years old.
Alone.
Renata leaned against the bedroom doorway.
“Don’t be dramatic.”
Grant turned.
“She was locked in here?”
“Timed out.”
“In the dark?”
“She refused to behave.”
“What did she do?”
Renata rolled her eyes.
“She asked about Olivia.”
There it was.
Grant stepped out.
Renata folded her arms.
“She was obsessed.”
“Her mother died.”
“Two years ago.”
The words came without emotion.
Grant stared at her.
Renata shrugged.
“How long is everyone supposed to worship a dead woman?”
Grant’s expression changed.
Renata saw it.
Still continued.
“Olivia filled this house with secrets.”
Her eyes moved toward the key in Grant’s hand.
“And now her daughter is copying her.”
Grant asked:
“What secret?”
Renata laughed.
“You’re proving my point.”
“Which is?”
“That grief made you stupid.”
Silence.
She leaned closer.
“You spent two years staring at a child who wouldn’t speak and never once wondered what she was hiding.”
Grant’s hand tightened around the key.
“Lily wasn’t hiding.”
Renata smiled.
“Then why did she stop talking?”
Grant had asked himself that every night.
Doctors called it trauma.
He had accepted the word because it sounded like an explanation.
Maybe it had only been a description.
Renata moved toward him.
“You know what happened after Olivia died?”
Grant waited.
“Everyone treated Lily like glass.”
Her voice turned mocking.
“One tear and the house stops.”
She imitated a whimper.
“Daddy, Daddy.”
Grant’s jaw tightened.
Renata smiled.
“That’s why she became difficult.”
“Difficult?”
“She refuses food when she’s upset.”
Grant thought of dinner.
The nights Lily claimed she wasn’t hungry.
“Why?”
Renata shrugged.
“Because she knows refusing makes people panic.”
Grant looked at her.
“Did you ever take food from her?”
Renata smiled.
“Only when she used it as a weapon.”
That answer was enough.
Grant stepped away before anger made the decision for him.
Then Lily appeared in the hallway.
She had followed quietly.
Renata’s face changed instantly.
Sweet.
“Oh, baby.”
Lily stopped.
Renata opened her arms.
“Come here.”
Lily backed up.
The sweetness vanished.
“There.”
Renata looked at Grant.
“You see how manipulative she is?”
Lily whispered:
“You said bad girls don’t eat.”
Renata’s eyes sharpened.
“Lily.”
“You said Mommy was bad too.”
Silence.
Grant looked at Renata.
“What did you tell her about Olivia?”
Renata stared at Lily.
The child started shaking.
Grant stepped between them.
Renata laughed.
“Go on.”
She spoke past him.
“Tell Daddy what your perfect mommy did.”
Lily covered her ears.
Renata’s smile became cruel.
“Tell him why she was running that night.”
Grant froze.
He turned.
“That night?”
Renata stopped.
Grant’s voice dropped.
“You know she was running.”
Everyone had been told Olivia slipped near the back staircase after leaving the upstairs hall.
No one had said she was running.
Grant stepped closer.
“How do you know?”
May you like
Renata said nothing.
And the first crack in the story of Olivia’s death opened wider.
