Chapter 3
I took Lily inside.
No one stopped me.
Not because Margaret allowed it.
Because six Whitmore guards moved when I moved.
She noticed.
Of course she did.
Her eyes followed them.
Daniel did too.
I sat Lily in the library.
One of my women brought ice for her wrist.
The mark was shallow.
The fear wasn’t.
“Did Daddy chain you?”
She shook her head.
“Grandma.”
“Did Daddy know?”
Tiny nod.
“What did he say?”
Lily looked down.
“He said stay there.”
My chest tightened.
“Anything else?”
She whispered:
“If I cry, I don’t get dinner.”
I closed my eyes.
Three years old.
Chained outside.
Threatened with food.
Because she cried.
Margaret entered without knocking.
“She survived.”
I looked up.
“So that’s your defense?”
“She needs toughness.”
“She’s three.”
“And?”
That word.
Again.
Pain only mattered to Margaret when it belonged to her.
Lily hid behind my shoulder.
Margaret smiled at her.
“Go ahead. Cry. Mommy will rescue you forever.”
I stood.
“Don’t speak to her.”
Margaret laughed.
“She’ll grow useless.”
“Like Daniel?”
The smile disappeared.
Good.
Daniel entered behind her.
“Claire.”
“What?”
“We need to talk privately.”
“No.”
“This is marriage business.”
“You made it family business when you chained our child outside.”
He lowered his voice.
“She embarrassed Mother.”
Lily heard him.
I saw it.
“What did she do?”
Daniel looked away.
Margaret answered.
“She called me a liar.”
I almost smiled.
“Was she wrong?”
Margaret’s eyes hardened.
Lily tugged my sleeve.
“Grandma said Daddy has a new family.”
Silence.
I looked at Daniel.
“What new family?”
“No one.”
Lily continued.
“She said I have to go away before baby comes.”
I stared.
“What baby?”
Daniel froze.
Margaret closed her eyes.
Too late.
I wasn’t pregnant.
There was no baby in our house.
May you like
But someone had clearly been promised one.
And Lily had been told she would be removed before it arrived.
