Chapter 8
Victor Price arrived twenty minutes later.
Savannah’s father.
He walked into the Whitmore house like he expected congratulations.
Then saw my guards.
His smile faded.
Margaret stood.
“Victor.”
He looked at her.
“You said Claire would be gone.”
There it was.
Public.
Clean.
No more hiding.
I leaned back.
“Sit.”
Victor looked at Daniel.
Not me.
Daniel said nothing.
I smiled.
“That was mistake one.”
Victor finally looked at me.
“I don’t take orders from you.”
Six Whitmore guards shifted.
He noticed.
I pointed to the chair.
He sat.
“What was at the south dock?”
He shrugged.
“Transportation.”
“For me?”
“For whoever wanted to leave.”
I dropped the restraints onto the table.
His expression changed.
“Those aren’t mine.”
Margaret snapped:
“Stop.”
Victor looked at her.
Another mistake.
I continued.
“You were taking Lily too.”
“No.”
“Her suitcase was packed.”
“Margaret handled the child.”
I looked at her.
Handled.
Lily heard it.
Margaret smiled at my daughter.
“You would have liked the lake house.”
Lily shook her head.
“You don’t know.”
“You’d have your own room.”
“I want Mommy.”
Margaret’s expression hardened.
“There.”
She looked at everyone.
“This is what Claire created.”
“A child who loves her mother?”
“A dependent child.”
I almost laughed.
Victor shifted impatiently.
“This was supposed to be simple.”
I turned.
“Explain simple.”
“Claire leaves. Daniel stabilizes Whitmore business. Savannah joins him. Families align.”
“And Lily?”
Silence.
“Say it.”
Victor looked at Margaret.
She answered.
“Raised elsewhere.”
My blood went cold.
“By whom?”
“People who don’t reward tears.”
Mark whispered:
“Jesus Christ.”
Margaret glared.
“Don’t become sentimental.”
He stared at his mother.
“You were sending your granddaughter away.”
“She was disrupting everything.”
Victor added:
“The girl is temporary.”
I looked at him.
“What?”
He realized too late.
Margaret closed her eyes.
I stepped closer.
“Temporary until what?”
No answer.
Savannah appeared in the doorway.
She had heard.
Her hand covered her stomach.
Victor looked at her.
“Go upstairs.”
She didn’t move.
I looked at Victor.
“You expected Lily to disappear once Savannah’s son was born.”
Silence.
Then Lily whispered:
May you like
“Grandma said good children get new families.”
And every adult in the room finally understood what Margaret had been teaching her.
