Chapter 15
The messages went back three years.
Victor to Ethan.
Before my wedding.
Before Natalie moved into my house.
Before she ever held Lily’s hand in public.
Victor:
Sebastian trusts family faster than partners.
Ethan:
Natalie doesn’t like the kid.
Victor:
She doesn’t have to. She only has to look like she does.
My hands went cold.
Natalie closed her eyes.
I kept reading.
Ethan:
What if Sebastian won’t marry again?
Victor:
He will. Men raising daughters alone always mistake help for love.
I stopped.
That sentence did something violence hadn’t.
Not because it was clever.
Because it was true enough to hurt.
I had trusted Natalie around Lily before I trusted her with myself.
She had been patient.
Gentle.
Never rushed me.
I thought that meant character.
It had been strategy.
I looked at her.
“How much was real?”
She cried.
I waited.
“How much?”
“I did love you.”
“That wasn’t the question.”
Silence.
“Did you approach me because Victor told you to?”
“Yes.”
Lily’s birthday decorations suddenly looked ridiculous around us.
Victor straightened.
“We wanted an alliance.”
“No.”
I stared.
“You wanted access.”
“Same thing.”
“No.”
Ethan whispered:
“Dad said once Natalie was inside, Whitmore routes would open naturally.”
Mercer laughed.
Victor turned on him.
“What?”
Mercer smiled.
“You were running an infiltration before I ever met you.”
Victor looked away.
I continued reading.
A later message.
Victor:
Lily is the obstacle.
Ethan:
What do we do?
Victor:
Nothing obvious. Children expose adults who hate them.
My stomach turned.
He had known.
From the beginning.
Natalie had been coached to perform affection.
Then later, when marriage was secure and pregnancy created leverage, the mask slipped.
I looked at her.
“Did you ever care about Lily?”
Natalie stared at the floor.
My voice lowered.
“Answer.”
She whispered:
“Sometimes.”
That was worse than no.
Because it meant she had recognized Lily’s humanity and still chosen cruelty.
Victor interrupted.
“She was never supposed to become attached.”
Natalie looked at him.
“What?”
He shrugged.
“You needed distance.”
Something broke in her expression.
Even now, he was telling her what she had been allowed to feel.
She stared.
“You told me loving Lily would make me weak.”
Victor said:
“It would.”
Natalie began crying harder.
I felt no sympathy yet.
But I understood.
Victor had built his children using the same tools he now condemned in me.
Fear.
Approval.
Conditional love.
And Natalie had passed every one of them down to Lily.
May you like
The difference was Lily had me.
Natalie had only Victor.
