Chapter 2
I ended the livestream.
I did not delete it.
That distinction frightened Natalie.
“Give me the phone.”
“No.”
“It’s Ethan’s.”
“It’s evidence of what happened to Lily.”
Victor laughed.
“Evidence?”
He looked around the room.
“You’re turning a child’s tantrum into a criminal trial.”
“No.”
I held Lily closer.
“I’m turning the volume up on people who assumed she couldn’t speak for herself.”
Victor’s smile disappeared.
Noah moved behind me.
Ethan climbed from beneath the dessert cart.
His lip was bleeding.
“You hit me.”
“You hit me twice.”
“I was protecting my sister.”
“From what?”
Silence.
I looked at Natalie.
She touched her stomach.
There it was.
The shield.
“You’re frightening the baby.”
Lily heard her.
My daughter immediately looked guilty.
That told me this wasn’t the first time Natalie had used the pregnancy against her.
I crouched.
“Lily.”
She wouldn’t look at me.
“Did Natalie say you hurt the baby?”
Tiny nod.
Natalie snapped:
“Don’t interrogate her.”
I stared.
“She thinks crying harms your unborn child.”
“She gets hysterical.”
“She’s three.”
“She needs to learn self-control.”
Victor added:
“Better now than when she’s older and useless.”
Lily shrank against me.
My jaw tightened.
Noah whispered:
“Play the beginning.”
Natalie’s head turned sharply.
“Noah.”
He flinched.
She smiled sweetly.
Too sweetly.
“Your father needs his phone.”
Noah clutched my sleeve.
I opened the saved stream.
The first twenty minutes showed an empty kitchen.
Then voices.
Ethan first.
“We only need Sebastian angry on camera.”
My thumb stopped.
Natalie answered off-screen.
“He won’t lose control unless Lily’s involved.”
Victor laughed.
“Then involve Lily.”
The room became silent.
I looked up.
Natalie closed her eyes.
Ethan whispered:
“Dad…”
Victor said nothing.
I resumed.
Natalie’s recorded voice continued:
“She won’t cooperate.”
Ethan asked:
“With what?”
“Crying on cue.”
Victor replied:
“Then give her a reason.”
I stopped the video.
May you like
Lily had not been slapped because the party went wrong.
The party had been designed around making her cry.
