Chapter 5
Natalie denied the house existed.
Victor didn’t.
“It’s mine.”
“Where?”
“North lake.”
I looked at Natalie.
“You were leaving?”
She touched her stomach.
“I needed options.”
“With my unborn child.”
“Our unborn child.”
“And Lily?”
Her face changed.
That was enough.
“Lily doesn’t come.”
Silence.
My daughter looked up at me.
I hated that she had heard it.
Victor leaned back.
“She isn’t Natalie’s responsibility.”
“She is my daughter.”
“Exactly.”
His smile was cruel.
“A reminder of the woman before her.”
Natalie snapped:
“Dad.”
Too late.
Lily’s face crumpled.
I crouched.
“Look at me.”
She wouldn’t.
I touched her chin gently.
“You are not going anywhere.”
Natalie sighed.
“Sebastian, don’t make promises you can’t keep.”
I looked at her.
“What does that mean?”
“Nothing.”
Victor smiled.
“She means a man with two children and half a city watching him might learn compromise.”
I stood.
“You planned to use Lily to force me out.”
“No.”
Victor’s tone became almost patient.
“We planned to give you perspective.”
There it was again.
Cruelty renamed as wisdom.
Noah suddenly spoke.
“There’s a red suitcase.”
Natalie went pale.
Ethan turned.
“Noah.”
He flinched.
I looked at him.
“What suitcase?”
“In Grandpa’s car.”
Victor’s jaw tightened.
“Children shouldn’t dig through vehicles.”
Noah looked at me.
“It has Lily’s clothes.”
My heart slowed.
Not Natalie’s.
Lily’s.
“How do you know?”
“I saw the pink sweater.”
Lily had one pink sweater with embroidered rabbits.
She wore it every Sunday.
I looked at Victor.
“What were you doing with my daughter’s clothes?”
He smiled.
“She needs discipline away from you.”
Lily moved behind my leg.
Victor saw it.
“See? Look at that dependence.”
He bent slightly toward her.
“Daddy can’t hide you forever.”
I stepped between them.
“Where were you taking her?”
“No one was taking her.”
Noah whispered:
“Then why did Uncle Ethan put her medicine in the suitcase?”
Ethan’s face changed.
Lily took daily medication for severe allergies.
Only someone planning to keep her overnight would pack it.
I looked at Ethan.
May you like
He looked at Natalie.
And my wife’s silence answered before either man could.
