Chapter 6
The red suitcase was in Victor’s trunk.
My guard brought it inside.
Lily’s clothes.
Pajamas.
Hairbrush.
Medicine.
Her stuffed rabbit.
Enough for several days.
Natalie sat on the sofa with both hands over her stomach.
“It was precaution.”
“For what?”
“In case things became emotional.”
I stared.
“You planned to remove my child because I might become emotional after watching you humiliate her?”
Victor interrupted.
“You’re proving the point.”
I looked at him.
He smiled.
“You solve everything with intimidation.”
“No.”
I pointed at Lily’s suitcase.
“I solve problems after people create them.”
Victor leaned back.
“You never listen.”
“That sounds familiar.”
His eyes narrowed.
Natalie said:
“We were taking Lily to Dad’s lake house.”
“For how long?”
“A few days.”
“Without asking me.”
“You would say no.”
“Correct.”
“That’s why.”
The logic was so pure it almost impressed me.
She believed refusal justified secrecy.
Lily whispered:
“Mommy Natalie said no cake if I told Daddy.”
I turned.
Natalie’s face tightened.
“Stop calling me that.”
Lily flinched.
There.
Another layer.
Natalie wasn’t Lily’s mother.
I had never forced that word.
Neither had Lily.
Natalie hated it.
“You withheld food too?”
“It was cake.”
“Why?”
“She kept asking questions.”
“What questions?”
Lily answered:
“Why suitcase.”
Victor laughed.
“She snoops.”
“She found her own clothes packed.”
“She shouldn’t have opened the trunk.”
Victim blamed for discovering the plan.
Always.
Noah raised Ethan’s phone again.
“There’s more.”
Ethan lunged verbally this time.
“Put that down.”
Noah’s hands shook.
I nodded.
“Play it.”
The recording showed the garage the previous evening.
Ethan loading the suitcase.
Victor stood beside him.
Natalie’s voice from off-camera:
“Mercer said Lily has to be gone before Sebastian sees the stream.”
Ethan asked:
“Why?”
Natalie answered:
“Because if she stays, he won’t bend.”
I stopped the video.
The room went cold.
I looked at Natalie.
“You didn’t plan to take Lily after the livestream.”
She closed her eyes.
“You planned to take her before I could react.”
Victor stood.
“Enough.”
No.
Not enough.
Because now I understood the order.
Humiliate Lily.
Provoke me.
Broadcast it.
May you like
Remove her.
Then make me negotiate to get my own daughter back.
