Chapter 1: The Sound Behind the Door

Chapter 1: The Sound Behind the Door

The penthouse was supposed to be silent.

My flight from New York had landed three days earlier than expected, but I had told no one. I wanted to surprise my daughter, Lily, before her final exams.

Instead, the moment I opened the front door, I heard her crying.

Not ordinary crying.

It was the broken, breathless sound of someone trying not to scream.

I dropped my suitcase and ran toward the living room.

Then I saw her.

My seventeen-year-old daughter was kneeling on a pile of durian shells scattered across the white carpet. Her school blouse was torn at one shoulder. Red marks covered her arms, and her knees were bleeding.

Victoria stood over her with a leather belt.

My wife of six months.

The woman I had trusted to protect Lily while I was away.

Victoria raised the belt again.

“Victoria.”

My voice barely sounded human.

She froze.

The belt slipped from her hand.

“Darling,” she whispered. “You’re home early.”

I walked past her without answering.

Lily looked up at me. Her face was pale, her lips trembling.

“Dad?”

I dropped to my knees beside her.

“I’m here.”

She tried to stand, but her legs gave out. I caught her before she hit the floor.

Victoria rushed forward.

“Let me explain. Lily attacked me first. She’s been completely out of control since you left.”

I looked at my daughter’s torn clothes.

Then at the belt.

Then at the blood on the carpet.

“You expect me to believe she did this to herself?”

Victoria’s expression hardened.

“You don’t know what she’s been like. She lies. She steals. She threatens me.”

Lily gripped my sleeve.

“I didn’t.”

“I know,” I said.

Victoria stared at me.

“You don’t even want to hear my side?”

I lifted Lily carefully into my arms.

“You’ll have plenty of time to tell your side.”

A flicker of relief crossed Victoria’s face.

Then I finished.

“To the police.”

Her face went white.

I carried Lily toward the door, but she suddenly grabbed my jacket.

“Dad, wait.”

“What is it?”

Her frightened eyes moved toward Victoria.

“She has my phone.”

Victoria took a small step backward.

“And she deleted the videos.”

I stopped.

“What videos?”

Lily swallowed painfully.

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