Chapter 1 - THE STAIRCASE

“DAD! SHE PUSHED ME!”

Lily’s scream cut through the ballroom. Daniel Mercer looked up just in time to see his seven-year-old daughter fall from the marble staircase.

One second, she was standing in her pale blue party dress. The next, she was tumbling toward the floor.

Daniel ran before he knew he was moving.

“Call 911!” he shouted.

He dropped beside Lily. She was awake, but her eyes were squeezed shut. Her right arm lay against her chest.

“Daddy?” she whispered.

“I’m here. Don’t move, sweetheart. Help’s coming.”

A hundred guests stood frozen around them. At the top of the stairs, Daniel’s wife, Caroline, gripped the railing. Her red dress stood out against the white marble.

Daniel had seen her hand on Lily’s shoulder. He was sure of it.

“What happened?” he asked.

Caroline came down two steps. “She slipped.”

Lily’s eyes opened.

“No,” she said, so quietly Daniel almost missed it.

Caroline looked straight at her. “Honey, you were running.”

Lily stopped speaking.

Daniel felt that silence more sharply than the scream.

Across the ballroom, his younger brother, Evan, lowered his phone. He had been recording the birthday toast seconds earlier. Daniel pointed at him.

“Keep that video.”

Evan glanced at Caroline, then tucked the phone into his jacket. “I will.”

The paramedics arrived. As they lifted Lily onto a stretcher, she caught Daniel’s sleeve.

“The paper,” she whispered.

“What paper?”

“The one she wanted.”

Caroline stepped close enough to hear. “She’s confused, Daniel.”

But Lily’s fingers tightened around his cuff.

Three days earlier, Daniel had found a board resolution inside a folder Caroline told him had been destroyed. It gave her control of his company if he was declared unable to manage it.

He had hidden the original.

Caroline didn’t know where.

As the paramedics wheeled Lily toward the doors, Daniel looked up at his wife. For the first time, he wondered if she had pushed Lily to make him talk.

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Then Evan’s phone buzzed. He stared at the screen, and the color drained from his face.

“The video,” he said. “It’s gone.”