Chapter 6 - THE NANNY’S SECRET
Lily spent six hours in an interrogation room.
A detective placed photographs on the table.
Bundles of cash.
Medication bottles.
A forged passport.
All recovered from Lily’s apartment.
“Tell us who paid you.”
“Nobody paid me.”
“The evidence says otherwise.”
“The evidence was planted.”
“By whom?”
“Serena Montigue.”
The detective leaned back.
“You are accusing one of the wealthiest women in Illinois.”
“I am accusing the woman who hurt Ethan.”
The door opened.
Victor entered with his attorney.
The detective stood.
“This is an active interrogation.”
Victor placed a document on the table.
“She is being released into my custody.”
Lily looked at him.
She had expected anger.
Instead, she saw calculation.
Outside the station, she pulled her arm away.
“Do you believe I did this?”
Victor opened the car door.
“I believe someone wants me to believe you did.”
“That is not an answer.”
“No.”
His voice was quiet.
“I do not believe you hurt my son.”
Lily’s eyes filled with relief.
Victor continued.
“But you have not told me everything.”
She stiffened.
“What do you mean?”
“Your name is not Lily Parker.”
The relief vanished.
Victor handed her a thin file.
Inside was an old newspaper photograph.
A younger Lily stood beside a middle-aged man in a courthouse.
The headline read:
ACCOUNTANT VANISHES AFTER TESTIFYING AGAINST MONTIGUE FOUNDATION.
Victor watched her.
“Your real name is Lillian Ross.”
“Your father worked for Serena’s family.”
Lily slowly closed the folder.
“Yes.”
“Why did you enter my house under a false identity?”
“To protect Ethan.”
“From what?”
“From the Montigues.”
Victor’s gaze hardened.
“You knew Serena was dangerous?”
“I suspected it.”
“And you said nothing?”
“I needed proof.”
Victor stepped closer.
“You had six months.”
Lily’s voice cracked.
“My father collected evidence against Serena’s family.”
“He disappeared before he could testify.”
“Everyone said he ran.”
“I never believed it.”
“What does that have to do with Ethan?”
Lily looked toward the black car waiting at the curb.
“Serena was not trying to become Ethan’s stepmother.”
“She was trying to become his legal guardian.”
Victor stared at her.
“Why?”
“Because if anything happened to you, she would control the Blackwood trust through him.”
Victor’s face went cold.
Lily lowered her voice.
May you like
“And according to the documents my father found…”
“Something was supposed to happen to you on your wedding night.”
