Chapter 3 - PROJECT LILY
Julian stared at the screen.
Lily stood beside him.
“What does my name mean?”
He immediately closed the laptop halfway.
“Nothing you need to see.”
“Daddy.”
“Lily.”
“I’m not a baby.”
Julian looked at her.
Eight years old.
Still trembling from nearly being killed by her own grandmother.
And yet she was standing there trying not to cry.
He opened the laptop again.
The folder contained documents.
Medical records.
School schedules.
Photos.
Hundreds of photos.
Lily at the park.
Lily outside school.
Lily asleep in the back seat of Julian’s car.
Someone had been watching her for months.
Julian’s fists tightened.
Then he found the financial files.
Payments to private investigators.
Payments to Victor.
Payments to a judge.
Payments to someone listed only as “R.S.”
Lily pointed at the screen.
“What’s that?”
A document titled ACCIDENT CONTINGENCY.
Julian opened it.
His stomach turned.
It described multiple scenarios in which Lily’s death could be made to look accidental.
A fall from a horse.
A boating accident.
A house fire.
A balcony fall.
Julian pushed away from the desk.
“Oh, God.”
Lily’s voice was barely audible.
“She planned it?”
Julian turned.
He wished she hadn’t understood.
But she had.
He knelt.
“Listen to me. None of this is because of you.”
“Because of my money?”
“Yes.”
“I don’t want the money.”
Julian’s throat tightened.
“I know.”
“She can have it.”
“No.”
“I don’t care!”
“I do.”
Lily began to cry.
“I just want Mom.”
The words hit Julian harder than any bullet.
Lily’s mother, Caroline, had died two years earlier in what police called a highway accident.
Julian had always believed it.
Until now.
His eyes slowly returned to the laptop.
He typed CAROLINE into the search bar.
One result appeared.
CAROLINE VANCE — RESOLUTION.
His hands went cold.
He opened the file.
There were bank transfers.
Vehicle maintenance reports.
A payment to an auto mechanic.
Then a photograph of Caroline’s wrecked SUV.
Below it was a note.
BRAKE LINE SUCCESSFULLY COMPROMISED.
Julian stopped breathing.
Lily watched his face.
“Daddy?”
He couldn’t answer.
Caroline hadn’t died in an accident.
She had been murdered.
And somebody inside his family had paid for it.
Then a voice came from behind them.
“You weren’t supposed to find that.”
Julian spun around.
May you like
A man stood in the doorway.
He was holding a pistol.
