Chapter 10 - The Father Who Stayed
Ethan froze the pending transfer.
Then he suspended Victor’s access to every company system his attorneys could reach.
He expected to feel stronger.
Instead, he felt sick.
Each password changed exposed another door he had left open.
Each account review showed how much of his life he had handed to people who spoke with confidence.
By afternoon, a video of Grace’s kick had spread everywhere.
The clip began after Sabrina reached into her gown.
It ended before Lily spoke.
The captions called Grace violent.
Jealous.
Unstable.
Someone posted a picture of her small apartment building.
Her landlord called twice.
Grace turned her phone facedown.
Ethan saw the motion.
“I can release a statement.”
“Talk to the detective first.”
“They’re calling you a monster.”
“They can call me what they want.
Don’t put Lily’s story online to fix mine.”
He stopped.
It hadn’t occurred to him that defending one person could expose another.
In the library, Lily sat with a child advocate Bell had brought.
Grace stayed nearby at Lily’s request.
Ethan waited outside.
He heard only fragments through the door.
Sabrina checking drawers.
Sabrina asking what Olivia had given her.
Miles standing in the hall when Lily wanted to call her grandmother.
A little girl learning to measure every answer.
When the advocate finished, Ethan entered alone.
Lily was drawing blue ears on a rabbit.
He sat across from her.
“I need to tell you something.”
She kept coloring.
“I should have listened sooner.”
Her pencil stopped.
“When?”
The question stripped him bare.
“When you didn’t want Sabrina helping you at bedtime.
When you said you hated being alone with her.
When you asked me to come home.”
Lily stared at the paper.
“You said I had to try harder.”
“I did.”
“You said she was trying to love me.”
His throat tightened.
“I was wrong.”
Lily’s eyes filled.
“Why did you believe her?”
He could have said he was grieving.
Busy.
Fooled.
None of those answers belonged in a child’s lap.
“Because listening to her was easier.
And that was my failure.”
Lily set down the pencil.
For a long moment, she said nothing.
Then she pushed the drawing toward him.
“Mommy’s rabbit had one bent ear.”
Ethan picked up a blue pencil.
“Show me.”
Outside the room, Grace finally let herself cry.
Then her phone vibrated.
A message from Miles.
May you like
I HAVE OLIVIA’S KEYS.
COME ALONE IF YOU WANT THE REST.
