Chapter 3 - THE WOMAN HE THOUGHT HE KNEW
Daniel took Lily to his sister Rachel's home rather than returning to the estate he had shared with Victoria during their engagement.
Rachel opened the door, took one look at Lily, and immediately pulled her niece into a hug.
"Who did this?"
Lily hid her face against Rachel's sweater.
Daniel answered before his daughter had to.
"Victoria."
Rachel's expression turned cold.
"That woman?"
He explained what had happened in the bridal suite. When he finished, Rachel sat down heavily.
"I knew something was wrong."
Daniel looked at her.
"What do you mean?"
Rachel hesitated.
"Victoria told me Lily was having behavioral problems. She said you were struggling because Lily refused to accept that you needed a new wife."
"She told you that?"
"She said Lily deliberately interrupted your dates, cried whenever you mentioned the wedding, and tried to make every important occasion about Emily."
Daniel felt sick.
Lily had never interrupted his dates. In fact, whenever he went out with Victoria, Lily often stayed with Rachel because she worried that her presence might spoil their evening.
He had believed Victoria when she said Lily needed more time to adjust.
He hadn't realized that his daughter had been quietly trying to make herself smaller.
Rachel continued.
"Victoria also said you were too protective because you felt guilty about Emily's death."
Daniel looked down.
After Emily died from a sudden illness, he had spent two years barely functioning. Work had become an escape, and Lily had learned not to ask too many questions when he came home exhausted.
Victoria had appeared during the loneliest period of his life.
She had been charming, patient, and apparently understanding.
Or so he had believed.
"Did she ever say anything directly to Lily?" he asked.
Rachel nodded reluctantly.
"She once told Lily that grown women didn't like competing with ghosts."
Daniel closed his eyes.
He remembered that evening.
Lily had asked to sleep in his room after a nightmare. Victoria had called it a bad habit and suggested that he was preventing his daughter from growing up.
He had defended Victoria's advice without questioning how Lily felt.
"I should have listened," he whispered.
Rachel sat beside him.
"You can't change what you didn't know. But you can change what you do now."
That evening, Daniel asked Lily whether Victoria had ever frightened her.
The girl twisted the sleeve of her cardigan.
"Sometimes."
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"Because you looked happy when she was around."
Daniel felt as though the floor had shifted beneath him.
Lily continued in a tiny voice.
"I thought if I was good enough, she would like me. Then you wouldn't have to choose."
Daniel pulled her close.
"You were never supposed to earn someone's kindness, Lily."
She began to cry.
He held her without telling her to stop, without asking her to be brave, and without pretending that everything would be fixed by morning.
Later, after Lily fell asleep, Daniel reviewed the messages again.
He discovered that the anonymous sender had included a second screenshot.
This one came from a private group chat between Victoria and several friends.
Victoria: After the wedding, the house rules change. No more pictures of Emily in the main rooms.
Vanessa: What about Lily's bedroom?
Victoria: Children adapt. She'll learn.
Daniel stared at the screen.
The woman he had planned to marry hadn't simply misunderstood his daughter.
She had been planning to erase the child's memories of her mother.
And somebody had been watching closely enough to know.
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The question was no longer whether Victoria had a cruel side.
The question was who else knew about it—and why they had waited until the wedding day to speak.
