Chapter 2
For a second, the entire room disappeared around me.
All I could see was the little brass key resting in Lily’s palm.
The key my father had given me three weeks before he died.
The key nobody was supposed to touch.
Not even my husband.
Especially not my husband.
I looked at Margaret.
“What did you give Daniel?”
She folded her arms.
“I have no idea what that child is talking about.”
Lily flinched.
Margaret saw it.
So did I.
I moved Lily behind me.
“Don’t look at her like that.”
“Like what?”
“Like you’re warning her.”
Margaret laughed.
It sounded forced.
“You’ve been traveling too much, Sarah. You come home exhausted and suddenly a five-year-old’s imagination becomes evidence?”
Lily’s fingers wrapped around the back of my shirt.
I could feel them shaking.
“She’s not imagining the bruises on her knees.”
Margaret’s mouth tightened.
“She fell.”
“I watched you holding her hair.”
“She was throwing a tantrum.”
“She was begging you to stop.”
Margaret reached for the door again.
I blocked her.
“Where is Daniel?”
“At work.”
“That wasn’t my question.”
Her eyes narrowed.
“He is your husband. Call him.”
I did.
Once.
Twice.
Three times.
No answer.
I looked at the clock.
4:17 p.m.
Daniel never ignored me during business hours.
He ran his own architecture firm.
His phone was practically attached to his hand.
I called his assistant.
“Vaughn Design, this is Rebecca.”
“Rebecca, it’s Sarah. Is Daniel there?”
Silence.
Not long.
But long enough.
“Rebecca?”
“He left early.”
“When?”
“About noon.”
“Did he say where he was going?”
Another pause.
“No.”
Margaret suddenly turned away.
Too quickly.
I saw it.
“Did he leave alone?”
Rebecca lowered her voice.
“Sarah, maybe you should ask Daniel.”
My stomach dropped.
“Ask him what?”
“I really shouldn’t—”
“Rebecca.”
“He left with a man I’ve never seen before.”
“What man?”
“I don’t know. Mid-fifties. Gray suit. They were arguing near the elevators.”
Margaret moved toward the hallway.
I grabbed her wrist.
She stared at my hand.
“Let go of me.”
“Who was Daniel meeting today?”
“I don’t manage his calendar.”
“Who did you give the key to?”
“I didn’t.”
Lily spoke from behind me.
“Yes, you did.”
Margaret snapped her head around.
“Stop lying!”
Lily screamed and covered her ears.
That was it.
I opened the front door.
“Get out.”
Margaret blinked.
“What?”
“Get out of my house.”
“My son owns half this house.”
“And you own none of it.”
Her face hardened.
“You’ll regret talking to me this way.”
“I already regret letting you near my daughter.”
She stared at me for several seconds.
Then she leaned closer.
Her voice dropped.
“You have no idea what Daniel has been protecting you from.”
I felt cold.
“Protecting me from what?”
Margaret smiled.
Not kindly.
“Ask him about your father.”
Then she walked out.
I locked the door behind her.
Three locks.
Then I set the alarm.
Lily stood in the middle of the living room.
Tiny.
Shaking.
Her hair was messy where Margaret had pulled it.
I knelt.
“Come here, baby.”
She ran into me.
I held her until her breathing slowed.
“I’m sorry.”
She looked confused.
“For what?”
“For leaving you with her.”
“You didn’t know.”
That nearly broke me.
My five-year-old was comforting me.
I kissed her forehead.
“Did Grandma hurt you before today?”
Lily looked down.
My heart sank.
“Lily.”
“She said I make Daddy sad.”
“What?”
“She said Daddy wanted a boy.”
I closed my eyes.
Margaret had made comments like that years ago.
Daniel always claimed he ignored them.
“She said if I was better, you wouldn’t go away for work.”
I felt rage rising.
“None of that is true.”
“She said you like hotels more than me.”
“No.”
I took Lily’s face gently between my hands.
“Look at me.”
She did.
“There is nowhere in this world I would rather be than with you.”
Her lip trembled.
“Really?”
“Really.”
She hugged me again.
Then I remembered the key.
“Baby, how did you get this?”
Lily wiped her nose.
“Daddy dropped it.”
“When?”
“Last night.”
“Where?”
“By the stairs.”
I froze.
“Daddy was here last night?”
She nodded.
“He came after Grandma thought I was sleeping.”
I had spoken to Daniel at 9:30 the previous night.
He told me he was working late.
He said Lily was asleep.
He said Margaret had gone home after dinner.
Every part of that conversation had been a lie.
“What happened?”
Lily twisted the hem of her shirt.
“I heard Grandma yelling.”
“What was she saying?”
“I don’t know all the words.”
“That’s okay.”
“She said, ‘It belongs to us too.’”
My mouth went dry.
“And Daddy said?”
“He said, ‘Sarah can never know.’”
I stopped breathing.
Lily continued.
“Then Grandma gave him the little key.”
“Did they open Mommy’s box?”
She nodded.
“Did you see?”
“I looked through the door.”
“What did they take?”
“Papers.”
“What papers?”
“One had Grandpa’s picture.”
My father’s picture?
There was only one document in that box with his photograph.
His original passport.
But why would Daniel need it?
“Anything else?”
“A blue folder.”
I stood so quickly my knees hurt.
The blue folder.
My father’s estate documents.
His amended will.
The deed to the lake property.
Copies of investment records.
And a sealed letter his attorney had instructed me not to open unless certain conditions occurred.
I ran upstairs.
Lily followed.
“Stay behind me.”
The bedroom looked normal.
Too normal.
I opened the bottom dresser drawer.
The lockbox was still there.
I used Lily’s key.
Click.
The lid opened.
Empty.
Completely empty.
“No.”
I pulled everything out of the drawer.
Nothing.
My father’s documents were gone.
The cash envelopes were gone.
My emergency jewelry pouch was gone.
But something else had been left behind.
A folded piece of paper.
My name was written across the front.
Not Daniel’s handwriting.
Not Margaret’s.
My father’s.
My hands started shaking.
I opened it.
Sarah,
If you are reading this, someone has opened the box without your permission.
I stared at the sentence.
Then read it again.
How could he have known?
The note continued.
Do not confront Daniel alone.
My blood turned to ice.
I looked toward the hallway.
Lily was standing by the bedroom door.
“Mommy?”
I forced myself to breathe.
I read the next line.
There are things about your husband’s family I chose not to tell you while I was alive because I hoped I was wrong.
I wasn’t.
My phone buzzed.
Daniel.
I answered immediately.
“Where are you?”
“Sarah?”
He sounded startled.
“You’re home?”
“Where are you?”
“Why are you back early?”
“Answer me.”
Silence.
Then his voice changed.
“Is my mother there?”
“She was.”
“What happened?”
“You tell me.”
“Sarah, what are you talking about?”
I looked at the empty lockbox.
“The box is empty.”
Silence.
Not confusion.
Not surprise.
Silence.
“Daniel.”
“Listen to me.”
My heart pounded.
“Where are my father’s documents?”
“I can explain.”
“So you took them.”
“I said I can explain.”
“Where are you?”
He exhaled.
“Don’t call the police.”
I almost laughed.
It came out as a broken sound.
“I didn’t say anything about police.”
“Sarah.”
“Why would I call the police, Daniel?”
Nothing.
That silence told me more than words could.
I looked at my father’s note.
Do not confront Daniel alone.
“Come home.”
“I can’t.”
“Why?”
“Because I’m fixing something.”
“What?”
“Something your father started.”
My hand tightened around the phone.
“My father is dead.”
“I know.”
“Then what are you fixing?”
Daniel whispered something away from the phone.
Someone was with him.
“Who’s there?”
“No one.”
“You just spoke to somebody.”
“I need you to trust me.”
“You stole from me.”
“I didn’t steal anything.”
“You opened a locked box while I was out of town.”
“Because I had to.”
“Your mother hurt Lily because Lily saw you.”
“What?”
For the first time, Daniel sounded genuinely shocked.
“She did what?”
“She pulled Lily’s hair and forced her onto her knees.”
“No.”
“Yes.”
“I told her not to touch Lily.”
The room went silent.
Even Lily heard it.
Her eyes widened.
I slowly sat on the edge of the bed.
“You told her not to touch Lily?”
Daniel realized what he had said.
“Sarah—”
“Why would you need to tell your mother not to touch our daughter?”
“It’s not what it sounds like.”
“Then make it sound better.”
He didn’t.
I felt something inside me crack.
“How long has this been going on?”
“Nothing has been going on.”
“Daniel.”
“I’ll come home tonight.”
“No.”
“What?”
“You come home now.”
“I can’t.”
“Then don’t come home at all.”
His breathing changed.
“Sarah, please.”
“You have thirty minutes.”
I ended the call.
Lily stared at me.
“Is Daddy mad?”
“No.”
I wished that were true.
I looked down at my father’s note again.
There was more.
Much more.
I continued reading.
If Daniel has taken the blue folder, go to Michael Grant immediately.
Do not warn Daniel.
Do not warn Margaret.
And under no circumstances allow Lily to leave the house with either of them.
I felt sick.
Michael Grant.
My father’s former attorney.
A man I had not seen since the funeral.
At the bottom of the page was one final sentence.
The truth concerns Lily.
I stared at those four words.
Then the doorbell rang.
Lily jumped.
I checked the camera.
Margaret stood outside.
But she wasn’t alone.
May you like
Daniel was beside her.
And between them stood a police officer.
