Chapter 2: The Lady Who Said She Was Coming Back
The room went completely still.
Victoria's scream hung in the air between us.
Her chest was heaving, her perfectly styled hair beginning to fall loose, and for the first time since I had known her, she looked genuinely desperate.
"Then talk," I said.
"Right now."
"Daniel, I need you to put the bag down first.
Please.
Just set it aside and let me explain."
I didn't move.
Lily had frozen beside me, her small fingers still resting on the metal clasp.
I kept one hand gently on her shoulder.
"No one is putting anything down," I said quietly.
"You have thirty seconds."
Victoria's eyes darted toward the bag.
Then toward the front door.
Then back to me.
"There's something inside that purse that doesn't belong to her," she said carefully.
"Something she should never have been given."
My chest tightened.
"Who gave it to her?"
Victoria's lips pressed together.
"Victoria.
Who gave Lily that bag?"
Her voice dropped to almost nothing.
"Her mother did."
The foyer went silent enough that I could hear Lily breathing beside me.
Lily's mother had passed away three years ago.
I had identified her myself.
I had planned the funeral.
I had held Lily while she cried for weeks.
I looked down at my daughter.
Lily looked up at me with those wide, trusting eyes and said very quietly:
May you like
"Daddy…
the lady who gave me this said she was coming back for me today."
