Chapter 8 - Lily came home
We found Lily before Richard found her.
She contacted Ethan.
Not me.
Smart girl.
She sent him one message through a gaming account:
TELL DAD TO COME ALONE.
I didn't go alone.
I brought an attorney and kept security nearby, but I entered the public library meeting area without crowding her.
Lily sat in the far corner.
Fourteen.
Brown hair.
My eyes.
Vanessa's mouth.
I knew before she spoke.
“Daniel?”
Not Dad.
I didn't expect Dad.
I sat across from her.
“Lily.”
She looked ready to run.
“I’m not taking you anywhere.”
“You believe me?”
“Yes.”
“About being your daughter?”
“Yes.”
Her face crumpled for one second.
Then she recovered.
“What about Vanessa?”
“She won't touch Ethan again.”
“Did she hurt him?”
“Yes.”
Lily looked guilty.
“I told him not to tell.”
“That isn't your fault.”
She nodded but didn't believe me.
“Where's the box?”
“Safe.”
“What’s inside?”
“Grandpa Robert’s papers.”
Dad.
She had known him?
“Did you meet my father?”
“Once.”
“When?”
“I was little.”
“He told you who I was?”
“No. Diane did.”
Diane Hale, the woman who raised her as a daughter instead of granddaughter.
“She told me Vanessa was my real mom before she died.”
“When did you learn I was your father?”
“Two years ago.”
“From Richard?”
“No.”
“Then?”
“Rachel.”
My first wife had somehow left Lily information that reached her years after Rachel’s death.
“How?”
“A letter.”
Rachel entrusted it to a school counselor she knew through charity work, with instructions to give it to Lily if certain identity documents ever surfaced.
Rachel had anticipated resistance.
“What did the letter say?”
Lily handed me a photocopy.
Daniel doesn't know you exist.
If Robert fails to tell him, I will.
If I cannot, Ethan should know enough to help you when you're older.
My throat tightened.
Rachel had protected a child who wasn't hers.
“What is Richard afraid of?”
Lily looked around.
“The blue ledger.”
“What's that?”
“The box has Grandpa Robert's ledger of every trust payment.”
“Richard stole from you.”
“Not only me.”
“Who else?”
“Ethan.”
My blood went cold.
Ethan had inherited money after Rachel died.
“How much?”
“Almost everything.”
“What?”
Lily slid a page across the table.
Transfers from Ethan's trust.
Millions.
Accounts connected to Richard.
“And Sophie?”
Lily shook her head.
“Not yet.”
Yet.
Then she whispered:
“That's why Vanessa was scared.”
“She knew about Ethan's stolen money?”
“Yes.”
“How?”
“Because Richard paid her.”
I stared.
May you like
“For what?”
“To keep you from auditing the family accounts.”
