CHAPTER 2
I called 911 from the kitchen.
Victoria laughed when she realized what I was doing.
At least she tried to.
“You’re calling the police because Lily washed dishes?”
I kept Lily against me.
“I’m calling because her hands are burned and she says you hurt her every day.”
“Daniel, hang up.”
“No.”
Her expression changed.
The beautiful, controlled woman disappeared.
Something colder replaced her.
“You are making a mistake.”
I looked at Lily.
“No. I already made the mistake.”
My mistake had been trusting her.
Within twelve minutes, two sheriff’s deputies entered my house.
An ambulance followed.
Lily refused to leave my arms until one of the paramedics showed her a stuffed dolphin from his emergency bag.
Even then, she held my sleeve.
The paramedic examined her hands.
His face told me enough before he spoke.
“These burns need to be evaluated.”
Victoria folded her arms.
“She has sensitive skin.”
The paramedic looked at her.
“This is more than sensitive skin.”
One deputy separated us.
Victoria was taken into the living room.
I went with Lily.
At the hospital, a pediatrician named Dr. Patel examined her.
The burns were superficial.
Painful, but unlikely to leave scars.
I almost cried from relief.
Then Dr. Patel lifted the back of Lily’s nightgown.
I stopped breathing.
There were faint marks across her thighs.
Some yellow.
Some purple.
Some already disappearing.
“Lily,” the doctor said gently, “do you know how these happened?”
Lily stared at the wall.
I wanted to answer for her.
I wanted to take every question away.
But Dr. Patel had already explained that Lily needed to speak in her own words.
So I sat beside her and said nothing.
Finally Lily whispered, “When I’m bad.”
“Who says you’re bad?”
“Victoria.”
My chest tightened.
“What happens when Victoria says you’re bad?”
Lily looked at me.
“She makes me stand in the closet.”
My throat closed.
“How long?”
“I don’t know.”
“Does she do anything else?”
Lily nodded.
“She takes Rabbit.”
Rabbit was the stuffed rabbit Lily had slept with since she was one.
“What does she do with Rabbit?”
“Puts him in the trash.”
My eyes burned.
“She says if I tell Daddy, she’ll make Rabbit go away forever.”
I turned my face.
For four years, I had negotiated contracts worth hundreds of millions of dollars without letting emotion interfere.
I could not hear my daughter explain why she had been silent without falling apart.
Dr. Patel touched my arm.
“There may be more she isn’t ready to say tonight.”
I nodded.
Child Protective Services arrived before midnight.
So did my attorney, Rachel Kim.
Rachel had worked with me for eight years.
She had seen me furious.
May you like
She had never seen me frightened.
“What happened?” she asked.
