Chapter 1 - The Hand She Let Go.
David did not realize he was still holding his phone until it slipped from his fingers and struck the marble floor behind him.
Lucy pressed her face into his shoulder and clung to his jacket with both hands.
Her crying had changed from sharp panic to the broken little breaths of a child trying to understand whether the danger was truly over.
David kept one arm around her and stared at Natalie across the bright hallway.
Natalie sat on the floor with yellow satin pooled around her like spilled sunlight, but there was nothing warm in her expression.
"She needs discipline," Natalie said again.
David's jaw tightened.
"No," he said.
"She needs to feel safe."
Natalie looked almost offended by the answer.
"You came in at the worst possible moment and decided you understood everything."
"I understood enough."
David bent, picked up Lucy's pink stuffed bunny, and placed it gently into her arms.
Lucy grabbed it immediately and buried her fingers in one soft ear.
Natalie's eyes followed the toy for half a second too long.
David noticed.
He had known Natalie for fourteen months, and in that time she had mastered the art of controlling every visible reaction.
That tiny glance was the first crack he had ever seen in her composure.
"What happened before I got here?" he asked.
Natalie pushed herself to her feet.
"Lucy had a tantrum."
"She's two."
"Exactly, which is why someone has to teach her limits."
David shifted Lucy higher against his chest.
"Why were you taking her down this hallway?"
Natalie brushed imaginary dust from her gown.
"To the east guest room."
David stared at her.
The east guest rooms had not been used in months.
Lucy's nursery was on the opposite side of the mansion, beside David's bedroom and the family sitting room.
"Why?"
"Because the photographer is setting up near the nursery for tonight's dinner, and she was making a scene."
David looked toward the dark-framed glass doors behind Natalie.
There was no photographer.
There were no equipment cases.
There were no assistants.
There was only a silent hallway washed in bright afternoon light.
Natalie saw his eyes move.
"They must have gone downstairs."
"You just said they were setting up."
For the first time, she had no immediate answer.
A door opened behind David.
Mrs. Alvarez, the house manager, stepped into the corridor carrying folded white linens.
She froze when she saw Natalie on one side of the hall and David holding a crying Lucy on the other.
"Mr. Walker?" she asked carefully.
David turned toward her.
"Maria, was a photographer working near Lucy's nursery?"
Maria glanced at Natalie.
It was only a glance, but it carried fear.
"I don't know, sir."
Natalie smiled.
"See?"
Maria lowered her eyes.
David had employed her for six years.
She had cared for the house while Emily was alive, and she had been one of the few people who could make Lucy laugh during the terrible months after Emily's death.
Maria never avoided David's eyes.
Not until now.
"Maria," David said softly.
"Look at me."
She did.
Her face looked pale beneath the warm ceiling lights.
"Was anyone setting up outside Lucy's nursery?"
Maria swallowed.
"No, sir."
Natalie's smile disappeared.
The silence in the hallway became heavier than the argument had been.
David looked back at Natalie.
"Why did you lie?"
"I didn't lie."
"You just did."
"I misunderstood where they were."
"Then tell me where you were taking my daughter."
Natalie folded her arms.
"I already told you."
Lucy suddenly lifted her head.
Her cheeks were wet, and one ivory ribbon had come loose from her hair.
She looked at Natalie and whispered two words.
"No room."
David's stomach tightened.
"What room, sweetheart?"
Lucy squeezed the bunny.
"Yellow lady room."
Natalie's face changed again.
It was quick, but this time David saw more than annoyance.
He saw alarm.
"She's repeating nonsense," Natalie said.
David did not answer her.
He looked at Maria.
"Take my phone and call Mr. Hale."
Natalie stepped forward.
"David, don't turn this into something ridiculous."
David raised one hand.
"Don't come any closer."
She stopped.
Maria picked up the phone from the floor.
Its screen had cracked, but a notification was glowing across the top.
She looked down at it, and her expression went completely still.
"Sir," Maria said.
David heard something in her voice that made him turn immediately.
"What is it?"
Maria held out the phone.
A message had arrived from Jonathan Hale, the family attorney who had handled Walker family business for nearly twenty years.
The preview was short.
It was also not meant for David.
The message began with Natalie's name.
Natalie, the transfer needs Lucy out of the main residence before midnight.
David read it twice.
Then he slowly looked at the woman in the yellow gown.
May you like
Natalie's face had gone white.
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