Chapter 1 - The Doorway
The front door opened just as Serena lifted her hand again.
Victor Blackwood stepped into the mansion with rain still glistening across the shoulders of his charcoal overcoat.
He had expected to hear Oliver laughing.
Instead, he heard his fourteen-month-old son screaming.
Victor stopped in the doorway.
His briefcase slipped from his fingers.
THUD.
Lily was on the floor beside the cream-colored sofa.
Her hair was disheveled.
A red mark burned across her cheek.
One sleeve of her blouse had been torn near the shoulder.
Yet none of that seemed to matter to her.
She had wrapped both arms around Oliver, using her own body like a shield.
The toddler clung desperately to the back of her blouse.
Serena stood above them.
Her hand was still raised.
For several terrible seconds, nobody moved.
Serena slowly turned.
The anger vanished from her face.
“Victor?”
Her voice suddenly became soft.
Almost innocent.
Victor stared at her.
“What happened?”
Serena immediately lowered her hand.
“Thank God you’re home.”
She rushed toward him.
“Lily completely lost control.”
Lily looked up in disbelief.
Serena pointed toward her.
“She attacked me.”
Victor’s eyes moved toward Lily.
Lily did not defend herself.
She simply whispered to Oliver.
“You’re safe.”
Oliver buried his face against her chest.
Victor knew his son.
He knew how Oliver behaved when frightened.
He also knew Oliver almost never cried around Lily.
Victor walked closer.
Serena reached for his arm.
“She wouldn’t give me your son.”
Victor looked at Serena’s hand.
Then he looked at the bruises beginning to appear on Lily’s arm.
His voice became dangerously quiet.
“Why was she supposed to give him to you?”
Serena hesitated.
“I’m going to be his stepmother.”
“That wasn’t my question.”
The room changed.
Serena could feel it.
Victor knelt in front of Lily.
Oliver immediately reached toward his father.
But he refused to completely release Lily.
Victor gently touched his son’s back.
“What happened?”
Lily finally met his eyes.
“She tried to take Oliver upstairs.”
Serena interrupted.
“That is ridiculous.”
Lily continued.
“He was crying.”
“I was comforting him.”
“You were dragging him.”
Serena’s face hardened.
Victor noticed.
It lasted less than a second.
But he saw it.
Lily swallowed.
“When I tried to stop her, she hit me.”
Victor slowly stood.
Serena shook her head.
“She’s lying because she’s obsessed with Oliver.”
Victor said nothing.
That silence frightened Serena more than shouting would have.
Then Victor looked toward the small black dome above the fireplace.
The mansion’s security camera.
Serena followed his gaze.
Her face lost its color.
Victor had installed cameras after Oliver’s mother died.
Serena had always complained about them.
Victor walked toward the wall panel.
“I guess we don’t have to argue about what happened.”
Serena stepped forward.
“Victor, wait.”
He turned.
For the first time, genuine panic appeared in her eyes.
And Victor suddenly realized something.
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Serena wasn’t afraid he would see the fight.
She was afraid he would see what happened before it.
