Chapter 2
Amelia’s voice was weak on the recording.
But it was hers.
I knew it in my bones.
“Nora, please. The baby is sleeping.”
Then Nora’s voice answered.
Cold.
Smooth.
“You should have stayed gone when Victor’s family told you to.”
The video shook slightly.
It must have been hidden somewhere low.
A dresser.
A crib shelf.
I saw Amelia’s white robe.
I saw Nora standing beside the bed with a teacup.
The same porcelain pattern.
Blue vines.
Gold rim.
The same cup she had just handed me.
My throat closed.
On the recording, Amelia whispered, “What did you put in it?”
Nora smiled.
“Enough.”
The room around me erupted.
My aunt gasped.
My cousin stepped back.
Nora’s mother cried, “This is fake!”
The little girl crawled behind my leg.
I paused the video and looked at her.
“What is your name?”
“Lily.”
My daughter’s name had been Lily.
The name Amelia chose.
The name carved on a grave I visited every month.
I reached for her carefully.
“May I pick you up?”
She stared at me like permission was a language she barely knew.
Then she nodded.
I lifted her from the marble.
She weighed too little.
Nora snapped, “Put her down. She’s staff.”
I looked at the maid uniform.
At the red mark blooming on my daughter’s cheek.
“At whose order?”
Nora said nothing.
I turned to my security chief.
“Lock the house.”
Nora lunged for the phone.
I stepped back.
“Touch my daughter again and you leave in cuffs.”
For the first time since I had known her, Nora looked afraid.
Not sorry.
May you like
Afraid.
That told me enough.
