Chapter 2: The Hidden Recordings
The video played silently.
The mansion hallway appeared on the screen.
Three weeks earlier.
Lily stood near the dining room table holding a drawing.
A picture of her and her father.
She was smiling.
“Look, Mommy’s here too,” Lily said.
Alexander stopped breathing.
Because Lily was pointing at the empty space beside them.
The place where her mother should have been.
Victoria looked down at the drawing.
Then she took it from Lily’s hand.
“You need to stop drawing about her.”
Lily looked confused.
“Why?”
“Because she’s gone.”
Victoria threw the drawing into the trash.
Lily immediately picked it back up.
“But Daddy says Mommy loved me.”
Victoria’s expression changed.
“You know what happens to children who don’t listen?”
The little girl shook her head.
“They become difficult.”
The video paused.
Alexander’s hands clenched.
His own daughter had been afraid to even remember her mother.
He continued watching.
Another recording.
Another punishment.
Another moment where Lily sat alone at the table while Victoria ate dinner.
“Why isn’t Lily eating?”
A housekeeper had asked.
Victoria answered calmly:
“She has to learn.”
“Learn what?”
“That she doesn’t get everything she wants.”
Alexander covered his mouth.
Because Lily had never asked for anything.
Not toys.
Not expensive clothes.
Not attention.
All she wanted was love.
The final recording was from the previous night.
Lily stood outside Victoria’s bedroom.
“Can I have Daddy’s teddy bear?”
Victoria looked annoyed.
“It’s not yours.”
“But Daddy bought it for me.”
Victoria smiled coldly.
“Then maybe you should earn it.”
The video ended.
Alexander sat in silence.
A lifetime passed through his mind.
Every late night at work.
Every business trip.
Every time Lily told him:
“Victoria is nice.”
Because she was scared to say anything else.
The office door opened.
Victoria stood there.
“You watched the cameras.”
Alexander didn’t turn around.
“Yes.”
She walked closer.
“You’re overreacting.”
Slowly, he looked at her.
“Overreacting?”
His voice was calm.
Too calm.
“You made my daughter believe she had to earn food.”
Victoria rolled her eyes.
“She’s spoiled.”
Alexander stood.
“My daughter lost her mother.”
“She has everything else.”
“No.”
He shook his head.
“She had everything except someone who protected her.”
Victoria’s expression hardened.
“You’re choosing a child over your wife?”
Alexander stared at her.
“No.”
A pause.
“I’m choosing my daughter over someone who hurt her.”
Victoria’s face changed.
Fear appeared for the first time.
“What are you saying?”
Alexander placed a folder on the desk.
“The divorce papers.”
She froze.
“You can’t do this.”
“I already did.”
But Victoria wasn’t finished.
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Because she had one final secret.
A secret she believed would destroy Alexander.
