Chapter 2
I carried Ellie inside myself.
Nobody followed until I told two guards to bring Marcus and Victor into the library. Lucas remained with his mother, confused and crying now that the adults around him were no longer laughing.
Ellie did not want to let go of me.
I sat with her on the sofa.
“You’re staying with me.”
She nodded against my shoulder.
“Did Grandpa tell you not to tell me?”
Her body stiffened.
That was answer enough.
I waited.
Eventually she whispered, “He said you’d get mad at me.”
My chest tightened.
“For what?”
“For making Lucas sad.”
I closed my eyes.
There it was.
Victor had not only hurt her.
He had taught her that his cruelty was caused by her failure to entertain another child.
“What happened when Lucas didn’t want to play?”
Ellie looked confused.
“He always wanted.”
“And when you didn’t?”
Her eyes filled.
“Grandpa said family shares.”
I looked away for a second.
Victor had taken one of the first lessons every parent teaches a child and twisted it until obedience meant surrender.
Ellie continued.
“If I cried, he said Lucas would think I didn’t love him.”
I felt rage rise again.
Then she added something quieter.
“Marcus said smile for the video.”
I turned back.
“What?”
“He said if I smiled, Grandpa would stop faster.”
That sentence hurt in a different way.
Marcus had not merely recorded.
He had participated.
Maybe he told himself he was helping her survive the moment.
Maybe he believed minimizing the damage was better than confronting Victor.
Either way, he had taught a four-year-old how to perform happiness while being humiliated.
A knock came at the door.
One guard stepped inside.
“Marcus and Victor are waiting.”
I looked at Ellie.
She heard the names and immediately tightened around me.
I understood.
“Not here.”
The guard nodded.
Before he left, Ellie whispered, “Mommy?”
“Yes?”
“Are you mad?”
“At you?”
She nodded.
I pulled her closer.
“No.”
Her entire body relaxed.
May you like
Four years old.
And she had been waiting six weeks for that answer.
