Chapter 3
I met Victor and Marcus in the old council room.
My father sat as though the chair still belonged to him.
That annoyed me more than it should have.
Marcus stood.
He knew better.
I placed his phone on the table.
“Explain.”
Victor leaned back.
“There’s nothing to explain.”
Marcus looked at him.
I noticed.
Victor continued.
“Lucas adores Ellie. Children play rough.”
I stared.
“You used a belt.”
“I struck the ground.”
“You grabbed her.”
“She kept collapsing.”
I almost laughed.
“That is your defense?”
“She was being dramatic.”
There it was.
Pain transformed into weakness.
Again.
Marcus finally spoke.
“He told me it was tradition.”
I turned.
“What tradition?”
Marcus swallowed.
“When we were kids, older cousins rode younger ones during lawn games.”
Victor smiled faintly.
“Exactly.”
I looked at Marcus.
“Did adults use belts?”
He said nothing.
“Did they force children to continue after they collapsed?”
Silence.
“Did twenty-seven relatives receive videos?”
Marcus looked down.
Victor snapped, “Stop interrogating him like some traitor.”
I turned toward my father.
“He filmed my daughter.”
“He documented family time.”
My face became cold.
“Call it that again.”
Victor stared.
He did not.
I opened the group chat.
“Who started this?”
Marcus hesitated.
Victor did not.
“I did.”
Of course.
“Why?”
Victor leaned forward.
“Because Ellie is spoiled.”
I felt something in my chest tighten.
“She’s four.”
“She cries when she doesn’t get attention.”
“She cried while carrying a seven-year-old boy on her back.”
“That’s exactly what I mean.”
For one moment, I genuinely could not understand how the man in front of me had raised me.
Then he continued.
“You were stronger at her age.”
That explained more than he intended.
This was not about Lucas.
Not really.
Victor was comparing my daughter to the child he once controlled.
May you like
Me.
And Ellie was failing a test only he knew existed.
