Chapter 2: He Knew
I didn't scream.
I didn't cry.
I just held Elena very still and kept my voice calm.
"Did anyone else see what Grandma did?"
Elena nodded slowly.
"Daddy was there."
The room tilted.
I asked her again, gently.
"Daddy saw the bag?"
"He helped put it on," she whispered.
"He said it was just a game."
I got Elena into the bath, checked every mark, photographed everything, and put her to bed with her favorite stuffed rabbit.
Then I sat at the kitchen table and stared at the wall for a long time.
Julian came home at nine.
He walked in smiling, carrying takeout bags.
"Hey.
How's she doing?"
I looked at him.
"She told me everything."
His smile didn't disappear all at once.
It faded slowly, like he was calculating exactly how much I knew.
"It wasn't what it looks like," he said.
"Then explain what it looks like."
He set the bags down.
"My mother was trying to help.
Elena has been gaining weight and—"
"She is six years old, Julian."
He went quiet.
Then he said something that turned my bl00d to ice.
"You're not going to do anything with this.
My mother has a lawyer on retainer.
She has for years."
I reached into my pocket and pressed stop on the recording.
He didn't know I had already made three copies.
---
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What Julian said next — and what was found inside Victoria's house — exposed something far darker than one afternoon.
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