Chapter 8: What Serena Said About Lily
Victor found Lily in the kitchen.
She was feeding Ethan — small pieces of soft fruit arranged on the tray of his high chair — and she was making the kind of quiet sounds that people make when they think no one is listening.
Not words, just a low steady murmur, something between a song and a conversation, and Ethan was watching her face with the absolute attention that very small children give to the people they trust completely.
Victor stood in the doorway for a moment.
"Can I talk to you?" he said.
Lily looked up.
She was still pale, and she was holding herself slightly carefully — her ribs, he remembered.
He should have made sure she'd been seen by a doctor last night.
He added it to the list of things he had not done well enough.
"Of course," she said.
He sat down at the kitchen table.
She stayed where she was, close enough to keep Ethan in reach.
"Serena sent me a message this morning," he said.
"She said she has something on you.
Something I don't know." He looked at Lily directly.
"I'm not asking because I doubt you.
I'm asking because I need to know what she thinks she has before she uses it."
Lily was quiet.
She handed Ethan a piece of mango.
He took it with both hands.
"I know what it is," she said.
"Tell me."
She looked at the table for a moment.
Then she looked up.
"Two years ago I was working for a family in Greenwich," she said.
"The Alderton family.
I was their nanny for fourteen months.
When I left, Mrs.
Alderton accused me of stealing.
A bracelet.
She said I took it from her dressing room."
Victor said nothing.
"I didn't take it," Lily said.
"I have no idea where it went.
But she filed a police report.
The case was eventually dropped — they found the bracelet in a bag she'd forgotten she'd packed for a trip — but the report still exists.
And for about three months, while it was open, I couldn't get work." She paused.
"Serena found out about it.
She found out in my second week here.
She told me she'd make sure every family in the city heard about it if I ever said anything about what I saw with Ethan."
"That's what she held over you," Victor said.
"Yes."
"For eight months."
"Yes."
Victor looked at his son, who was now attempting to put a piece of mango on his own head with great concentration.
"And you still kept the discharge summary," he said.
Lily's hands tightened slightly in her lap.
"I kept it because I thought — someday, somehow — someone would need to know.
Even if it cost me everything." She looked at Victor.
"He's fourteen months old.
He couldn't tell anyone what was happening to him."
Victor was quiet for a long moment.
"The police report," he said.
"Do you have documentation of the case being dropped?
The bracelet being found?"
"Yes.
I kept everything."
"Send it to Richard Chen today.
His contact is on the card I'll have Daniel bring you." He paused.
"Serena is going to try to use it.
We need it documented and ready."
Lily nodded.
"Mr.
Blackwood," she said carefully.
"What happens now?
To my position here?"
Victor looked at her.
"What do you want to happen?" he said.
She blinked.
It was clearly not the question she had been expecting.
"I—" She stopped.
"I want Ethan to be safe," she said.
"That's the only thing I've wanted for eight months."
"He's safe," Victor said.
"And you're not going anywhere unless you want to." He stood up.
"You protected my son when I wasn't here to do it.
That's not something I forget."
Lily looked down at the table.
Her shoulders dropped slightly — not in defeat, but in the way a person's shoulders drop when they have been holding something very heavy for a very long time and someone has finally offered to help carry it.
"Thank you," she said quietly.
Ethan held up a piece of mango in her direction, offering it with the generosity of someone who has more than they need.
She took it.
She made the small sound of someone who is delighted.
He laughed — a full, uncomplicated baby laugh that filled the kitchen.
Victor's phone rang.
Richard Chen.
He stepped into the hallway.
"They've picked up Marcus," Richard said.
"Forty minutes ago.
He went quietly.
His attorney was already there — I think he called them last night." A pause.
"Serena is next.
They're executing the warrant now."
Victor leaned against the wall.
"And the Singapore exposure?"
"Priya's office is treating you as a cooperating witness.
It's not nothing — you'll need to make a formal statement and there may be a fine — but you're not the target." Richard paused.
"Victor.
It's moving.
It's actually moving."
"The child protective services file?"
"Opened this morning.
A caseworker will contact you today to schedule a visit.
It's routine — they need to see the home, speak with Lily, review the medical record." He paused.
"It's a good thing, not a threat.
It closes the loop."
"I know," Victor said.
"How's Ethan?"
Victor looked back through the kitchen doorway.
Ethan was laughing again at something Lily had done — a face, a sound, some small piece of magic that only worked at fourteen months.
"He's eating mango," Victor said.
Richard made a sound that was almost a laugh.
"Good," he said.
"That's good."
They ended the call.
Victor stood in the hallway for a moment.
Then he walked back into the kitchen, pulled out a chair, and sat down at the table where his son was eating breakfast.
Ethan looked at him.
Held up a piece of mango.
Victor took it.
May you like
"Thank you," he said seriously.
Ethan found this extremely funny.
