Chapter 2: The Photograph She Was Never Supposed to Keep
Part 2 ⬇️
The photograph shook in Lily's small hand.
I walked up the stairs slowly.
"Sweetheart, can I see that?"
She let me take it.
It was a group photo.
A backyard.
A barbecue.
Six or seven adults standing together, smiling.
Daniel was in it.
So was his brother, Marcus.
And standing between them — holding a little girl's hand — was a woman I didn't recognize.
The little girl was Lily.
I turned to Daniel.
"When was this taken?"
"I don't know what that is." His voice was flat.
Too flat.
"You're in the photo, Daniel."
"Marcus had parties.
I went sometimes.
I didn't know she was there."
Lily pressed herself against the wall at the top of the stairs.
She was watching him the way a child watches something they've learned to be afraid of.
"Lily," I said gently.
"Who is the woman in this picture?"
She didn't answer right away.
Then, barely a whisper: "She said if I told anyone, nobody would believe me."
My hands went cold.
Daniel took one step toward the stairs.
Lily flinched so hard she nearly fell.
I stepped between them.
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That was the moment I understood something had happened in that house — something no one had put in any file, any report, any paperwork I had ever been given.
And Daniel knew exactly what it was.
