Chapter 2 - The First Lie
Mark did not answer the call.
He called 911 instead.
The next twenty minutes moved too fast and too slowly at the same time. Paramedics checked Clara on the foyer rug while Victoria paced near the dining room doors, insisting everyone was overreacting. Elena stayed beside Clara until Mark asked her to ride with them to the hospital.
Victoria heard him.
"Why would she come?"
Mark looked at her.
"Because Clara won't let go of her."
That shut the room down.
At Lake Forest Children's Hospital, the scans showed no fracture, no concussion, no internal injury. The pediatrician said Elena's catch had probably prevented a catastrophic head injury.
Mark sat beside Clara's bed, one hand around her ankle beneath the blanket.
"Daddy," Clara whispered.
"I'm right here."
"Elena stays?"
"Yes."
Victoria, standing by the window, folded her arms.
"This is becoming ridiculous."
Mark looked at her without blinking.
"Our daughter almost fell from the second floor."
"She did not fall. Elena grabbed her badly and scared her."
Elena felt the blood leave her face.
"What?"
Victoria turned to Mark. "She was carrying Clara near the stairs. I told her to slow down. She slipped, panicked, and now she's inventing this because she knows she could be fired."
"That's a lie."
"Of course you would say that."
Mark's jaw tightened. "Enough."
A nurse entered and asked Victoria to step outside while the child-life specialist spoke with Clara alone.
Victoria refused.
Mark stood.
"Go."
"Mark-"
"Now."
For the first time, she obeyed.
The specialist used dolls instead of direct questions. Clara placed one doll behind a toy railing and another below it. She made the first doll say, "Don't tell Daddy," then pushed the smaller doll over the edge.
Mark's face changed.
Elena looked away.
Afterward, Mark finally called the trust attorney back.
"Daniel?"
The man's voice came through sharp and urgent.
"Mark, I've been trying to reach you since seven. We received an emergency request this morning to change the successor controller on Clara's trust."
Mark straightened.
"What request?"
"A petition based on concerns about your fitness as sole guardian."
The hospital room suddenly felt colder.
"Who filed it?"
There was a pause.
"Your wife."
Mark looked through the glass wall toward the hallway.
May you like
Victoria was standing thirty feet away, watching them.
And she was holding a manila folder Elena had seen hidden in Clara's nursery three nights earlier.
