Chapter 4 - You Are the Party
Now Ethan knelt on the stone patio with Lucy wrapped in a towel against his chest while Mrs. Alden held the phone between truth and ruin.
Ethan’s voice was barely audible.
“Play it from the beginning.”
Meredith stepped forward.
“No.”
Ethan looked at her.
She stopped.
Mrs. Alden pressed the screen.
The recording restarted.
Once the girl is gone…
This time, the terrace heard more.
The trust amendment.
The plan to make Lucy look unstable.
The words pool accident.
The fake sweetness before Meredith called Lucy over.
Then Lucy’s scream.
Dad!
Ethan closed his eyes.
His arms tightened around his daughter.
Not enough to hurt her.
Enough to remind himself she was still there.
Lucy whispered, “I didn’t slip.”
Ethan opened his eyes.
His face changed.
The father came first.
The billionaire came second.
“I know,” he said. “I believe you.”
Lucy cried then.
Not loud.
Not the way she had in the pool.
A small collapse of relief into his soaked shirt.
Meredith’s voice sharpened.
“She’s confused. She was scared. Children say things.”
Ethan stood slowly with Lucy in his arms.
Water dripped from his suit onto the stone.
“You do not speak about my daughter.”
A relative near the champagne table whispered, “Ethan, maybe we should go inside.”
Ethan did not look away from Meredith.
“No one leaves yet.”
Meredith laughed once.
A brittle, frightened sound.
“What are you going to do? Interrogate your wife at your birthday party?”
Ethan looked toward the pool.
The floating pink sandal bumped gently against the edge.
“My daughter was shoved into water in front of my family.”
He turned back.
“So yes, Meredith. I have questions.”
The first question was not for her.
It was for Lucy.
Ethan carried her to a cushioned chair away from the pool and knelt in front of her.
Mrs. Alden wrapped another towel around the child’s shoulders.
Ethan’s voice softened.
“Can you tell me what happened?”
Lucy looked at Meredith.
Her small body stiffened.
Ethan moved slightly, blocking her view.
“Look at me.”
She did.
“Did she push you?”
Lucy nodded.
“Yes.”
“Did you fall by accident?”
“No.”
“Did she tell you to come closer?”
“Yes. I asked about my sandal.”
Ethan’s face tightened.
“Okay.”
He kissed her forehead.
“You did nothing wrong.”
Lucy’s eyes filled again.
“I was scared you’d think I ruined the party.”
Ethan’s expression broke.
Only for a second.
Then he pulled her into his arms.
“You are the party.”
That sentence ended something in the room.
The idea that Lucy was a complication.
A guest.
A secret.
An inheritance problem.
A child to be discussed around, managed around, moved around.
No.
May you like
She was the daughter.
And everyone had just heard her father say it.
