Chapter 3 - The Innocent Witness
Sophia held her breath, her heart hammering violently against her ribs. She tried to hush her daughter, terrified that the child would say the wrong thing and get them both thrown out onto the streets.
But Lily didn't cry. She wasn't afraid of the towering, powerful man looking directly into her eyes.
The little girl peeked out from behind the stiff white fabric of her mother's uniform. She looked at Ethan, who was standing completely shocked and pale, and then she looked back at Dominic.
With absolute, unwavering bravery, Lily slowly raised her small hand and pointed a tiny finger directly toward the heavy swinging doors of the catering kitchen.
"I saw a man touch his cake," Lily whispered, her sweet, innocent voice carrying clearly in the dead silence of the ballroom.
Dominic’s breathing stopped.
He slowly lowered his gaze to look at the smashed white and blue frosting smeared across the marble tiles. His blood turned to absolute, freezing ice.
Ethan had a severe, incredibly lethal allergy to highly concentrated peanut extract. It wasn't just a mild intolerance; it was a microscopic trigger that would send the eight-year-old boy into irreversible anaphylactic shock within seconds. Dominic’s estate was a strictly enforced, violently monitored nut-free zone.
Someone hadn't just touched the cake. Someone had intentionally laced the boy's specific slice with a lethal toxin.
Dominic’s jaw locked. The muscles in his neck strained against his crisp black collar. He looked back up at the brave three-year-old girl.
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"What did the man look like?" Dominic asked, his voice now a cold, tight-jawed whisper that promised absolute violence.
👉 What specific, undeniable detail will the little girl use to identify the assassin?
