Chapter 2 - The Girl Who Knew the Groom
Daniel recovered quickly.
Too quickly.
One second, shock had been clearly visible on his face.
The next, the polished businessman Emily knew had returned.
“She's confused.”
Emily stared at him.
“You haven't even asked her what she means.”
Daniel loosened his jaw.
“I don't need to. Charles told you she has behavioral problems.”
Lily shrank behind Emily.
“Stop saying that.”
Her voice was quiet, but everyone heard it.
Charles looked at her.
“Lily.”
Emily stepped forward.
“Don't.”
Charles stopped.
Emily could feel her pulse in her throat.
“Daniel, have you met this child before?”
“No.”
Lily immediately said, “Yes.”
Daniel's eyes flashed toward her.
Emily caught it.
Not confusion.
Warning.
Lily saw it too.
She hid her face against Emily's gown.
Emily looked at Daniel.
“Try again.”
His expression darkened.
“This is ridiculous.”
“Have you met her?”
Daniel exhaled sharply.
“I may have seen her. Charles hosts business events. There are employees, relatives, children. How am I supposed to remember every kid?”
Lily lifted her face.
“You were downstairs.”
Charles interrupted.
“That is enough.”
Emily turned on him.
“Let her speak.”
Charles's polite mask disappeared for half a second.
Daniel moved closer to Emily.
“Can we talk privately?”
“No.”
“Emily.”
“You want me to leave her alone with him?”
“Charles is her father.”
“He says he is.”
Daniel looked toward the ceiling as if forcing himself to remain calm.
The wedding music continued faintly from the ballroom.
It felt absurd now.
Another universe separated by two hotel doors.
Emily's phone vibrated.
Sophie.
Then again.
Her mother.
Then a message.
WHERE ARE YOU? EVERYONE IS WAITING.
Emily ignored it.
She dialed the hotel's front desk.
Daniel reached toward her phone.
She stepped away.
“Don't.”
His hand dropped.
“Emily, think carefully about what you're doing.”
“I am.”
The front desk answered.
Emily asked for hotel security immediately.
Charles shook his head.
“This is unnecessary.”
“Then you shouldn't have anything to worry about.”
Within two minutes, two security officers arrived.
The senior officer was a woman named Renee Alvarez.
She assessed the scene immediately.
“What's happening?”
Emily explained.
Charles interrupted repeatedly.
He claimed Lily was his daughter.
Claimed she had emotional problems.
Claimed she had run from her caregiver.
Renee listened without reacting.
Then she crouched beside Lily.
“Sweetheart, can you tell me your full name?”
Lily stared at her stuffed rabbit.
“Lily Anne Brooks.”
Emily noticed Charles flinch.
Renee did too.
“And what's his name?”
Lily pointed toward Charles.
“Mr. Mercer.”
Not Dad.
Mr. Mercer.
Emily's stomach twisted.
Charles gave a humorless laugh.
“She goes through phases.”
Renee looked at him.
“Do you have identification for the child?”
Charles paused.
“My assistant has her documents.”
“Where is your assistant?”
“At the ballroom.”
Renee spoke into her radio.
“Bring him here.”
Charles's face tightened.
Daniel stepped forward.
“Renee, I'm Daniel Whitmore. This is my wedding.”
“I know who you are, sir.”
“We have hundreds of guests waiting.”
“I understand.”
“If this can be handled discreetly—”
“A child is claiming this man isn't her father.”
Daniel stopped speaking.
Renee continued.
“We're handling it discreetly.”
Emily studied Daniel.
He looked angry.
Not frightened for Lily.
Not confused.
Angry.
“Why do you care so much?” Emily asked.
He turned toward her.
“What?”
“About keeping this quiet.”
“Because our wedding is happening thirty feet away.”
“That isn't an answer.”
“It is when we've spent eighteen months planning it.”
Emily almost laughed.
The absurdity hurt.
“You think I care about flowers right now?”
“I'm asking you not to destroy our wedding over something you don't understand.”
Emily stared at him.
“Then help me understand it.”
Daniel rubbed his face.
“We'll discuss it later.”
“No.”
He lowered his voice.
“Emily.”
“Who is Lily?”
“I told you, I don't know.”
Lily whispered, “You know my mom.”
Daniel froze.
Emily looked down.
Lily's eyes remained on the rabbit.
“What is your mother's name?”
“Sarah.”
Daniel's face lost color.
It happened so subtly that Emily might have missed it if she hadn't spent three years studying every expression on that face.
“Sarah what?” Emily asked.
Lily swallowed.
“Sarah Brooks.”
Charles took a step toward her.
Renee immediately blocked him.
“Sir, stay where you are.”
Daniel looked toward the end of the hallway.
Like a man searching for an exit.
Emily's heart began beating harder.
“Daniel?”
Nothing.
“Who is Sarah Brooks?”
“I don't know.”
Lily spoke.
“You do.”
Daniel shut his eyes briefly.
Charles suddenly said, “She's dead.”
Lily's head snapped up.
“No!”
Charles looked directly at Emily.
“Her mother died several months ago.”
“No!”
Lily screamed it this time.
“My mommy isn't dead!”
The sound tore through the hallway.
Emily crouched and wrapped an arm around the child.
“It's okay.”
“She isn't dead!”
“I believe you.”
Charles scoffed.
“You're encouraging her fantasies.”
Emily glared at him.
“Stop calling everything she says a fantasy.”
Renee's partner returned.
“No documents.”
Charles's expression changed.
“What?”
“Your assistant says he doesn't have them.”
Renee straightened.
“Mr. Mercer, I'm going to need you to remain here.”
Charles stared at Daniel.
Again.
That silent communication.
Emily saw it clearly this time.
And suddenly she understood something horrifying.
These two men weren't simply acquaintances caught in an awkward situation.
They were afraid of the same thing.
Lily.
“What did you see?” Emily whispered.
Lily looked at her.
“What did you see Daniel doing?”
Daniel stepped forward.
“Emily.”
She ignored him.
Lily's lips trembled.
“At the house.”
“What house?”
“Mr. Mercer's.”
Daniel's voice sharpened.
“That's enough.”
Renee turned.
“Sir.”
Emily stared at the man she had almost married.
“Don't tell her to stop.”
Daniel looked at Emily.
A long silence passed.
Then he said, “You have no idea what you're doing.”
Emily stood.
“Maybe not.”
She looked down at Lily.
“But I know what I'm not doing.”
Daniel's face hardened.
“What?”
“I'm not handing a terrified child to a man she says isn't her father.”
She called her mother.
“Mom?”
“Emily, where are you?”
“I need you to tell the officiant the wedding is delayed.”
Silence.
“What happened?”
“I'll explain later.”
Daniel stared at her.
“Don't.”
Emily held his gaze.
“Tell everyone there's an emergency.”
She ended the call.
Daniel looked stunned.
“You're humiliating me.”
Emily felt something inside her finally break.
“You're worried about being embarrassed?”
“Do you understand what this looks like?”
“Yes.”
She glanced at Lily.
“A lot clearer than it did ten minutes ago.”
Renee received an update through her radio.
“Police are on the way, along with child protective services.”
Charles went pale.
Daniel's head snapped toward her.
“You called police?”
Renee stared at him.
“Of course we did.”
Daniel cursed under his breath.
Emily's skin went cold.
A man with nothing to hide did not react like that.
Lily tugged gently at Emily's hand.
“I have something.”
“What?”
The child reached inside the small stuffed rabbit.
Emily hadn't noticed the fabric along its back had been crudely restitched.
Lily pulled at the seam.
Something small fell into her palm.
A memory card.
Charles moved instantly.
Renee stepped between them.
“No.”
Charles stopped.
Emily stared at the tiny object.
“What is that?”
Lily whispered, “Mommy gave it to me.”
“When?”
“The night she told me to run if Mr. Mercer ever took me somewhere.”
Daniel's face changed.
For the first time, real fear appeared.
Emily saw it.
So did Renee.
Lily closed her fist around the card.
“She said there are pictures.”
Emily's mouth went dry.
“Pictures of what?”
Lily looked toward Daniel.
“Of them.”
“Who?”
“Mr. Mercer.”
She hesitated.
“And Daniel.”
The wedding music stopped.
Somewhere beyond the service doors, hundreds of guests had realized something was wrong.
But Emily barely noticed.
She looked at the man she had planned to marry.
Daniel stared at the tiny memory card inside Lily's hand as though it could destroy his entire life.
And perhaps it could.
Because when he finally spoke, he wasn't talking to Emily anymore.
He looked directly at Charles.
“You said she didn't have it.”
Emily felt her blood turn cold.
Charles's face emptied.
Daniel realized what he had said.
Too late.
The hallway became perfectly silent.
Emily stared at him.
“What did you just say?”
May you like
And that was when Daniel understood that he had made the first mistake he could no longer explain away.
The memory card Lily had hidden inside a stuffed rabbit wasn't merely evidence of a child's fear. It was evidence Daniel had been searching for.
