Chapter 14 - The House With No Furniture

Lily remembered the house because it smelled like paint.

No couch.

No beds.

No curtains.

"What did they ask you to practice?"

Lily rubbed the seam of her sleeve.

"Saying things."

"What things?"

"'Daddy gets scary.'"

Daniel looked away.

"'Daddy breaks stuff.'"

He closed his eyes.

"'I want to live with Vanessa.'"

Erin kept her voice calm.

"Did you want to say those things?"

Lily shook her head.

"What happened when you didn't?"

"Kyle said we would keep doing it."

"Was Vanessa there?"

"Yes."

"Did she say anything?"

Lily nodded.

"She said it was like acting."

He could not let Lily see his face.

Morales quietly asked, "Can you remember where the house was?"

Lily thought.

"There was a red bird on the mailbox."

Not enough.

Then she added, "And a train."

"A train?"

"I heard it really loud."

Rachel remembered Vanessa mentioning a "temporary staging house" owned by one of Kyle's clients.

By evening, they found it.

But not perfectly.

The card contained rehearsals.

Hours of them.

Vanessa smiling patiently.

Kyle prompting.

Lily repeating sentences.

Sometimes crying.

Sometimes refusing.

Aaron watched all of it.

Outside court, reporters waited.

Daniel hated that.

Aaron said, "We can ask for a sealed record."

"Do it."

"News is already out."

"I don't care about me."

"I know."

Daniel's phone rang.

Unknown number.

He answered.

Silence.

Then a man's voice.

"You turned everyone against me."

Kyle.

Daniel signaled Morales.

She started tracing.

Daniel kept his voice steady.

"You did that yourself."

"You think you're better than me?"

"No."

"You got the house. The company. The kid. Everything."

"The kid has a name."

Kyle laughed softly.

"She was never supposed to get hurt."

Daniel's jaw clenched.

"Then stop running."

A pause.

"You want me?"

"Yes."

"Come alone."

Morales shook her head violently.

Daniel asked, "Where?"

Kyle gave an address.

Then he said one more thing.

"And bring the original trust key."

The call ended.

Morales looked at Daniel.

"You are not going alone."

"I know."

Then Aaron checked the address.

His face changed.

"What?"

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But the registered owner was not Kyle.

It was Vanessa.