Chapter 1 - THE FALL FROM THE PIANO
Victoria Haynes stepped farther into the sunlit parlor.
The porcelain cup in her hand trembled slightly.
Lily sat on the piano bench with Button the rabbit beside her.
Her tiny fingers rested on the ivory keys.
“What did I tell you?”
Lily turned.
“I don’t know.”
“I told the staff that children do not enter this room.”
“I heard the song.”
“There was no song.”
Lily looked down at the keys.
“The piano was waiting.”
Victoria placed her coffee on a side table.
Her smile disappeared.
“This piano belongs to Ethan.”
Lily shook her head with the solemn confidence of a three-year-old.
“Songs are everybody’s.”
Victoria’s face hardened.
She reached for Lily’s arm.
“Get down.”
Lily pulled back.
Her sneaker slipped against the polished bench.
Victoria pushed her shoulder.
The motion was quick.
Almost casual.
Lily fell backward.
Her head and shoulder struck the marble floor.
Button landed beside her.
For one terrible second, the child made no sound.
Then a small cry escaped her.
Victoria stared down.
“You should have listened.”
Footsteps entered the parlor.
Ethan Caldwell stopped in the doorway.
His car keys slipped from his fingers.
They struck the marble with a sharp metallic sound.
He looked first at Lily.
Then at Victoria.
Then back at the child.
Lily’s gray-green eyes filled with tears.
They were the exact color of Ethan’s eyes.
Not similar.
Not close.
Exact.
Rosa rushed into the room.
“Lily.”
She dropped beside her daughter.
Lily lifted one hand toward her mother.
“My head hurts.”
Ethan crossed the room.
“What happened?”
Victoria answered before Rosa could speak.
“She climbed onto the piano and fell.”
Lily looked at Ethan.
“The pretty lady pushed me.”
Victoria’s lips parted.
“She is confused.”
Rosa lifted Lily carefully.
The child cried when her left shoulder moved.
Ethan’s expression became cold.
“Call an ambulance.”
Victoria stepped closer.
“Ethan, this is unnecessary.”
“A three-year-old hit a marble floor.”
“She is not your responsibility.”
Ethan turned toward her.
The room went silent.
The staff had gathered in the hallway.
Rosa held Lily against her chest.
Ethan stared into the child’s eyes again.
Then he looked at Rosa.
Four years earlier, those same eyes had watched him from across a diner table in Queens.
He had recognized Rosa the first day she entered his estate.
He had simply convinced himself that she preferred silence.
Now that silence had a child’s face.
“How old is Lily?” he asked.
Rosa’s entire body became still.
Victoria looked between them.
Ethan repeated the question.
“How old is she?”
Rosa swallowed.
“She turned three in August.”
Ethan calculated the dates without needing a calendar.
His face lost its color.
“Rosa.”
She looked down at Lily.
May you like
Ethan’s voice broke.
“Is she my daughter?”
