Chapter 1 - What Lily Saw Beneath the Dress
The fake belly hit the ballroom floor with a dull, hollow thump.
Nobody spoke.
For several seconds, the only movement came from the enormous aquarium wall, where silver fish drifted through blue light as though nothing extraordinary had happened.
Victor stood at the center of the room.
One hand rested protectively on Lily's shoulder.
His eyes remained fixed on Claire.
“No one touches my granddaughter.”
Claire had gone completely pale.
The emerald gown hung strangely around her waist now that the prosthetic had been removed.
Eleanor stared at her.
“You disgusting little fraud.”
Claire looked at her.
And laughed.
Not loudly.
Not happily.
It was the broken laugh of someone who had just realized the worst thing that could happen was no longer worth preventing.
“You knew.”
Eleanor's face changed.
Victor noticed.
“What did she know?”
Eleanor recovered quickly.
“Nothing.”
Claire smiled through wet eyes.
“Still lying?”
Victor stepped forward.
“Claire.”
She looked at him.
“Why were you pretending to be pregnant?”
Claire glanced at Lily.
The little girl immediately moved closer to Victor.
Her red boxing gloves looked almost absurd now.
Tiny fists in a room full of adults carrying much larger secrets.
“I can't tell you.”
Victor's expression hardened.
“That's not an answer.”
“It's the only one I can give.”
Eleanor scoffed.
“She wanted money. What else?”
Claire's eyes flashed.
“If I wanted your money, Eleanor, I would've taken it six months ago.”
Victor turned toward his wife.
“What does that mean?”
“Nothing.”
Again.
Nothing.
The word people used when something was too dangerous to name.
Victor crouched in front of Lily.
“Sweetheart.”
Lily's lower lip trembled.
“Why did you hit Claire?”
Lily looked toward the discarded prosthetic.
“She lied.”
“How did you know?”
“I saw it.”
“Where?”
Lily hesitated.
Eleanor immediately interrupted.
“She's eight years old. She probably saw Claire dressing.”
“No.”
Lily's answer came quickly.
Victor waited.
The child's breathing became uneven.
Then she whispered:
“I saw her take it off downstairs.”
Claire's head snapped toward her.
“When?”
“Last night.”
Claire's fear returned.
Victor noticed that too.
“Downstairs where?”
Lily stared toward the far side of the ballroom.
Beyond the glowing aquarium.
“There.”
Everyone followed her gaze.
Victor frowned.
“There's nothing behind the aquarium.”
Lily shook her head.
“Yes, there is.”
She had woken after midnight and heard Claire walking through the hallway.
Lily followed.
Claire entered the ballroom.
Pressed something beneath the aquarium frame.
Part of the enormous wall slid open.
Behind it was a staircase.
Lily followed her underground.
There she saw Claire remove the prosthetic belly.
But that was not what frightened her.
Claire had been meeting someone.
“Who?” Victor asked.
Lily looked at Claire.
Claire slowly shook her head.
A warning.
Lily's eyes filled.
“I couldn't see his face.”
“Did you hear him?”
“Yes.”
“What did he say?”
Lily swallowed.
“He said the baby had to stay alive until Saturday.”
The ballroom became silent.
Victor looked at Claire's empty stomach.
“What baby?”
Claire closed her eyes.
Lily continued.
“Then Claire said…”
She struggled to remember the exact words.
“She said, ‘Victor can never know where she really is.’”
Victor stopped breathing.
She.
Not it.
Not the baby.
She.
Somewhere beneath the mansion, there was apparently a real child.
Claire's fake pregnancy had been hiding her existence.
Victor stepped toward Claire.
“Where is she?”
Claire shook her head.
“Please don't ask me here.”
“WHERE IS SHE?”
The authority in his voice shook the room.
Claire began crying.
“I was trying to keep her alive.”
Eleanor suddenly moved toward the ballroom doors.
Victor noticed.
“Stop.”
Eleanor froze.
Victor's eyes narrowed.
“Why are you leaving?”
“I've had enough of this insanity.”
“No.”
Victor looked from Eleanor to Claire.
“You're afraid of the same thing.”
Eleanor said nothing.
Then Lily tugged Victor's coat.
“Grandpa…”
He looked down.
Lily had removed one red boxing glove.
Something was hidden inside it.
A small folded photograph.
“I took this from the downstairs room.”
Victor opened it.
The photograph showed Claire.
No fake belly.
No emerald gown.
She was standing beside a hospital incubator.
Inside was a newborn baby girl.
On the back, someone had written a date.
Seven months earlier.
Victor stared.
Claire had supposedly been only two months pregnant at that time.
Impossible.
Then he read the handwritten name beneath the date.
His face changed.
The baby was labeled:
BABY LILLIAN VALE.
Victor slowly looked at Lily.
Lily's full name was Lily Vale.
May you like
And according to every family record—
she was the only child in the family who had ever been given that name.
