“Lily!” Caroline shouted from above. “You were supposed to finish an hour ago! Hurry up!”
“I’m sorry, Caroline,” Lily said quietly, her small hands gripping the bag. “They’re really heavy…”
“So what? I worked harder when I was your age. Stop pretending you’re weak.”
“But… I’m only eight…”
“Exactly. Old enough to help.”
Lily lowered her head and kept pulling.
Daniel noticed the blisters on her palms.
Real ones.
The hands of someone forced to work — not the hands of a child meant to be drawing pictures or playing outside.
One of the garbage bags caught on a rock.
When Lily tugged, it ripped open.
Wet trash spilled across the grass.
“Oh no… please…” she whispered, dropping to her knees and gathering the mess with her bare hands. “If I don’t clean it… he’ll be angry…”
That was enough.
Daniel stepped out from behind the hedges.
“Lily.”
She froze.
Slowly, she turned around.
Her eyes widened.
“Dad…?” she whispered. “Is that really you?”
Daniel dropped to his knees in front of her, not caring about his expensive suit.
“Yes, sweetheart. I’m here.”
Lily glanced nervously toward the balcony.
“Dad… please let me change first. I don’t want you to see me like this. And… please don’t tell Caroline.”
Those words hurt more than anything else.
“Why not?” Daniel asked softly.
Lily stared at the ground.
“She said if I complained, it meant I was spoiled. And if I told you anything… you’d send me away to boarding school.”
Daniel felt tears burning in his eyes.
“She also said… you left because you needed a break from me.”
His chest tightened painfully.
He gently lifted her chin.
“Listen to me, Lily. I left because of work. Never because of you. You are the most important person in my life. I would never send you away.”
Lily nodded, but fear still lingered in her eyes.
From the balcony, Caroline shouted again.
“Lily! Get up here now!”
Lily flinched.
“Dad… I have to go. If she sees me talking before I finish, she’ll get angry.”
Something inside Daniel snapped.
“No,” he said quietly. “You stay here. I’ll talk to her.”
“She’ll say I’m causing problems…”
“You’re not,” Daniel said firmly. “She is.”
Daniel walked slowly up the stairs to the balcony.
Caroline was still laughing into her phone.
“I’m telling you, Megan, it’s so—”
She stopped mid-sentence when she saw him.
“Daniel?!”
Shock flashed across her face.
Then panic.
Then a forced smile.
“Oh my God! You’re home early! You should’ve told me — I would’ve prepared something special.”