Chapter 1 - The Mud on Her Dress)
Twenty-three minutes after Daniel struck his mother, the Sterling garden party was officially over.
It did not end with an announcement.
It ended with silence.
Guests who had arrived expecting champagne, string music and photographs beneath the flower arch began leaving through the iron gates without finishing their drinks.
Nobody wanted to be the last person standing near Margaret Sterling.
Nobody wanted to be the first person caught whispering.
Ava carried Lily through the mansion while Daniel followed.
Mud dripped from the child's shoes onto the polished marble floor.
Normally, a housekeeper would have appeared instantly.
Nobody came.
The staff seemed to have disappeared.
Ava pushed open the door of the downstairs powder room and sat Lily on the marble counter.
Daniel locked the door.
For several seconds, neither adult spoke.
Lily cried quietly.
Ava wet a white towel and began wiping mud from her daughter's cheek.
Every time the towel approached Lily's face, the child flinched.
That frightened Ava more than the fall.
"Sweetheart," Ava whispered. "Mommy's not going to hurt you."
Lily nodded.
But she still flinched again.
Daniel noticed.
His jaw tightened.
"How long?" he asked.
Ava looked at him.
"How long what?"
"How long has she been afraid of my mother?"
Ava looked down at the muddy towel.
"I don't know."
"That's not an answer."
Ava turned sharply.
"And screaming at me isn't going to make one appear."
Daniel immediately stepped back.
"I'm sorry."
Lily began crying harder.
Daniel crossed the room and crouched several feet away.
He did not touch her.
"Daddy's not angry at Mommy," he said softly. "Daddy's angry because somebody scared you."
Lily watched him with red eyes.
Then she reached for him.
Daniel's face broke.
He lifted her carefully from the counter.
Lily buried her head against his shoulder.
Ava had seen Daniel negotiate hotel acquisitions worth hundreds of millions of dollars without showing emotion.
Now he stood shaking while holding his muddy daughter.
"What exactly happened?" he whispered.
Lily did not answer.
Ava touched his arm.
"Not now."
Daniel nodded.
Someone knocked on the door.
Three slow knocks.
Daniel turned.
"Who is it?"
A woman's voice answered.
"Helen."
Ava knew the voice.
Helen Ward had been the Sterling family's senior housekeeper for twenty-seven years.
Daniel unlocked the door.
Helen entered and immediately closed it behind her.
She was sixty-two, small, neat and almost always composed.
Today she looked terrified.
"I shouldn't be here," Helen said.
Daniel stared at her.
"Then why are you?"
Helen looked at Lily.
"Because somebody should have stopped it."
Ava went still.
Daniel's face hardened.
"Stopped what?"
Helen swallowed.
"Your mother told the staff not to interfere."
Ava stared at her.
"When?"
"About twenty minutes before Lily fell."
Daniel stepped closer.
"What did she tell you?"
Helen's hands trembled.
"She said Mrs. Sterling was teaching the child manners."
Ava's stomach turned.
"What manners?"
Helen closed her eyes.
"Mrs. Sterling tied the balloon strings together. She told Lily to hold them. Then she made two gardeners raise the cluster over the shallow mud bed."
Daniel looked confused.
"Raise her?"
Helen nodded.
"Only a few inches at first."
Ava covered her mouth.
Helen continued.
"Lily started crying. She wanted her mother. Mrs. Sterling said crying was proof she was spoiled."
Daniel's voice became dangerously calm.
"And everyone watched?"
"The gardeners stopped when she started screaming. Your mother told them they would lose their jobs if they disobeyed."
"Names."
"Daniel."
"Their names."
Helen gave him both names.
He took out his phone.
Ava caught his wrist.
"What are you doing?"
"Making sure they don't get fired."
"Your mother controls payroll."
"Not anymore."
Daniel called the Sterling estate manager.
The conversation lasted forty seconds.
When it ended, he slipped the phone back into his pocket.
"I just guaranteed their salaries personally for a year."
Helen looked stunned.
Daniel turned toward Lily.
His expression changed.
"Was there a camera?"
Helen hesitated.
That hesitation answered him.
Ava felt cold.
"What camera?"
Helen looked toward the ceiling as if Margaret might somehow hear them.
"The garden security system."
Daniel frowned.
"There are six cameras outside."
"Seven."
He stared at her.
Helen lowered her voice.
"Your father installed another one years ago. It faces the rose garden."
Daniel's father, Richard Sterling, had been dead for eleven years.
Daniel slowly straightened.
"I've never heard about a seventh camera."
"Your mother has."
Ava asked the obvious question.
"Did it record today?"
Helen nodded.
Daniel immediately reached for the door.
Helen caught his sleeve.
"Don't."
He looked at her.
"If Mrs. Sterling knows you're looking for it, the recording will disappear."
Daniel stared at Helen.
"Where is the recorder?"
"I don't know."
"But someone does."
Helen nodded.
"Your father's old security director."
"Samuel Price?"
"Yes."
Daniel's expression changed.
Samuel Price had vanished from Sterling employment shortly after Richard Sterling's death.
Ava had heard the name only once.
Margaret had called him a thief.
Helen leaned closer.
"There's something else."
Ava looked at her.
Helen's eyes filled with something that looked almost like guilt.
"Today wasn't the first time."
Daniel stopped moving.
Ava's heart began pounding.
"What wasn't the first time?"
Helen looked at Lily.
May you like
Then at Daniel.
"Your mother has been punishing her for months."
