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.