— “We’ll take her with us. It’ll be good for you two to bond. You said you were worried you weren’t connecting with her.”
Audrey was frustrated that Lily had never warmed up to her. The girl saw through her from the start.
— “But it’s our honeymoon!” Audrey had complained like a spoiled child. “I know you love your daughter, but I’m your wife.”
Lily’s instincts were right. When William wasn’t around, Audrey was a different person—cold, demanding, and cruel. She ignored Lily and spent all her time on the phone with a man named Mark.
— “The little brat is driving me crazy,” Audrey would complain. “She follows me everywhere. I hate kids.”
— “Hang in there, babe. It won’t be long now,” a man’s voice would reply. “Everything is ready. Just wait for the right moment, and we’ll be set for life.”
Lily didn’t understand everything, but she knew Audrey was hurting her father. Then, the accident happened. William’s car went off the road, and he never woke up. Lily was left alone with Audrey. The trauma of the accident and Audrey’s cruelty caused Lily to stop speaking entirely. Selective mutism, the doctors called it.
“It’s a miracle,” Audrey had laughed to Mark over a video call. “The brat can’t talk, so she can’t tell anyone what she saw.”
Martha visited Frank a few days before the trial. He was a nervous wreck.
“Thank you for coming, Martha. I don’t know what I’d do without your support.”
“I’m worried sick, Frank. That woman has destroyed so many lives, and now she’s coming for yours. But she won’t let Lily out of her sight, and Lily won’t go anywhere without me. The poor child is terrified.”
On the day of the trial, Martha was a ball of nerves. She managed to slip away from Audrey for a moment and met Frank’s lawyer’s assistant in the restroom.
“I found this this morning,” she whispered, handing over a small memory card. “Lily was playing with my phone months ago, recording videos for her dad. I just saw what was on it. You have to show this to the judge. Now.”
Frank sat in the courtroom, his heart pounding. Audrey sat on the other side, looking like a grieving widow. When the prosecution finished their case, Mr. Henderson stood up.
“Your Honor, I have new evidence. A video recorded by Lily Sterling herself, two weeks after the alleged kidnapping.”
Despite the prosecutor’s objections, the judge allowed the video to be played. The footage was shaky, filmed through a cracked bedroom door. It showed Audrey in her room, talking to Mark on her laptop.
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