Chapter 2 - THE NAME NO ONE WAS SUPPOSED TO REMEMBER
“Say that again, sweetheart.”
Evelyn heard herself speak before she realized she had opened her mouth.
The little girl in the white dress stared at her.
Her eyes were enormous, dark blue, and filled with something Evelyn recognized immediately.
Not shyness.
Fear.
The child pressed her lips together.
Adrien Belandi rose so suddenly that his chair scraped across the marble floor.
“What did she say?”
His voice was quiet.
That made it worse.
The nanny, a thin woman named Mrs. Weller, moved toward the children.
“She didn't say anything, Mr. Belandi. It was just a sound.”
Evelyn looked at her.
The woman's face was pale.
Too pale.
Adrien turned toward Evelyn.
“You heard her?”
“Yes.”
“What did she say?”
Evelyn swallowed.
“Sellar.”
The word seemed to strike him.
For a moment, his expression became completely unreadable.
Then he looked toward his daughter.
“Lily?”
The little girl lowered her head.
Her brothers shifted closer to her.
Adrien approached slowly.
“Baby, can you say it again?”
Lily began trembling.
Evelyn saw the change immediately.
The child's shoulders rose.
Her breathing became shallow.
Her fingers gripped the edge of the table.
“Please,” Evelyn said.
Adrien stopped.
He looked at her.
“Please what?”
“Don't make her repeat it.”
His eyes narrowed.
“Do you understand who you're speaking to?”
“Yes.”
“Then you understand that my daughter hasn't spoken in two years.”
“I understand.”
“Then why are you telling me not to ask her?”
Evelyn looked toward Lily.
“Because she's frightened.”
Adrien's jaw tightened.
“Of what?”
Evelyn hesitated.
Then she said the one thing nobody else in the room had dared suggest.
“Maybe of what happens after she speaks.”
Silence.
Mrs. Weller made a small choking sound.
Adrien turned toward her.
“What does that mean?”
“I have no idea,” the nanny whispered.
But Evelyn had seen the woman's hands.
They were shaking.
Adrien noticed too.
His expression hardened.
“Take the children home.”
Mrs. Weller stepped forward.
“No.”
The word came from Evelyn.
Every head turned.
Adrien stared at her.
“You seem determined to make this evening difficult.”
Evelyn put down her tray.
“I'm trying to make sure your daughter feels safe.”
“She is safe.”
Evelyn looked at Lily.
The little girl had begun silently crying.
“Then ask her who she wants to go home with.”
Adrien looked toward his children.
“Lily?”
The girl didn't move.
One of her brothers reached for her hand.
The other stared at Mrs. Weller.
And slowly shook his head.
Adrien saw it.
His face changed.
He looked at his nanny.
“Step away from my children.”
Mrs. Weller went rigid.
“Mr. Belandi—”
“Now.”
She stepped back.
Adrien crouched beside the table.
For the first time that evening, he seemed uncertain.
“Lily,” he said softly. “Do you want to come with Daddy?”
The little girl stared at him.
Then reached for Evelyn.
Adrien looked up.
Something in his expression broke.
He had spent two years trying to make his children speak.
And now his daughter had spoken.
But she had reached for a stranger.
Not him.
Evelyn knelt beside the child.
“It's okay,” she whispered. “You don't have to say anything else tonight.”
Lily wrapped both arms around her neck.
And Adrien Belandi, the most feared man in the city, stood helplessly beside them.
May you like
Because he finally understood that the silence in his house might not have been grief.
It might have been a warning.
