CHAP 2 — The Watch on the Table
For one second, I thought my father might kill him.
Not because Dad shouted.
Because he did not.
His silence changed the room more violently than a scream.
Derek leaned against the white counter, enjoying the attention.
“She woke up with an attitude,” he said. “I gave her a quick slap to straighten her out.”
A nervous laugh escaped one of his friends.
Then died immediately.
Victoria stepped forward.
“Arthur, don’t let this become ugly. You know how Lucy is. She takes everything personally.”
Dad did not look at her.
His eyes stayed on me.
I held his gaze for two seconds and gave the smallest nod I could manage.
Yes.
It happened.
Yes.
I need help.
That was all it took.
Dad set the blue gift on the entry table. Then he slowly unbuckled the heavy luxury watch from his wrist and placed it beside the vase.
Click.
The sound seemed to echo through the entire dining hall.
“Lucy,” he said quietly, “go out to the backyard. Now.”
Derek’s smirk cracked.
“Excuse me? She isn’t going anywhere.”
Dad finally looked at him.
“You just admitted in front of fourteen witnesses that you assaulted my daughter. I highly recommend you don’t move another inch.”
Derek straightened.
“You don’t scare me.”
“No,” Dad said. “Evidence does.”
I walked toward the sliding glass doors with my legs shaking.
Victoria hissed as I passed, “Don’t make a scene. You’re going to ruin your own party.”
I stepped outside into the backyard.
Through the glass, the dining room looked like a stage: white marble floors, bright overhead lights, the massive cake decorated with fruit, guests frozen around their champagne glasses.
Then Victoria’s face changed.
Her eyes dropped to the table.
To my father’s watch.
Then to the lower cabinet beneath the sink.
Her mouth opened.
She knew.
She dropped to her knees in front of everyone and crawled across the kitchen floor, reaching for the cabinet door.
Derek shouted, “Mom, stop!”
But she was already pulling open the cabinet beneath the sink.
Inside was the trash can.
Inside the trash can was my old cracked phone, wrapped in paper towels, the phone Derek had ripped from my hand that morning after I tried to record him.
He thought he had deleted everything.
He did not know it had already uploaded.
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And he did not know my father’s watch had been recording from the moment he entered the house.
