The Song That Exposed a Deadly Family Lie
Chapter 2: The Girl at the Piano
Victor did not chase the woman first.
He went to the girl.
The final note faded, and the ballroom remained silent. The little girl pulled her hands away from the keys and looked down, as if she expected to be punished.
Victor knelt beside the piano bench.
"Who taught you that song?" he asked.
The girl looked at him carefully. "My mother."
"What is your mother's name?"
She hesitated.
People leaned closer.
The woman in the gold dress was gone now, but Victor barely noticed. His whole world had narrowed to this child and the song no stranger should know.
The girl whispered, "Elena."
Victor's face changed.
That was his wife's name.
His dead wife.
At least, that was what he had been told.
"Where is she?" he asked.
The girl's lips trembled. "She is sick. I came here because she said music finds people who words cannot reach."
Victor closed his eyes for a second.
Elena used to say that.
Always.
"What is your name?" he asked.
"Lily."
Victor looked at her face more closely. Beneath the dirt and hunger, he saw it. The shape of Elena's eyes. His own dark hair. The small birthmark near her left wrist.
His hands began to shake.
"How old are you?"
"Eleven."
The number hit him hard.
His daughter would have been eleven.
A guard entered from the side door, breathing hard. "Sir, Mrs. Bellamy left through the service entrance."
Victor turned sharply.
Mrs. Bellamy.
The woman in gold.
She had been the head nurse at Saint Ormond Hospital the night of the fire. She was also the person who told Victor his wife and baby were dead.
Victor stood slowly.
"Find her," he ordered.
Lily slid down from the bench. "Please, sir. I only wanted food."
Victor looked back at her, and something in his face softened.
"You will have food," he said. "And a doctor for your mother."
Lily's eyes filled with hope.
Then a servant rushed in with a torn piece of paper.
"Sir, this was left by the back door."
Victor opened it.
The message was short.
If you want Elena alive, do not bring the child home.
