Chapter 3 - An Empty Sanctuary
By midnight, David had brought Lily to his private apartment across town, far away from the oppressive grandeur of the Sterling manor. He laid her gently on the oversized guest bed, tucking the down comforter up to her chin. The small girl wouldn't let go of the white ribbon Eleanor had used to tie her hair, twirling it around her fingers like a nervous talisman.
"Daddy, will Nana come here?" Lily whispered into the dim room, illuminated only by the streetlights filtering through the blinds.
"No, Lily. Nobody enters this home unless I open the door," David promised, sitting on the edge of the mattress. He smoothed back her tangled blonde curls. "You are completely safe. You never have to go back to that house, and you will never be locked in a room again."
"I heard the mail carrier drop them through the brass slot last week," Lily said softly, her eyelids growing heavy with exhaustion. "Nana was asleep. I wanted to see if there were pictures of animals inside. But when Nana caught me, she took the keys and told me that curious children get put away."
David felt an unbearable pang of guilt. For years, blinded by grief and buried under the crushing corporate responsibilities his mother had placed upon him, he had allowed Eleanor to oversee Lily’s upbringing. He had convinced himself that Eleanor’s strictness was merely aristocratic discipline. He had failed to see the cruelty masquerading as decorum.
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Once Lily fell into a deep, steady sleep, David stepped into his study. He poured a tumbler of cold water and laid twelve envelopes across his desk in chronological order. The earliest was dated three weeks after Clara's alleged death; the latest was barely five weeks old, stamped from a small border town in northern Greece.
With a silver letter opener, his hands shaking slightly, David sliced open the earliest envelope.
