Chapter 2: The Man Victoria Never Expected to See
Victoria's smile disappeared so quickly it was as if someone had wiped it off her face.
For several endless seconds, nobody moved.
The leather belt slipped from her fingers and landed on the marble floor with a dull slap.
Lily slowly lifted her head.
Her swollen eyes struggled to focus.
"D... Dad?"
Her voice cracked.
She looked as though she wasn't sure whether I was real or just another desperate dream.
I crossed the room in three long strides.
The smell hit me before I reached her.
Blood.
Sweat.
The sweet, sour odor of crushed durian shells scattered across the polished floor.
My knees hit the carpet beside her.
"Lily..."
I reached toward her trembling shoulders.
She flinched.
Not because of pain.
Because she expected another blow.
That tiny movement shattered something inside me.
I had raised this little girl alone after cancer took her mother when Lily was only eight years old.
For nearly ten years, I had promised one thing.
"No one will ever hurt you while I'm alive."
And yet...
I had failed.
Because the person hurting her had been sleeping in my bed.
Victoria recovered first.
She forced out a shaky laugh.
"Darling... this isn't what it looks like."
I didn't answer.
My hands carefully lifted Lily from the pile of razor-sharp durian shells.
She cried out the moment pressure left her knees.
I looked down.
Tiny spikes had pierced straight through the skin.
Blood ran down both legs in thin streams.
Her school blouse hung in ribbons.
Purple bruises layered over older yellow ones.
Not one day old.
Not one week old.
Some were already healing.
Which meant...
This hadn't happened once.
It had happened before.
Many times.
My breathing became dangerously slow.
"Lily."
I kept my voice gentle.
"When did this start?"
She looked at Victoria.
Fear flashed across her face.
Victoria immediately interrupted.
"She's lying!"
I raised one finger without looking at my wife.
"Not."
"One."
"Word."
The room fell silent.
For the first time since I had known her...
Victoria obeyed.
Lily swallowed painfully.
"About..."
She hesitated.
"Three months ago."
Three months.
I had married Victoria six months earlier.
The abuse had begun only three months after the wedding.
Every business trip.
Every overseas conference.
Every late board meeting...
Had become an opportunity.
My stomach twisted.
"What happened?"
Tears rolled silently down Lily's cheeks.
"She said..."
"...I reminded her that Mom came first."
I closed my eyes.
When I opened them again, I asked another question.
"Did she ever apologize afterward?"
Lily slowly shook her head.
"No."
"What did she say?"
"She..."
Lily's voice became almost inaudible.
"She said if I told you..."
"...she'd make sure you hated me."
Victoria suddenly burst into tears.
Real tears.
Or at least convincing ones.
"Please!"
"She manipulates everyone!"
"She's jealous because we're married!"
"I've sacrificed everything for this family!"
I finally looked at her.
There was no love left in my eyes.
Only disbelief.
"Sacrificed?"
I stood up slowly.
Every inch of my six-foot-three frame suddenly seemed too large for the room.
"You call this sacrifice?"
I pointed toward the blood soaking into the imported Italian carpet.
"You stripped a seventeen-year-old child."
"You beat her."
"You forced her onto durian shells."
Victoria's lips trembled.
"It wasn't punishment."
"It was discipline."
The word echoed through the penthouse.
Discipline.
My hands curled into fists.
Just then...
The elevator chimed.
The doors opened.
Our housekeeper, Mrs. Chen, stepped inside carrying grocery bags.
She froze.
The bags slipped from her hands.
Oranges rolled across the marble floor.
"Oh my God..."
She covered her mouth.
"Miss Lily..."
Mrs. Chen rushed toward us.
Then stopped halfway.
She looked from Lily...
To Victoria...
Then finally to me.
Her face crumpled.
"I'm sorry, Mr. Tan."
"I should have told you."
The room became even quieter.
I stared at her.
"What do you mean?"
Tears filled the elderly woman's eyes.
"I tried to stop her."
"Every time."
"But Madam Victoria would send me away."
"She said..."
Mrs. Chen lowered her head.
"She said if I spoke to you..."
"...she would have me deported."
Mrs. Chen had worked for my family for twenty-two years.
She had helped raise Lily after my first wife died.
She wasn't simply an employee.
She was family.
And Victoria had used her immigration status as a weapon.
I looked back at my wife.
"You threatened her too?"
Victoria didn't answer.
That was answer enough.
I carefully wrapped Lily in my suit jacket.
Then I picked her up.
She weighed almost nothing.
Far lighter than she should have.
As I carried her toward the elevator, Victoria hurried after us.
"Wait!"
"Please let me explain!"
She grabbed my sleeve.
Wrong decision.
I slowly looked down at her hand.
"Take."
"Your."
"Hand."
"Off."
She immediately let go.
Inside the elevator, Lily rested her head against my shoulder.
She whispered something so softly I almost didn't hear it.
"I thought..."
"...you weren't coming home until Friday."
I felt my heart break all over again.
"My meeting ended early."
She gave the smallest nod.
"I prayed..."
"...that you'd come home today."
The elevator doors closed.
Leaving Victoria standing alone in the penthouse.
For the first time...
Without anyone left to control.
Forty minutes later...
The emergency physician finished examining Lily.
He removed his gloves slowly.
His expression was grim.
"There are multiple injuries."
I remained silent.
He continued.
"Several lacerations."
"Deep tissue bruising."
"Puncture wounds."
He looked directly into my eyes.
"And..."
He hesitated.
"Some of these injuries are in different stages of healing."
The words hit me harder than anything else.
Different stages.
Weeks.
Maybe months.
The doctor took a deep breath.
"Mr. Tan..."
"As a physician..."
"I am legally required to report suspected child abuse."
I nodded once.
"You won't have to."
He frowned.
"What do you mean?"
I reached into my pocket.
Removed my phone.
And dialed a number from memory.
The line connected after only one ring.
"This is Commissioner Lim."
I spoke calmly.
"It's Adrian Tan."
There was a pause.
"Adrian?"
"I need the Child Protection Unit."
"And the Criminal Investigation Department."
"Immediately."
Another pause.
"Is someone in danger?"
I looked through the hospital window.
Lily lay asleep under a warm blanket.
A nurse gently adjusted the bandages around her knees.
I answered without taking my eyes off my daughter.
"My wife."
May you like
I paused.
"Just committed a crime."
