Because this wasn't the first time I'd lived through it.
Dick and I had brought Lily back to his hometown to visit Kate. When we arrived, we discovered she'd renovated the mansion we'd built for her yet again.
She'd knocked three second-floor bedrooms into one sprawling suite, converting it into a two-bedroom apartment with its own living area. Ugly security bars had been bolted over the windows, completely out of place on a house like that.
The suite's door had two new handles that didn't match anything else. In my previous life, I'd noticed them and thought nothing of it. It wasn't until after what happened to Lily that I understood: they were there so the door could be locked from the outside.
So.
All of it was deliberate.
She'd insisted she didn't want to live with us in the city, that she had to go back to her countryside mansion.
Then, not long after she'd settled in, she called to say she wasn't feeling well and wanted to see us and Lily. She'd placed a little cat toy in the suite's sitting room. Lily's favorite.
When I saw that toy, I was genuinely moved.
Moved that Kate had finally accepted Lily, imperfections and all. What I never expected was that the moment Lily touched it, she collapsed. Cardiac arrest. Instant.
I don't want to remember what came after.
I could only watch as my daughter slowly died, powerless to do a single thing.
And their reason for doing it? They thought Lily's hearing impairment made her defective. They wanted me to give her up for adoption and try for another baby.
But this time, the one who got shocked wasn't Lily.
It was Dick.
And I hadn't kept that from Kate.
"Mom, what are you talking about?" I pressed. "Dick is barely hanging on, and you want me to mop the floor? The paramedics aren't going to care whether your tiles are spotless when they get here. They're not going to stop and judge your housekeeping."
The moment those words left my mouth, Kate's voice changed. The smug satisfaction drained out of it, replaced by something cold and sharp.
"Maisie Acevedo, have you lost your mind?"
"Dick is your husband. How dare you curse him like that? How could he possibly get electrocuted? He already knows—"
My eyebrow twitched. I listened carefully.
I wanted her to finish that sentence. To say it out loud: that Dick knew the toy was rigged, that he was complicit, that he'd never touch it himself because he'd helped her plan the whole thing.
But no.
Kate caught herself just in time.
She swerved hard.
"Dick is a grown man. Why on earth would he be playing with a child's toy? If you're going to lie, at least come up with something believable!"
"And it's not like I'm refusing to open the door. Clean up the floor first, then I'll unlock it. The ambulance will be here by then anyway. Everybody wins."
"I'm doing this for your own good. I won't have people saying the Butlers live like slobs. I won't be made a laughingstock!"
Her voice climbed higher with every word, fury and humiliation tangling together.
She didn't even give me time to mention calling the police. The signal jammer clicked on.
"You've already called the ambulance. There's no one else you need to call or text right now."
"You have plenty of time to clean up before they arrive!"
But.
I'd never said Dick touched the toy on purpose.
I exhaled slowly.
When I spoke again, my voice was more urgent.
"Mom, I'm not joking."
"Lily fell asleep after the long car ride. She never even saw the toy."
"You're right that Dick would never play with it. But he slipped and fell. That's how he made contact."
"I'm doing chest compressions right now. I literally cannot take my hands off him to mop."
"Please believe me. I would never joke about something like this."
