Chapter 3 - Lily Put Her Tiny Hands Over My Eyes—and For the First Time in Six Months, I Saw a Flicker of LightElena explained everything.
Lily had been born four years ago.
The timing was impossible to ignore.
She was born seven months after Elena disappeared.
My daughter.
My blood.
I didn't know.
Nobody had told me.
Richard had made sure I never knew.
He had convinced me Elena betrayed me.
Then he convinced Isabella to enter my life.
But why?
Because Richard wanted my empire.
He needed me isolated.
Blind.
Dependent.
And emotionally broken.
Isabella had been perfect for the role.
Until Lily found me.
I spent the next week undergoing tests.
Doctors came.
Specialists.
Neurologists.
Surgeons.
Everyone confirmed the same thing.
My optic nerves weren't destroyed.
They had been damaged.
And something was interfering with the signals.
Lily watched the doctors.
Then she asked,
“Can I try?”
The doctors laughed.
I didn't.
“Let her.”
She stood beside me.
Placed her palms over my eyes.
And whispered,
“Wake up.”
Nothing happened.
Then suddenly—
Light.
A flash.
White.
I screamed.
The doctors froze.
“What did you see?”
“Light.”
Everyone began shouting.
Lily smiled.
“I told you.”
It wasn't magic.
Later, specialists discovered the device inside my skull.
A tiny implant.
Designed to interfere with nerve signals.
It could be disabled.
It could also be removed.
But whoever had implanted it had expected me never to discover it.
Lily hadn't healed me.
She had noticed something everyone else had missed.
The same way she had noticed the strange device around my neck months earlier.
Her instincts had saved me.
The surgery was scheduled.
But before it happened, Richard called.
His voice came through my phone.
“Hello, Dominic.”
I froze.
“Richard.”
He laughed.
“So Elena found you.”
I tightened my grip.
“You're going to prison.”
“Not if you want your daughter alive.”
I stopped breathing.
Lily was sitting beside me.
Elena heard him.
“Where is she?”
Richard laughed.
“You're going to come to me.”
I asked,
“Where?”
“Come alone.”
Then the call ended.
I stood.
Elena grabbed my hand.
“No.”
“I have to go.”
“You'll die.”
“Maybe.”
She cried.
“Dominic, I already lost you once.”
I touched her face.
“You didn't lose me.”
She whispered,
“I almost did.”
I kissed her forehead.
Then Lily spoke.
“Daddy?”
I froze.
She had never called me that before.
I turned.
She smiled.
“Come back.”
May you like
I promised.
“I will.”
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