Chapter 1 - THE RIBBON AROUND HER HAIR
Daniel Bennett heard his daughter crying before his wheelchair cleared the doorway.
Then he saw why.
Eight-year-old Lily stood beneath the grand walnut staircase in Evelyn Bennett’s mansion, her head pulled painfully backward because her ponytail had been tied to a low iron spindle with an ivory ribbon.
Mason and Ava stood several feet away laughing.
Lily’s cheeks were wet.
Her hands hovered near her hair, too frightened to pull.
Mason gave the ribbon another little tug.
“You wanted to join the family?” the seventeen-year-old said. “There’s your seat.”
Ava covered her mouth, giggling.
Three adults nearby watched.
Nobody moved.
Daniel’s confusion disappeared.
“Untie my daughter. Now!”
His hands struck the wheels.
The chair shot across the polished floor.
Lily saw him.
“Daddy—”
Daniel never reached her.
Peter Bennett stepped into his path.
Peter was Evelyn’s forty-year-old son, Mason and Ava’s father, and a vice president at Bennett Architectural Millwork.
“Don’t make a scene, Dan.”
“Get out of my way.”
Daniel pushed forward.
Peter grabbed the chair handle.
Daniel twisted around.
“Take your hand off—”
Peter shoved.
Hard.
The wheelchair turned sideways.
One wheel hit the bottom stair.
Daniel spilled out.
His shoulder struck the carpeted edge of the first step.
Someone gasped.
The chair rolled backward across the marble.
For one second Daniel lay stunned.
Then Lily cried, “Daddy!”
He moved.
Pain shot through his shoulder as he dragged himself toward her.
He did not look at Peter.
He did not look for his wheelchair.
He reached the stair rail, pulled himself upright enough to grab the ribbon, and tore it loose.
Lily collapsed into his arms.
Daniel wrapped his body around her.
The laughter had stopped.
Evelyn appeared at the upper landing.
Pearl suit.
Silver hair.
Perfect posture.
She looked down at her brother and niece on the floor.
“It was merely a childish prank,” she said. “Nothing more.”
Daniel slowly raised his head.
He had spent twelve years hearing Evelyn explain things for other people.
His accident had made him “sensitive.”
Rachel’s objections had made his late wife “difficult.”
Lily’s discomfort made her “shy.”
Peter’s arrogance was “confidence.”
Mason’s cruelty was “teenage foolishness.”
Now his daughter was shaking against his chest.
Daniel looked at every relative around him.
“You humiliated my daughter once,” he said. “Every one of you pays for it tenfold.”
Evelyn’s mouth tightened.
“Don’t be melodramatic.”
Daniel ignored her.
He looked at Lily.
“Did they hurt you?”
She shook her head.
Then she whispered something only he could hear.
“Aunt Evelyn told them I had to learn my place.”
Daniel stopped.
He looked back at his sister.
May you like
Evelyn did not deny it.
That was when Daniel understood the ribbon had never been a prank.
