Chapter 2

The world snapped back into focus with a jarring lurch. The velvet box in my hand felt alien, a prop in a play I' d already seen end in tragedy. Sophia's joyful face was a mask, hiding the future of unimaginable pain she would unwittingly bring. It was all exactly the same. The bright sun, the cheering family, her tearful "yes."

"Daddy!"

I turned, and my breath caught in my throat. Lily. She was running across the lawn, her pigtails bouncing, her face alight with a pure, uncomplicated happiness that I thought I would never see again. She was healthy. She was vibrant. She was alive.

She threw her arms around my legs, her small body warm and real. I dropped the ring box and scooped her into my arms, burying my face in her hair, inhaling the scent of her kid-friendly shampoo. Tears streamed down my face, not of joy, but of raw, gut-wrenching terror and relief.

"Whoa, easy there, Daddy," she giggled, patting my cheek. "You're getting all wet."

"I'm just so happy, sweetie," I choked out, my voice thick.

"See? I told you he'd cry," a small voice said.

I looked over Lily's shoulder. Lucas was standing there, wearing the exact same striped polo shirt, the same khaki shorts, the same angelic smile. He tilted his head, his blue eyes wide with faux concern.

"Are you okay, Ethan? You look like you saw a ghost."

The words, so innocent on the surface, were a cold confirmation. This was real. I was back. The memories of Lily' s funeral, of her small, white casket, of the suffocating grief that had consumed me-it wasn't a dream. It was a future I had already lived.

A painful echo of the past, Sophia walked over and placed a gentle hand on my arm. "Honey, what's wrong? You're scaring me."

Her touch, which once felt like a promise, now felt like a warning.

I remembered everything. I remembered the camping trip, the collection of mutilated dolls. I remembered the doctors shrugging, their faces etched with confusion as they looked at Lily's chart. "We've never seen a rash progress like this," they'd said. "It's as if it's being... aggravated by something."

The music box. Lucas had insisted on bringing it to the hospital. He' d told the nurses it was to help Lily sleep. I remembered now, with sickening clarity, walking into her room and finding him with the box open. He wasn't just winding it. He was fiddling with the gears inside, a small, satisfied smile on his face as a faint, almost invisible dust settled onto Lily's pillow.

What was in it? Some kind of pollen? A chemical? Something he'd learned from his tech-savvy father? It didn't matter. I knew, with a certainty that chilled me to the bone, that he had poisoned my daughter. He had sat there, day after day, slowly killing her with a child's toy, and he had enjoyed watching it happen.

His motive was brutally simple. He didn' t want to share his mother. The camping trip was their first real outing as a new family, the moment he realized Lily and I were permanent fixtures. That's when he must have decided Lily had to go. Any man Sophia was with was a threat. And that man's child was an obstacle.

I looked from Sophia' s concerned face to Lucas' s innocent one, and then down at Lily, who was nestled safely in my arms. The choice was clear. There would be no second family. There would be no engagement. There would be no opportunity for this little monster to get near my daughter again.

I had been given a second chance. I would not waste it.