Chapter 1

Today was my daughter Lily' s sixth birthday.

Her only wish was simple.

"Mommy, I just want Daddy to take me to the amusement park. Just for a little while."

I looked at her hopeful face and my heart ached. I called my husband, Liam.

His assistant, Mark, answered the phone. "Mr. Miller is very busy."

"It' s Lily' s birthday," I said, trying to keep my voice steady. "She just wants to go to the amusement park with her dad."

There was a pause. "I will inform him." The line went dead.

An hour later, a package arrived. It contained two tickets to the largest amusement park in the city. Lily jumped for joy, her eyes shining.

"Daddy didn' t forget! Daddy loves me!"

I forced a smile, but a cold feeling settled in my stomach. Liam hadn' t come. He hadn' t even called. He just sent tickets.

When we got to the park, the gates were locked. A huge sign read: "Closed for Private Event."

Lily' s face fell. "Mommy, what does that mean?"

Before I could answer, Mark, Liam' s assistant, walked up to us. He had a dismissive look on his face.

"Mrs. Miller."

"Mark, what' s going on? We have tickets." I held them out.

He snatched them from my hand and ripped them into pieces. The colorful scraps fluttered to the ground.

"Mrs. Miller, there' s a time and place for jealousy," he said, his voice impatient. "Mr. Miller is very busy right now."

My hands trembled. "Jealousy? This is my daughter' s birthday."

Mark just scoffed and turned away, guarding the entrance like a loyal dog.

Lily started to cry softly. I hugged her close, my own anger a hot fire in my chest. I looked through the bars of the tall iron fence.

I saw him. Liam.

He was "busy."

He had his arms wrapped around Tiffany, his ex-girlfriend who had recently come back into our lives. He was kissing her, his whole body pressed against hers. The entire park, filled with a thousand happy sounds, was just for her.

He had booked out every single amusement park in the city, just to impress her.

My heart shattered.

Lily saw him too. Her tears stopped. A huge, innocent smile spread across her face.

"Daddy!"

She didn' t see Tiffany. She only saw her father.

She was so small she slipped right through a gap in the fence, her little legs running across the manicured lawn toward him.

"Daddy! I' m here!"

She reached him, her arms outstretched for a hug.

Liam turned, his expression annoyed when he saw her. Then his face twisted into rage.

He kicked her.

He kicked our six-year-old daughter.

She flew backward and landed hard on the ground, a small, shocked gasp escaping her lips.

"You know Tiffany was heartbroken after you caused her miscarriage," Liam snarled at me, his voice dripping with poison. "How could you bring this brat here to upset her? You' re truly malicious."

He ignored Lily, who was now sobbing on the ground, and turned to comfort Tiffany, who was dabbing at her dry eyes.

I ran to the fence, shaking it, screaming his name. "Liam! What are you doing!"

He just glanced at me with cold contempt. He walked over to Lily, grabbed her by the arm, and dragged her toward the tallest ride in the park-the drop tower.

"You were crying and begging to come here," he said, his voice dangerously calm as he strapped my crying, terrified daughter into the seat. "Now I' ve let you play, so why are you still crying?"

The seat was designed for adults. The harness was too loose on her small body.

"Liam, no! Stop! She' s too small for that!" I screamed, my voice raw.

He didn' t listen. He walked to the control panel and pressed the start button.

He turned to the ride operators. "No one is to let her down without my command. I want her to have a good time and see if she dares to cause trouble and compete with you again."

He was talking to Tiffany. He was punishing our daughter for Tiffany.

He dismissed all the park staff with a wave of his hand. They all left, their heads bowed, not daring to look at me.

Then he wrapped his arm around Tiffany and they walked away, their laughter echoing in the empty park.

The ride started.

Lily' s small body was shot into the sky. Her screams were thin and desperate against the roar of the machine. It went up and down, again and again. It wasn' t stopping. It wasn' t supposed to go on this long.

I saw red.

I found a large rock and smashed the glass of the control room window. I climbed through, my arms bleeding from the shards. I slammed my hand on the emergency stop button.

The ride shuddered to a halt at the top. I frantically worked the controls, trying to bring it down manually.

It lowered slowly, agonizingly.

By the time the seat reached the platform, silence had fallen.

Blood was splattered across the entire area. It dripped from the seat, from the tower.

I unbuckled the harness and Lily' s broken body fell into my arms. Her eyes were open, but they saw nothing. Her pink birthday dress was stained dark red.

Just then, sirens wailed in the distance. My father-in-law, George, rushed in, his face pale with shock.

I knelt on the ground, holding my daughter' s lifeless body.

I looked up at him, the world turning into a blur of pain.

"Liam killed my daughter," I whispered, my voice a dead thing. "I want him to pay with his blood."