Chapter 2 - The Crack of Pride
"You clumsy little pest!" Victoria hissed.
Her voice cut through the ambient sound like a blade.
Lily startled, stepping back, holding her silver key tightly in her fist. "I... I didn't touch you, ma'am—"
Victoria didn't wait for an explanation.
Her face contorted in a flash of sudden, unbridled fury. Reaching out, her fingers tangled brutally into Lily’s soft brown hair, yanking the child's head back with terrifying force.
Before anyone could intervene, Victoria raised her open hand and brought it down across the eight-year-old's face.
SLAP!
The sharp crack echoing through the immediate radius was violent, hollow, and horrifying.
Lily spun sideways from the force of the strike. Her knee hit the hard oak floor, her fingernails scraping against the polished wood as she caught herself.
A thin, angry scratch bloomed along her left cheekbone, red and raw, where Victoria’s large diamond ring had cut into her skin.
Victoria stood over the kneeling child, her chest heaving, her gold dress sparkling under the chandeliers.
"Get out before I have security drag you into the street!" Victoria snarled through clenched teeth, her voice thick with venom.
Nearby guests gasped, turning their heads in shock, but no one moved. In this room, Victoria Sterling’s word was absolute law.
Lily remained on her knees.
She didn't scream. She didn't throw a tantrum.
Gently, her small fingers reached up, touching the stinging scratch on her cheek.
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She looked up at Victoria with wide, dark eyes—not filled with fear, but with a strange, unyielding, terrifying calm.
"You really shouldn't have done that..." Lily whispered softly.
