As Victoria continued her loud rant, pointing her finger and demanding immediate handcuffs for the housemaid, small footfalls sounded softly against the polished marble floor. Little Lily, Mason's seven-year-old daughter from his previous marriage, stepped into the sunlit hall from the side hallway. She was wearing her favorite bright pink pajamas, clutching a worn plush elephant doll tightly against her chest with both arms.
Lily: Daddy? Why is everyone screaming so loudly?
Mason immediately softened his face, turning around to shelter his little daughter from the high-stress environment and the judging eyes of the wealthy guests.
Mason: Hey sweetie, go back upstairs with your nanny. Grownups are just talking about something very important right now.
Victoria: Take the kid back upstairs! We are dealing with a criminal thief right here!
Lily stopped near the large white marble fireplace mantle, looking up at Victoria with big, clear brown eyes. She did not like Victoria, who always yelled at the staff and treated her like a burden whenever Mason was not watching closely.
Lily: Miss Victoria is lying, Daddy. She was not in her dressing room twenty minutes ago.
The hall suddenly fell into complete silence, the murmurs of the fifty guests dropping to zero as everyone turned their attention toward the little girl holding her stuffed animal under the American flag.
Mason: What did you say, Lily? Where was Miss Victoria?
Lily: She was standing right here by the fireplace mantle before the guests came inside the house.
Victoria's face flushed bright red, her golden sequin dress shimmering as her shoulders grew rigid with immediate panic.
Victoria: Don't listen to her, Mason! She is just a confused little child who does not know what she is talking about!
Lily: I am not confused! She fed it diamonds!
Mason: What do you mean she fed it diamonds, Lily? Explain to Daddy right now.
Lily: She took her shiny necklace off her neck, pulled out a small key, opened the hidden door inside the bronze lion statue on the mantle, and shoved the diamonds inside!
Mason's head snapped toward the mantle where an antique bronze statue of a roaring lion had sat for decades as a family heirloom. He took a sharp breath, his heart pounding in his chest as the full weight of his daughter's words hit him like a cold wave.
Mason: So she lied... What did she mean, Lily?
Lily: She told me if I said anything, she would throw my plush elephant in the trash can outside!