Chapter 4

At 7 a.m. the next morning, Charles's lawyer sent me an email.

The tone was pretty aggressive.

He said I was using the court's ruling as a pretext to escalate the impact of the infringement and demanded I delete the video right away and post the apology statement they provided.

There was an extra line at the end of the email. [If you keep posting, we'll take legal action against you for everything.]

I forwarded the email to Anna.

She replied almost instantly. [It's a template letter to scare you. Send me your draft for today's apology first.]

I sent Anna the draft for the second video.

Ten minutes later, she made a few tweaks.

She swapped out "cheating" for "maintaining relationships with another woman that went beyond the boundaries of ordinary colleagues during the marriage."

She replaced "mistress" with "the other woman involved."

She cut out all the emotional language.

What was left was the court ruling, transfer records, and hotel booking numbers.

It was as sharp as a knife.

I set up my phone to record.

Lily was sitting across the table, quietly eating her fried eggs.

She was ten, with her hair in a ponytail and her school uniform buttoned up neatly.

She kept glancing at me.

I closed the recording app. "Lily, Mom needs to record a video. Can you go back to your room for a while?"

She didn't move. "Mom, yesterday, one of my classmates' moms shared your video in the class group chat."

My fingers froze. "Did anyone say anything to you?"

She shook her head and then nodded. "Wyatt said my dad and a pretty lady stayed at a hotel together."

My throat felt like something was stuck in it.

This scene had played out in my previous life.

Back then, all I could do was hold her and cry, telling her I was sorry.

Charles used that to say I was emotionally unstable.

I crouched down in front of her. "Are you scared?"

Lily looked at me. "A little."

"Mom will handle things at school."

She pursed her lips. "They said you were spreading rumors."

I took her hand. "The judge decided that some of what I said wasn't appropriate, so I'm apologizing according to their ruling. But the verdict also includes a lot of facts they've already investigated."

She seemed to understand, but not completely.

I went on. "It's the adults' fault, not yours. If anyone asks you, say you don't know, or tell them to ask your teacher."

Lily looked down at her fried eggs.

After a long pause, she asked, "Is Dad really going to marry that lady?"

My heart ached. "I don't know."

"Will he still want me?"

I gathered her into my arms. "Lily, you're not something for anyone to decide if they want or not. You're your own person."

Her shoulders were tense.

The doorbell rang.

I looked through the peephole. It was Charles.

He stood there with a breakfast bag in his hand, that gentle, fatherly expression on his face.

I opened the door a crack.

"What is it?" I asked.

Charles glanced inside. "I'm here to take Lily to school."

Lily heard Charles's voice and stood up.

Charles gave her a warm smile. "Lily, how about we go grab a hot dog for breakfast?"

Lily didn't say a word.

I blocked the doorway. "I'll take her to the school today."

Charles's smile faded. "Julia, don't use Lily as a bargaining chip."

I pulled out my phone. "Do you want to talk about custody now, or should I take her to school first?"

He lowered his voice. "If you keep posting those videos, I'll file for a custody change. What you're doing is already affecting Lily's normal life."

I looked at him. "You called Lily last night and had her ask me to take down the video. Tell me, Charles, was that what you call protecting her normal life?"

Charles's eyes shifted.

He hadn't expected me to know about that.

Truth was, I had no clue either. I was faking it.

But that look on his face told me everything I needed to know.

I said, "Charles, stop dragging Lily into grown-up stuff behind my back."

He scoffed. "I'm her father."

"That's exactly why I'm warning you."

Lily stepped behind me and whispered, "Mom, I don't want to go with Dad."

Charles's face fell. "Lily, what did you say?"

Lily shrank back behind me.

I didn't let her say anything else. "We're going to be late for school." Then I shut the door.

Charles knocked on the door. "Julia, are you teaching Lily to hate me?"

I didn't respond.

The doorbell camera would catch everything.