Chapter 5 - DAD ALWAYS BELIEVES HER
I sat on Lily's bedroom floor with the photograph in my hand.
September 3 was three weeks away.
I called the school.
A woman in admissions answered.
"Yes, Mr. Cole. We have Lily's residential placement file."
"Who submitted it?"
"Your wife."
"Cancel it."
Silence.
"Sir, the deposit is nonrefundable."
"I don't care. Cancel it."
"We will need written confirmation from both legal guardians."
"Vanessa is not Lily's legal guardian."
Another silence.
"Our file says she is."
I looked at the forged authorization in Peter's video.
"Send me everything you have."
When I hung up, Lily was standing in the doorway.
"Was I really going there?"
I hated that I could not lie to her.
"Vanessa tried to arrange it."
Her chin trembled.
"She said you wanted me to go."
I crossed the room.
"I didn't."
"She showed me messages."
"What messages?"
Lily unlocked an old tablet from her desk and opened screenshots.
One appeared to come from me.
Maybe boarding school would be best. She needs structure.
Another:
If Lily keeps lying, I can't keep choosing her over my marriage.
I stared at the screen.
"I never wrote these."
Lily nodded slowly, but she did not look relieved.
That hurt most.
"You don't believe me?"
"I want to."
I sat beside her.
"You don't have to believe me because I'm your dad. I'll prove it."
Her eyes filled.
"She always said you believed her because you loved her more."
"No."
"But when I tried to tell you she yelled, you said, 'Vanessa's under a lot of stress.'"
I remembered saying it.
"When I told you she took my door off, you said there had to be a reason."
I remembered that too.
I had not chosen Vanessa in one dramatic moment.
I had chosen her in a hundred small moments when listening would have cost me comfort.
Then Jenna called from downstairs.
"Daniel, you need to see this."
She had opened the metadata on the fake text screenshots.
May you like
They had all been created on the same device.
Vanessa's laptop.
