“The whole story is worse. I begged you to call. I begged you to send cards. I begged you to remember they were little girls, not furniture you left in a house you outgrew.”
Julian stared at her. “You told me he changed his number.”
“I kept the same number,” I said. “Same email. Same house. You just preferred the story where I was the villain.”
Elena whispered, “You’re humiliating me.”
“No,” I said. “You built this lie. We’re just standing where it collapsed.”
Elena looked at Julian.
He stepped back.
Nobody followed.
Then Marcus lifted the microphone carefully. “I think it’s time for the father-daughter dance.”
Chloe took my hand. “You can stop carrying it now.”
“I don’t know how.”
“Then let us help,” Maya said.
