He was tired of choosing between Angela’s version and mine, so we agreed that if she started again, I’d go live and let him see the truth for himself.
“You set me up,” Angela hissed.
“No. You kept telling Dad I was lying. I just made sure he could finally see for himself.”
Angela’s face hardened.
“I thought you wanted us to bond.”
“You think I care that Mark watched?” she snapped. “I wanted one weekend where I didn’t have to play perfect wife and perfect stepmother.”
“Then you probably shouldn’t have invited me.”
“I needed the pictures.”
“For the club?”
Her eyes narrowed. “Don’t act like you didn’t know.”
“They were jokes.”
“I thought you wanted us to bond.”
Angela gave a bitter laugh. “Please. I married your father, Lily. I didn’t sign up to raise you.”
Priya set her wine glass down on the picnic table.
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The drive back was silent.
My phone wouldn’t stop buzzing in my lap. Angela’s wouldn’t either, and every mile her knuckles got whiter on the wheel.
The maid clip had passed 384,000 views.
But Dad seeing the truth wasn’t the only consequence waiting for Angela.
Dad was waiting in the driveway when we pulled in.
Angela barely had her door open before she started.
“Mark, whatever you think you saw…”
“I saw enough.”
She stopped. “They were jokes. We were drinking. Lily knew exactly what she was doing.”
Diane had shared the video.
Dad looked at me, then back at her. “She didn’t make you say any of it.”
Angela opened her mouth, but her phone buzzed in her hand. Then mine did.
I opened TikTok.
The maid clip had passed 384,000 views. The clip from the photo shoot was already over half a million.
But Angela wasn’t looking at the numbers. She was staring at one name.
“The camera never made you say any of it.”
Diane had shared the video.
“No,” Angela whispered.
Then another notification appeared.
Diane hadn’t just shared the clip. She’d sent it to the women who ran the other private clubs in town.
Angela read the message twice.
“I know my daughter was telling me the truth.”
She hadn’t just lost her chance at one membership.
She’d been blacklisted from all of them.
She refreshed the screen as if that might make it disappear.
It didn’t.
“Delete it. Lily. Delete it.”
“The camera never made you say any of it.”
I didn’t look away.
She looked at Dad. Dad was already picking up his keys.
“Mark.” Angela looked up from her phone. “Please. We can talk about this.”
“We are.” He opened the front door. “Pack a bag. You can stay somewhere else tonight. We’ll deal with the rest tomorrow.”
“You’re throwing me out over a video?”
“No.” Dad’s voice stayed quiet. “I’m asking you to leave because now I know my daughter was telling me the truth.”
“Don’t make me prove it.”
Angela looked at me.
For once, I didn’t look away.
Out on the porch, he sat down on the top step, the same step I’d been counting cracks on two days before. He patted the concrete beside him.
I sat.
“I was wrong to keep asking you to give her another chance,” he finally said. “I should’ve believed you the first time.”
I looked at him. “Next time, don’t make me prove it.”
I wasn’t wondering how to make things easier.
He nodded. “I won’t.”
Dad never took Angela back after that.
Inside, another drawer slammed.
For the first time in two years, I wasn’t wondering how to make things easier for everyone else.
I just sat beside my dad and let him be the one who had to make things right.
