1 The first day I dropped Lily at preschool, the teacher called: "Your daughter was caught stealing." I rushed over on my old scooter to find her tied to the flagpole, a "THIEF" sign around her neck. A scream tore from me—until a designer-clad woman kicked my knee, sending me crashing down. She straddled me, yanking my hair. "Trash like you shouldn’t touch what belongs to the Harringtons!" she spat. "That hairclip is worth more than your lives." I gritted my teeth. "What Harrington treasure is so precious?" The watching parents laughed. "Harrington Capital, you idiot! And this is Jenna Miller—the woman Mr. Harrington swore to protect!" Son of a bitch. Another of my brother-in-law’s mistresses. … I struggled, trying to get to Lily and untie the ropes, but Jenna held me down with vicious strength. Her nails dug into my wrists, the pain so sharp it made my vision blur. The preschool director, a woman with a pinched face, held a megaphone to her lips, her voice booming across the schoolyard. “Let this be a lesson to everyone! This is what happens to thieves!” “Starlight Academy will not tolerate stealing of any kind!” Parents pointed and whispered. Their children, emboldened by the adults, started picking up small stones and throwing them at my daughter. “Thief! Thief!” The childish chants were brutal. Pebbles pelted Lily’s small body. She was shaking, her sobs choked with terror as she pleaded, “I’m not a thief… I didn’t steal anything…” “What proof do you have that my daughter stole anything?” I roared, my voice raw. “That hair clip is hers! It was a birthday present from her father!” Jenna let out a cold, sharp laugh. She reached up and plucked an identical clip from her own daughter’s hair. “Open your damn eyes and look! This is the signature hair clip of the Harrington family’s eldest princess!” She held it high for everyone to see. “It even has her initials engraved on the back! Does your pathetic little knock-off have that?” I froze, finally seeing the subtle difference. My daughter’s clip was a custom-made prototype. Jenna’s daughter was wearing the mass-produced version that was later released to the public. The two girls must have dropped them while playing. Jenna’s daughter had insisted that Lily’s handmade version was hers. After a tantrum, the accusation of theft was born. Fearing the situation was spiraling out of control, I fumbled for my phone and dialed my brother-in-law, Brian. The call connected, but the background was filled with the deafening roar of machinery. “Brian! Get to Starlight Academy, now!” “Come clean up your mess, or I’m calling your wife!” Brian’s voice was muffled and confused. “Elara? I’m in the middle of something! Bad connection.” “Whatever it is, can we talk about it later? I have to go.” He hung up. Jenna and the other parents erupted in derisive laughter. “An actress! Look at her go! Pretending to call a Harrington!” “Who’s next, the President? Think the Secret Service will come save you?” Jenna kicked me hard in the back, sending me sprawling face-first into the dirt. Several of her friends, all decked out in expensive clothes, closed in, their fists and feet a merciless storm against my body. “Look at this pathetic stray! Daring to impersonate a Harrington relative!” “The nerve is just unbelievable!” My jacket was torn, and my scalp screamed in pain as they pulled my hair. 2 Tied to the flagpole, my daughter Lily’s cries were heart-wrenching. “Mommy! Don’t hit my mommy!” I fought like a wild animal, but they held me fast to the ground. My face was shoved into the earth, my mouth filled with the bitter taste of sand and humiliation. Rage and shame burned through me, a fire in my gut. Jenna ordered two school security guards to pin me down, rendering me completely immobile. She then turned to her own pampered daughter. “Sweetheart, Mommy’s going to teach you a lesson,” she cooed. “When you deal with thieves, you have to make sure they never forget.” “You go teach that little thief a lesson. Mommy will take care of the big one, and you can take care of the little one, okay?” Her daughter, a cruel smile on her face, picked up a bottle of black ink, twisted the cap off, and dumped the entire contents over Lily’s head. Lily, still bound, trembled violently. The thick, black liquid streamed down her pale face as her cries turned into hysterical sobs. My vision went red. I thrashed against the guards’ grip. “Stop it! You’ll pay for this! For doing this to a child!” Jenna kicked me in the chest, her laugh cold and sharp. “Pay for it? When you taught her to steal, did you think about the price she would have to pay?” “My price is having Mr. Harrington to protect me. Your price is kneeling here like a dog!” “Trash like you belongs under my heel!” The crowd of parents murmured their approval. Someone even started live-streaming the “righteous” punishment. Vicious comments scrolled across the phone screen: [Serves her right! Like mother, like daughter. The mom should be arrested!] [Look at her face. Not an ounce of remorse. How dare she glare like that?] [Thanks to the Justice Warrior Streamer for showing us what happens to scum.] [How can she still kneel there? I’d have buried myself in a hole by now.] [Streamer, zoom in! I want a good look at that shameless face!] Someone in the crowd yelled, “Film it! Let everyone see what happens to a thief!” Another chimed in, “Yeah! People like this deserve to be socially executed!” The director sidled up to Jenna, fawning over her. “Mrs. Harrington, don’t let this garbage upset you!” “I’ll have her daughter’s enrollment terminated immediately!” “I have connections at every preschool in the city. I’ll make sure this mother and daughter have nowhere to go!” My eyes burned with rage. I stared daggers at the bootlicking sycophant. “You just try it.” CRACK! Jenna’s hand connected with my cheek in a brutal slap. “Did I say you could speak?” I secretly slipped my hand into my pocket, trying to grab my phone to call the police. Jenna’s eyes narrowed. Her stiletto-clad foot stomped down on the back of my hand. She ground her heel in, the sharp point digging into my flesh. With a sickening crack, I heard my own bones break. A scream of pure agony was torn from my throat as a cold sweat drenched my back. The phone, now under her heel, shattered, the screen going black. “Trying to call the police? In your dreams!” “When I’m done with you, I’ll be the one to call them and have you thrown in a cell for a few days.” She lifted her chin smugly, taking the bottle of ink from the director and pouring the rest over my head. The black liquid ran through my hair, staining my white dress. My daughter saw what was happening and her cries became even more frantic. Jenna kept her foot planted on my crushed hand, looking down at me with an air of absolute superiority. “Lick the ink off my shoe. If you do a good enough job, I might consider untying your daughter.” “But it’s just a consideration. It all depends on how well you beg.” 3 The crowd of parents started chanting, their voices a roaring wave. “Lick it! Lick it!” “Teach her a lesson!” “A thief needs to know her place!” For Lily, I closed my eyes. I was trembling. Just as my lips were about to touch the filthy leather, a black Maybach screeched to a halt at the gate. Brian Harrington, my brother-in-law, jumped out, flanked by two assistants and a team of black-suited bodyguards. His face was pale, his forehead beaded with sweat. His eyes darted around the scene, finally landing on me, a pathetic, ink-stained heap on the ground. But he didn’t look at me. Instead, he turned to the parents who were live-streaming, giving his bodyguards a sharp nod. “Hand over the phones.” Terrified, the parents scrambled to comply, not daring to resist. Brian then walked up to the director, his voice quiet but laced with menace. “What happened here today, I don’t want to hear a single word about it outside this school.” The director bobbed her head like a puppet. “Yes, of course, Mr. Harrington! You have my word!” Only after he had contained the situation did he turn to Jenna. He forced a placating smile, reaching out to pat her shoulder in a gesture that looked anything but intimate. “Alright, Jenna, let’s not make a scene. We’ll let the director handle this. Why don’t I have someone take you home?” The triumphant smirk on Jenna’s face vanished, replaced by shock and confusion. She opened her mouth to speak, but Brian quickly clamped a hand over it, muffling her protests. I watched them, a cold knot forming in my stomach. Their interaction was stiff, almost clinical. I chalked it up to them trying to maintain appearances. She was his secret mistress, after all. A relationship not meant for the light of day. Just then, my daughter, still tied to the pole, cried out, her voice hoarse. “Uncle! Uncle, please help me! I’m not a thief!” Brian’s body went rigid, but he didn’t turn around. Lily’s sobs grew more desperate. She pointed to a faint blue ring, drawn with a ballpoint pen, on Brian’s middle finger. “Uncle, why won’t you look at me? Was… was the ring I drew for you yesterday not pretty?” He acted as if he hadn’t heard her, striding over to Jenna. He pulled a black credit card from his pocket and pressed it into her hand. “I’ll handle this. You take your daughter and go home.” His voice was low but held an undeniable urgency. Jenna clutched the card. Though she was clearly unhappy about it, she nodded, grabbed her daughter’s hand, and walked toward the Maybach. Brian finally let out a breath of relief. He barked at his bodyguards, “Quick! Get my niece down from there!” They moved swiftly, undoing the ropes that bound Lily. Her legs gave out, and she collapsed, crawling weakly toward me. And Brian, the moment Lily was free, turned, faced me, and dropped to his knees. “Elara! I’m so sorry! I’m late, I didn’t know it was this urgent!” His head was bowed low, his voice thick with regret and fear. “I’m begging you, please don’t tell my brother. And please, for the love of God, don’t tell Laura!” “Elara, you have to help me cover this up!” Ignoring the searing pain from my shattered hand, I pushed myself up from the ground. Lily crawled to my side, clinging to my leg, her sobs ragged and breathless. I looked at Brian kneeling before me, and a white-hot rage burned through my reason. I raised my good left hand and, with every ounce of strength I had, slapped him across the face. CRACK! “Help you?” I shrieked. “Brian, all the times you’ve messed around on the side, your brother and I have looked the other way! We’ve helped you lie to your wife, Laura!” “But look at this thing you’ve been keeping!” I pointed at the Maybach, its engine still rumbling. “She calls her daughter the ‘Harrington family’s eldest princess’! She tied my daughter to a flagpole! Poured ink on her! Called us thieves!” “She crushed my hand under her heel and ground me into the dirt!” “She shits on my head, and you expect me to wipe your ass?” I was shaking with fury. I slapped him again. 4 “You let her walk all over me! Brian, you’ve really outdone yourself!” “What are we in your eyes, my daughter and I? Just disposable trash? What kind of power have you given her that she dares to act like this?” Brian clutched his stinging cheeks, not daring to argue. He just kept bowing his head, over and over. “Elara, I’m sorry, I’m so sorry!” “I didn’t know she was this crazy! I’ll deal with her when I get home, I swear!” Just then, the Maybach, which had just started to pull away, slammed on its brakes. The door flew open, and Jenna stormed out, her face a mask of fury. When she saw Brian on his knees, with me standing over him, her eyes went bloodshot. “You thieving bitch!” “How dare you hit him?” Jenna lunged at me like a feral animal, her hand raised to strike. Two of the bodyguards reacted instantly, grabbing her from either side and holding her fast. Jenna thrashed in their grip, her voice a stream of curses. “Let me go! You useless dogs!” “Can’t you see this psycho is hitting Mr. Harrington?” “I’m going to rip her goddamn mouth off!” The scene had descended into chaos. At that moment, another car, a stately black Lincoln, pulled up to the gate. The door opened, and a woman in a custom-tailored, dark green silk dress stepped out with practiced grace. A string of sandalwood prayer beads was wrapped around her wrist, and a jade pendant hung from her waist. She moved with an effortless, commanding elegance. It was Laura. Brian’s wife. “I saw a live stream that looked a little familiar, so I came to see what was going on.” Her eyes swept over my disheveled form, then to her kneeling husband, and finally to the struggling Jenna. I shot Brian a sarcastic smile. “Well, Brian, your wife is here. Let’s see how you explain this one.” I was ready to watch the fireworks. Brian caught red-handed, the mistress right there in front of everyone. Finally, someone else would deal with her. But what happened next left me completely stunned. Laura walked briskly over to Jenna, her voice low and placating. “Miss Miller, why don’t we find somewhere private to talk? Let’s not make a scene here, okay?” She reached out to help Jenna up, her posture almost deferential. But Jenna looked at her as if she’d never seen her before. She shoved Laura’s hand away in disgust. “Who the hell do you think you are? You think you can touch me?” She looked Laura up and down, then sneered. “Some stray cat off the street thinks she can tell me what to do? Get lost!” Laura stumbled back, caught by her assistant. She instinctively glanced at Brian, who gave her a sharp, almost imperceptible nod. Laura understood immediately. She lunged forward and delivered a series of sharp, ringing slaps across Jenna’s face. “Who do you think you are?” “Daring to use the Harrington name to throw your weight around!” “You’re nothing!” The crisp sound of the slaps silenced the crowd. Jenna, clutching her burning cheek, was completely bewildered. “You hit me? Do you have any idea who I am?” “I don’t give a damn who you are!” Laura slapped her again, so hard that Jenna staggered. “You seduce my husband and then dare to act high and mighty in front of me? Who gave you the nerve?” With that, Laura grabbed a fistful of Jenna’s hair and started dragging her toward the car. But Jenna fought back, and the two women descended into a tangle of flailing limbs and furious shrieks. “You psycho! Who is your husband? When did I ever seduce him?” Jenna screamed as she struggled. “Let go of me! I only had dinner with the man once!” The crowd of parents watched, their jaws on the floor, as a new wave of gossip erupted. “So this Jenna is the mistress? Caught by the real wife?” “I knew it. The real Harringtons would never let their family act so atrociously in public. She’s just some cheap trash.” The jeers and whispers were even louder now than when they had been directed at me and my daughter. Brian scrambled to his feet, rushing to help Laura drag the screaming, kicking Jenna to the car. “Let me go! You two are disgusting!” Just as they were about to shove her inside, a small, desperate cry pierced the chaos. “Daddy! Daddy! They’re hitting my mommy! Help her!” I followed the sound of the voice.
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