Chapter 2 - The Silent War Begins
I didn't yell. I didn't smash the phone. I just pulled my daughter into my arms and let her cry until she had nothing left.
"They picked the wrong family," I whispered into her hair.
When Sarah came home from the clinic that evening, I pulled her into the kitchen and showed her the screenshots I had forwarded to my own phone. I expected her to explode with protective maternal rage. Instead, all the color drained from her face, and she took a step back.
"Arthur... we can't fight the Vances," Sarah said, her voice shaking. "Trent's father can have you fired. He can have us run out of town. We just need to pay them, transfer Chloe to a different school, and keep our heads down."
I stared at the woman I had been married to for eighteen years, feeling like I was looking at a complete stranger.
"We are not running," I stated coldly. "And we are not paying a dime. I'm going to tear that boy's life apart."
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"If you do this, you'll destroy our reputation!" Sarah hissed.
"To hell with our reputation," I snapped. I walked out of the kitchen, realizing for the first time that I was entirely on my own in this fight.
