"You can't take out all your resentment on your sister just because she looks like Dad. You can't ruin her entire life over that!"

Those words were like a match tossed into gasoline. The crowd's anger erupted instantly.

Every pair of eyes turned on me with open contempt, as if I really were some bitter, vindictive mother who'd taken her hatred for a man out on her own daughter.

My whole body went rigid. My nails dug into my palms hard enough to draw blood. I was about to fire back when the crowd suddenly stirred, people instinctively parting to either side.

A figure, both familiar and foreign, emerged slowly from the gap.

My ex-husband. Warren Cole.

The moment I saw him step out of that crowd, every drop of blood in my body surged straight to my head.

I wrenched free of the people holding me and lunged at Derek like a woman possessed, seizing him by the collar with both fists.

"You ungrateful little animal. You backstabbing snake." My voice cracked. "Why are you still in contact with him? What did you promise me? What did you swear to my face?"

I held on with everything I had and slapped him again, hard, across the cheek.

"You told me yourself. You said you'd never acknowledge him. Never have anything to do with him for the rest of your life. You heartless, soulless creature. Why would you do this? Why would you betray me?"

Derek stumbled backward from the blow. The bystanders surged forward again, grabbing me, pinning my arms.

"Are you insane? Hitting people again? You've got serious control issues, lady."

"Exactly! Like it or not, that's your son's biological father. Blood is blood. You have no right to keep them apart."

"Whatever mistakes he made in the past, he's still those kids' dad. You can't just bulldoze over everyone like this."

Only then did Warren step forward. He put on a look of helpless resignation and spoke in a slow, measured tone.

"I didn't do anything wrong. The reason she divorced me was because I got together with a few old friends I hadn't seen in years."

"They'd been out of touch for a long time. All I did was sit down and play a few hands of cards with them. She stormed in and flipped the table."

"I apologized on the spot. She wouldn't hear it. She slapped me across the face right there, in front of every single one of my friends."

He paused, letting the silence hang. Two clean lines of tears rolled down his cheeks.

"I'm a man. I couldn't take that kind of humiliation. So I asked for a divorce."

"She agreed, on the condition that she got full custody of both kids. I couldn't fight her, so I gave in."

"If I'd known it would come to this, I would have dragged it out forever. I would have fought in court for the rest of my life to get those kids back."

"This is all my fault. I'm the one who failed Milly."

In just a few sentences, he'd painted himself as the long-suffering, devoted father, and me as the unreasonable, domineering shrew who'd destroyed everything she touched.

People held me down on all sides. My entire body shook, but I couldn't get a single word in.

"So it was just a card game? What's wrong with blowing off steam once in a while?"

"Right? Even if you're angry, you don't humiliate your husband in front of his friends. And hitting him? No wonder he wanted a divorce. The only ones who suffered were the kids."

"Can you blame him? Nobody could put up with a woman like that."

The insults kept coming for a long time before they finally died down.

When the crowd had finished tearing me apart, their eyes still carried that same disdain, but now something else crept in. Impatience. Urgency.

"Alright, alright, we've said our piece. You can stop playing mute now."

"Your daughter's boyfriend came in person. Your ex-husband came in person. They're all here because they care about your daughter. So just say it, right here, in front of all of us. Tell us what you've decided."

"Yeah, enough with the games. Where are you hiding your daughter? Where is she?"

People pinned my arms down, their grip unyielding. Every ounce of strength had been wrung from my body, yet I kept my spine straight and slowly lifted my gaze, sweeping across the crowd around me. I looked at these people, blinded and eager to pile on. I looked at my ex-husband, his face a mask of anguish. I looked at my son, calculation lurking behind his eyes. I looked at Rupert Chavez, kneeling on the ground, performing devotion he didn't feel.

After taking them all in, I shook my head. Firmly.

My throat was raw, but I forced out every word:

"If you want to know where my daughter is, fine."

"Three days. I'll tell every last one of you."

The moment the words left my mouth, the crowd fell silent for a heartbeat, then erupted.

Someone shouted, demanding to know why they had to wait three days. Others speculated I was stalling for time.

But I didn't say another word. I just lowered my eyes and walked away.

Three days. I only needed three more days, and I would tell them where my daughter was, along with the whole truth.

I finally made it back to that cramped little apartment, but the first thing I saw was my luggage dumped in the hallway. Clothes and medicine bottles were scattered across the floor, coated in dust.

My landlord, Linda Delaney, stood in the doorway, her voice sharp and cutting:

"Pack your things and get out. Ever since you moved in, this building hasn't had a moment's peace. Now every resident in the complex knows exactly what kind of person you are. Nobody wants you as a neighbor."

A few doors along the corridor cracked open, faces peering out, fingers pointing:

"That's right, get lost. We don't want your kind here."

"Stop contaminating the place. Grab your stuff and go."

"Hurts her own daughter and still has the nerve to show her face. Disgusting."

I didn't argue. I didn't have the strength to argue. I bent down and picked up my scattered belongings one by one, clutched them to my chest, and left that place step by step.

I walked for a long, long time with no destination in mind before I finally came across a park.

I dragged my legs to a bench, sank onto it, drew a deep breath, and pulled out my phone. I pressed the power button.

The instant the screen lit up, a flood of notifications poured in.

My name had already claimed the top spot on every trending list. The story had gone viral.

I opened the comments. Wall-to-wall abuse. People cursing me to die a horrible death. People calling me venomous. People saying I didn't deserve to be a mother.

Every word cut. Every sentence stung.

But as I stared at those vile comments, at the numbers climbing higher and higher, at more and more people paying attention to this story, a small smile slowly curved across my lips.

I closed the comments and opened a chat window. I typed out a message:

"How is Milly doing?"

The reply came almost immediately:

"Don't worry. The hysterectomy went smoothly. Milly is recovering well. She's eating and sleeping on a regular schedule, and the incision is healing nicely. No complications whatsoever. You don't need to worry."

Reading those words, the weight I'd been carrying in my chest finally lifted.

I stayed on that park bench for three days and three nights.

At first, only the occasional passerby glanced my way with contempt.

But gradually, more and more people recognized me.

One woman spotted me and immediately scowled:

"Does something like that to her own daughter and still has the nerve to be alive. Might as well just die."

Others gathered around, pointing and whispering. Some deliberately tossed trash at my feet.

Through all of it, I didn't say a single word. I didn't defend myself. I didn't lash out. I just quietly stood up, dragged my exhausted body to a more secluded corner, and curled up again.

For those three days, I was a rat scurrying through the shadows, drifting from one corner of the park to the next.

When hunger hit, I gnawed on the bread I'd brought with me. When thirst came, I drank tap water from the public fountains. When exhaustion won, I leaned against a bench and dozed.

Finally, the three days were up.

Dawn had barely broken when the park began to fill. Reporters with cameras, influencers livestreaming on their phones, passersby drifting in from every direction. They all crowded around me.

Camera flashes popped without pause. Every lens swung in my direction.

"Three days are up. Are you finally going to tell us why you had your daughter's uterus removed?"

"And where exactly have you been hiding her?"

Warren stood nearby, playing his part, urging me gently: "Just tell us the truth. I've been worried sick about our daughter this whole time."

I scanned the crowd. My gaze landed on a woman in the front row with flawless makeup.

I knew who she was. Tessa Vance. Twenty million followers. One of the biggest influencers on the internet.

Over the past three days, she'd gone live nearly every day to tear me apart, painting me as a heartless, depraved monster with no moral compass.

Now she stood there with her phone aimed at my face, her expression a mix of anger and contempt.

I stared at her for a long time. Then, slowly, I reached into my jacket and pulled out a flash drive I'd prepared long ago.

"The truth is on here. Watch it, and you'll understand."

She took it instinctively, turned to her assistant for a laptop, plugged the drive in, and clicked open the video file.

The moment the footage began to play, the entire crowd went silent.