[Exactly, she just couldn’t face the fact that she had killed her own child, so she shifted all the blame onto Hailee. Hailee, you did nothing wrong! Captain Hiddleston’s wife is the real murderer here!]

In moments, my social media was swamped, wave after wave of private messages pouring in.

[Bitch! It’s a shame for Captain Hiddleston to have such a useless wife! Why don’t you just drop dead?!]

[I hope you drown. I hope your next child drowns. I hope your whole family drowns!]

[If that’s how things are, then we common people might as well wait for death when trouble comes. Otherwise, just one rescue call, and we’d be dragged out and exposed by someone like you. Is there no justice left?!]

Among the endless tide of messages, one private message stood out, its profile picture showing two hands tightly interlocked.

[Sis, see? She really did nothing wrong. As a housewife, why don’t you show us all the tricks you have left?]

I tapped on the profile picture. It opened to reveal two pairs of hands tangled together on a large bed, the kind of image any adult would instantly understand.

The man’s hand bore a scar across the back, the same scar Paul had gotten when he shielded me from a knife.

But now, those hands pierced straight into my heart.

A wave of bone-deep exhaustion washed over me. Just as I was about to turn off my phone, that number called again.

The voice on the other end was hoarse, cold, and stripped of emotion.

"Leader, Hailee’s family background is a bit complicated. Do we need to adjust the removal plan?"

Of course, I understood that Paul’s position as captain of the rescue team existed only because of Hailee’s family.

But in this moment, I no longer cared.

"No adjustments. Proceed as planned."

"And keep a record of those slandering me online. Trace them along the network cables, and give them something they won’t forget."

Did they think they could hide forever behind a keyboard?

Fools. Ignorant, reckless fools.

Paul thought the Reeves family’s business at home had withered away. But he had never known that the true power of the Reeves family had always been abroad.

For nearly a century, the Reeves family had commanded its own underground army overseas. Making someone vanish from the face of the earth was as effortless as lifting a finger.

Sure enough, the moment I ended the call, the very footage Paul had been desperate to bury since the day of the incident landed in my hands.

I opened it. Hailee lounged in a revealing swimsuit, striking flirtatious poses with her friends while casually dialing the rescue hotline.

I didn’t need to see more. With a flick of my finger, I forwarded the video online.

Before the main course, I thought it was only fair to serve them a little appetizer.

Once everything was set in motion, I drove straight toward the funeral home.

My daughter’s white dress was snarled with seaweed, the green tendrils coiled tightly like a cruel embrace. The chill of her skin crept up through my fingers, piercing straight into my heart, a thousand sharp needles pressing in until I could barely draw breath.

I clutched her tiny, cold hand and cried, my sobs echoing through the still air.

Then, after a long, aching silence, my phone blared to life, its ringtone harsh and jarring in the morgue.

Paul’s voice thundered through the line, his teeth clenched in rage.

"Claire, what vile methods did you use to get those videos?!"

The words hung heavy before he caught himself, fumbling to amend them.

"Claire, who’s the bastard that made those fake videos for you?! Do you even understand how much trouble you’ve brought to Hailee by putting those lies online?!"

A delicate, tear-filled voice followed, trembling at his side.

"Paul, I’m so frightened… I just received another threatening message…"

"Paul, please… can you put away all these photos of the child? They scare me too much…"

Hailee’s plea made my chest tighten.

I gripped the phone until my knuckles whitened, my voice trembling. "Photos of the child? Where are you right now?"

Paul’s voice came back, edged with frustration.

"Where do you think? We’re at home! Because of you, the place is surrounded by insane netizens. If we’re not here, where else would we be?"

Then came the sharp, sudden crash of breaking glass from the other end. "Paul, the photo frame just fell by itself… I swear it wasn’t me…"

"It’s fine, it’s fine. She’s already gone. A photo frame won’t bring her back. Hailee, don’t be frightened…"

My legs buckled, and I clung to the doorframe to keep from collapsing.

From the other end of the line came Hailee’s syrupy, teasing voice once more.

I ended the call and tore home like a madwoman.

I had pictured thousands of possible, unforgivable scenes in my mind. Yet, the moment I pushed open the door, my chest still caved in completely.

Every one of my daughter’s photo frames lay shattered, her pictures strewn in chaos across the floor.

The grand family portrait in the living room was hidden under a thick black cloth, its presence smothered.

In my daughter’s bedroom, Hailee was digging through drawers, flinging their contents to the floor as she complained.

"Paul, why did your daughter have such outdated anime? She’s so young and already has awful taste. This is all garbage!"

Paul’s voice came from the kitchen, gentle yet dismissive as he tended to the stove.

"If you don’t like it, throw it away. From now on, that room is yours to handle…"

A dizzy spell gripped me, and I clenched my fists so hard my nails broke skin. The sharp pain was the only thing keeping me grounded.

With all my strength, I slammed the door and charged toward my daughter’s room.

The loud noise instantly caught Hailee and Paul’s attention.

Hailee turned just as I grabbed her by the hair and yanked her out of the room.

Then I slapped her hard.

“You filthy bitch! Do you think you have the right to enter my daughter’s room whenever you want?”

Hailee froze from the blow, but one slap wouldn’t satisfy me.

I fixed my gaze on her and raised my hand again.

Before it fell, Paul grabbed my wrist and, gathering all his force, kicked me hard in the stomach.

The searing pain forced me to curl into a trembling ball before I collapsed to the floor.

My back slammed hard against the corner of a table, and warm blood trickled slowly down my spine.

Paul gently stroked Hailee’s cheek with one hand, then stormed forward, bent down sharply, and grabbed me by the collar.

Bloodshot eyes blazing, he roared, “Claire! What the hell is wrong with you? You posted those videos online and caused so much trouble for Hailee, and I haven’t even made you apologize! Instead, you’re hitting people? Where are your manners?”

Two hot tears slipped from the corners of my eyes.

Meeting his fierce gaze, I pointed toward my daughter’s room, my voice trembling as I said, “Paul, our daughter just passed away, and you let this woman trample over her belongings. Do you even deserve to be called a father? Seeing your daughter’s photos crushed beneath that woman’s feet, don’t you feel even a flicker of sadness or guilt?”

An unreadable emotion flickered in Paul’s gaze.

He turned toward the shoe-stained photos and dropped into a heavy silence.

After a long silence, just as he was about to speak, a soft moan broke the tension beside him.

“Claire, I know you’re grieving because the child is gone, but you can’t unleash this burning anger on Paul. You were the one who took the child to summer camp. You can’t blame me, and now you’re blaming Paul too…”

Hailee’s words twisted the unease in Paul’s eyes into something cold and cruel.

He spun back and grabbed my neck with harsh strength.

“Hailee’s right. It was you, you wretched woman, who killed our daughter. How dare you have the nerve to question me! My issues can wait, but today you will apologize to Hailee!”

My face turned blue and purple as the air escaped me.

I struggled desperately in Paul’s grip, biting my lip hard and shouting with every ounce of strength I had.

“You shameless pair of dogs! Why should I apologize to her? She’s the one who tricked you away, leading to our daughter’s tragic death! I won’t just refuse to apologize, I want her buried alongside my daughter!”

Those words sent Paul into a furious rage.

He yanked me up and slammed my head hard against the wall behind me.

Then he slapped me sharply across the face.

“Claire! You used your family’s ruthless ways to bully me for half my life, and now you want to bully Hailee? Your father has long since crossed the ocean. Stop living in a dream!”

“A woman like you makes me sick just to look at. Get out! Get out of my house!”

With a forceful shove, Paul slammed me onto the dining table behind me.

He rose, looping an arm around Hailee’s slender waist, and strode toward the kitchen.

I fought back dry heaves, staring at the two of them clinging to each other.

Summoning all my strength to stay upright, I gathered my daughter’s precious keepsakes and staggered out.

Just before closing the door, my phone buzzed with a message from a familiar number.

“Paul, tomorrow is our daughter’s funeral. You, as her father…”

“Of course I’ll attend. And I expect you to admit your mistake to Hailee in front of our daughter!”

Receiving the reply I longed for, a fragile peace settled over me, and I finally walked away.

Tomorrow’s fate would no longer be in the hands of that shameless pair.

At midnight, my phone jolted me awake with a vibrating alarm.

The monitor in my daughter’s room had triggered an intrusion alert.

Opening the app, the sickening sight of a man and woman entwined made me retch instantly.

On my daughter’s Snow White bed, Hailee buried her head against Paul’s chest, her voice dripping with false sweetness, “Paul, I want to give you a child right here, on this very bed…”

Paul hooked her nose with a finger, his indulgent smile barely hiding the hunger in his eyes.

“Alright, right here on this big bed…”

Then came the nauseating sounds from the phone.

I snatched it up and hurled it against the wall with a shattering crash.

Those two whores, I vowed to make sure they would suffer and die in misery.

.…

My daughter had loved peace and quiet, so I invited only close friends to the funeral.

But when I arrived, I was met with a sea of reporters, their lenses flashing endlessly.

Paul had his arm wrapped possessively around Hailee, both dressed in glaring red, like a newlywed couple basking in the spotlight, giving an interview.

“A few days ago, that video Claire reposted online was clearly fake to anyone with eyes. After the funeral, Claire will personally issue a statement. The pain of losing her daughter made her lose her manners, and we hope everyone will understand.”

The vivid red of Paul’s suit and the dark marks on his neck made my heart race wildly with anger.

He seemed to catch the hostility burning in my eyes, pushed through the reporters, and strode toward me.

Before the press could catch up, he grabbed my wrist with a firm grip.

He bent down, his breath hot against my ear. “Claire, if you don’t want your daughter’s funeral to be ruined, you’d better obediently clear up that video today and publicly apologize to Hailee.”

As reporters surged toward me like a tidal wave, a crushing wave of hatred rose inside my chest.

The man before me felt like a stranger, so twisted, so despicable.

When had he become this person, using my daughter’s funeral as a weapon to threaten me, all to please another woman?

My fury shook my entire body uncontrollably.

“Claire, apologize! Don’t force my hand, there’s nothing I wouldn’t do to protect Hailee’s innocence!”

The crowd closed in, hundreds of microphones thrust in my face in an instant.

“Mrs. Hiddleston, that video you reposted was fake, wasn’t it? Why have you been at odds with Miss Norman all this time?”

“Mrs. Hiddleston, today is your daughter’s funeral. Can you give the public an honest explanation about her death?”

Paul’s threatening gaze pierced me like a razor-sharp blade.

Slowly, I reached out and took the microphone from the reporter’s hand, my bloodshot eyes locked on Paul’s.

“I will give everyone an explanation. From start to finish, my daughter’s death was a cold, calculated conspiracy!”

“The person who killed my daughter was Hailee. It was outright murder. And I have the proof!”

Seeing the shock flash across Paul’s face and the panic flicker in Hailee’s eyes, I allowed a cruel smile to curl at the corner of my lips.

The show was about to begin.