That night, Calvin actually sent me a text.

"Bruno, thank you for delivering Annette back to me once again."

A bright, spotless living room.

Annette, in a robe, was sitting with Calvin and his son, watching TV.

On Calvin's wrist was the watch Emily had wanted so badly.

On Annette's face was a smile I had never once seen.

Next to me and Emily, the three of them looked far more like a real family.

I wiped my eyes and turned to look at my daughter, sitting there hollow and lost.

"Emily, would you be willing to come live with Daddy from now on?"

"Daddy's going to win this case for you, and take you somewhere better, somewhere beautiful."

"We'll forget all these unhappy things together."

She lifted her head slowly.

She looked at the freshly bandaged wounds on her own hand.

At my red, swollen eyes.

She was quiet for a long time, then nodded.

After Annette's visit, Emily's state started to slip.

She tried so hard to act like a normal child in front of me.

But the insomnia and the self-harm were beyond her control.

All ten of her fingers were bitten raw and bleeding.

It broke my heart.

I stayed at my daughter's side while I dug into the law every way I could.

Soon enough, the appeal hearing opened.

Annette stood across from me again, calmly reading out my daughter's crimes.

"Forensic examination recovered no viable DNA on the plaintiff's body."

"There were no signs of a struggle at the scene."

"The plaintiff's fall was purely an accident."

She glanced at me, and let her voice pause a moment.

Then, under Calvin's earnest gaze, she went on.

"From what I understand, the plaintiff and the defendant have long been on bad terms, and quarreled repeatedly over petty domestic matters."

"So this incident was nothing more than the plaintiff framing the defendant out of jealousy."

"I reserve the right to file a new suit on behalf of my client, demanding a public apology from the other party."

The plaintiff had become the defendant.

My sweet, well-behaved daughter.

In Annette's mouth, she had become a criminal beyond redemption.

I couldn't hold it in anymore and shouted at Annette.

"Annette, you're lying!"

"Emily never did anything wrong. It was Thomas bullying her the whole time!"

After it happened, I'd secretly read my daughter's diary.

Ever since Annette pulled strings to get Thomas transferred into Emily's class.

He'd been the one leading the bullying against her.

Cutting her hair, throwing away her textbooks, insulting her.

Emily didn't want to put me in a hard spot, so she never dared tell me.

She only brought it up gently with Annette.

And what she got in return was the other side treating her even worse.

Along with Annette's careless line, "Why doesn't he bully anyone else, just you?"

"Emily, don't be unreasonable like your father. When something happens, look at yourself first."

I no longer had the strength to argue over the past.

But there was one thing I never imagined.

That Annette would take the worries Emily had confided in her, and turn them into the reason to hurt her now.

While I stood there stunned, the judge before us had already handed down the verdict.

The appeal was lost.

No further recourse.

I froze where I stood.

The room spun, everything blurring.

Annette pushed a new complaint in front of me.

"You and Emily apologize to Calvin and his son, and this whole thing ends here."

"Otherwise, the next person in that defendant's seat will be you."

My tears were already spent. I couldn't even cry.

I walked forward, hollowed out.

And on my way down the stairs, I lost my footing and fell.

"Bruno, are you all right?"

Calvin stepped up to steady me, but his nails dug hard into my arm.

He kept his voice low.

"Bruno, do you know why you lost the case?"

"Because I cleared away all the evidence ahead of time."

"The night your daughter got hurt, Annette was sleeping right beside me."

"She called Annette more than a dozen times, but we were too caught up in each other to pick up."

"The moment I found out what happened, I got to the scene first and cleaned up every piece of evidence, exactly the way Annette told me to."

My head buzzed.

The whole world twisted out of shape in front of me.

I lifted my head in disbelief, past the point of feeling any pain.

Thomas came over too.

He crouched down in front of me, a taunting grin on his face.

"Old man, how'd you end up as useless as that daughter of yours?"

"Can't hold on to your wife, can't win your lawsuit."

"Take my advice. Hand Annette over to my dad nice and quiet, or Emily's going to have a very hard time from here on out."

Hearing the filth in that threat.

Fury swallowed whatever reason I had left.

I lunged and grabbed Thomas by the throat.

"You animal, don't you dare touch my daughter again!"

The next second, Annette hauled me off.

One ringing slap brought me all the way back down.

She helped Calvin and his son up, her face full of contempt.

"Bruno, have you lost your mind, making a scene in front of everyone? Do you want me to put you away with your daughter?"

"The rotten branch falls from the rotten tree. No wonder a decent kid turned out like this under you!"

She yanked my arm and dragged me in front of Calvin.

"Apologize."

"Or I'll show you exactly what a professional lawyer can do to you!"

The taste of blood seeped into my mouth.

I raised my head and spat a mouthful of bloody foam into Annette's face.

"In your dreams!"

For my daughter, I would never bow my head.

Annette and I parted on the worst possible terms.

She simply seized the chance and moved into Calvin's house.

The three of them ate and lived together, for all the world like a real family of three.

I tried to use the things Calvin had said to dig up new evidence and refile the case.

But I was afraid my daughter would find out we'd lost.

So I stuck to the flight we'd already booked, planning to take her away for a while to clear her head and let things cool down.

But when I came back after finishing the packing, I found Annette standing at the foot of the hospital bed.

Playing on the TV was the recording of yesterday's hearing.

Annette didn't spare a word.

"Emily, you're an adult now. Don't think you can do whatever you want just because Bruno indulges you."

"I already know everything you two schemed."

"Apologize to Calvin and his son, or I'll send you and your father to prison together."

My daughter was already sobbing too hard to speak.

In front of someone who refused to believe her.

Every explanation meant nothing.

She cried helplessly, at a loss.

It drew the attention of the patients passing by.

A visitor there for someone else suddenly turned to look at Emily.

"Hey, isn't this the girl from that leaked-video scandal? What's she doing here?"

"She looks even better in person than in the video. Just wonder if she's as wild as she was on camera."

"How about we add each other online and set something up?"

My daughter and I both froze where we stood.

Emily reacted first, snatching the phone I'd hidden away.

I don't know what she searched.

In an instant, a suggestive sound rang out through the empty hall.

Someone posted a video anonymously.

Malicious editing and leading captions had turned Emily, the victim, into a party girl who'd thrown herself at people and framed the innocent.

The post blew up.

The comments underneath were filthy, too vile to read.

People dug up her personal information.

People tracked down the courtroom footage from that day.

"This trial video was released publicly by Carlisle's law firm. It's completely real."

"Even her own mother gave up on this daughter. You can imagine how rotten her character must be."

"Attorney Carlisle is such a good person. How could she have a daughter this shameless? What a pity."

"That Pruitt family is pitiful too, hit out of nowhere with a disaster like this. If you ask me, Bruno Fox and his daughter should both be thrown in prison!"

Shares passed ten thousand, and the storm kept building.

Not long ago, the top university's official account had posted a notice too.

Emily's acceptance was revoked.

Former classmates, friends, messages poured in, all of them asking.

The hand holding the phone was shaking hard.

Emily lifted her head, dazed, her eyes full of pain and helplessness.

"Dad, what do I do? What am I supposed to do…"

I moved to comfort my daughter.

Annette spoke first.

"This is what your stubbornness has cost you."

"Emily Carlisle, you really are the disgrace of my life."

"I've done my duty faithfully my whole life. I never imagined I'd raise a daughter as worthless as you!"

Emily backed up a few steps, staring at Annette in disbelief.

And when she saw the coldness in her mother's eyes, everything she'd been holding together until now came apart completely.

She screamed, smashed the phone, tears streaming down her face.

"Mom, why won't you just believe me?"

"You'll take Thomas Pruitt to the amusement park, you'll make time to tutor him, you'll spend millions to get him into that university, but you won't believe a single word I say."

"I'm the one who's your daughter!"

She grew more and more frantic.

Like she was pouring out every wound of all those years at once.

"I've tried so hard to do everything the way you wanted."

"I studied hard. I killed myself to get into that university."

"I made you the whole goal I was fighting for, stayed up all night memorizing, tiptoed around you trying to make you happy."

"So why, why is Thomas Pruitt the only one in your heart! What else do I have to do to make you believe me!"

Something in Annette's expression finally cracked.

Her lips parted, like she wanted to say something.

But my daughter suddenly ran for the window.

And without looking back, she jumped.