"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?"
