"Sabina, explain yourself."
Sabina's face went white.
"I thought Mavis was just helping polish it. Morton, you never told me—"
There she went again.
One "I didn't know," and every fault got shoved back onto someone else.
The conference room froze.
Morton dismissed the executives.
Once they'd all gone, I opened my laptop.
"The original file. Edit history. Timestamps on when it was sent. It's all right here."
Morton stared at the screen, his face darkening bit by bit.
Sabina's eyes reddened.
"Mavis, I really didn't do it on purpose. Auntie said you don't like being in the spotlight, so I put my name on it."
I laughed.
"I don't like the spotlight?"
"Or is it that you all don't like me being seen?"
Morton looked at Sabina.
"Who told you to do this?"
Sabina bit her lip.
"Auntie said the investors know me better, that putting my name on the campaign would be safer."
Morton closed his eyes. I watched him.
"So you thought it was safer too."
He said, "I didn't know."
Those three words. I'd heard them too many times.
I shut the laptop.
"Use the campaign. Go ahead."
Morton caught my arm.
"Mavis, I'll credit you."
"No need."
"Why?"
I looked at him.
"Something that's been stolen and handed back is already dirty."
That night, the Delgado brand campaign blew up online.
Some blogger dug up how parts of it lined up almost word for word with a public talk I'd given before.
The comments filled with people calling Sabina a plagiarist.
My mother-in-law called.
Her first words weren't to ask if I'd been wronged.
They were, "Mavis, put out a statement. Say you authorized Sabina to use the campaign."
I thought I'd misheard.
"What did you say?"
"Morton just went public. There can't be any bad press. Sabina still has to make her way in this industry. Give her a hand."
I gripped the phone.
"And what about me?"
My mother-in-law's patience thinned.
"You're a Delgado. What's wrong with family taking a little hardship?"
Morton called soon after, his voice worn out.
"Mavis, put out the statement first. I'll make it up to you later."
I asked him.
"Make up what?"
"Credit, a bonus, a public thank-you—whatever you want."
"Then why can't we just tell the truth now?"
He was silent.
"Because Sabina's connected to the resources behind a new project. Nothing can go wrong right now."
I laughed.
"So you're choosing her again."
Morton's voice dropped a little.
"I'm not choosing her. I'm choosing what's best for everyone."
I hung up.
That night, I contacted Lawyer Hughes.
【Can the divorce agreement be drawn up tonight?】
He answered fast.
【Yes. The more complete the evidence, the better.】
I opened my laptop and sorted through three years of it, one piece at a time—transfer records, chat logs, campaign source files, press-release screenshots, screenshots of my social media privacy groups.
At two in the morning, Morton came home.
He stood in the study doorway.
"Still up?"
I didn't turn around.
"Almost done."
"About the statement—"
"I won't be putting it out."
Morton walked in.
"Mavis, can you not pick a fight with me right now, of all times?"
I looked up at him.
"Morton, do you know what the most laughable part is?"
He frowned.
"What?"
"When you all needed me invisible, you said I was family."
"When you all needed me to take the blame, you said I was family too."
His face lost a little color.
"But I'm not a trash can."
Friday night, Morton said he was going back to the old family estate.
