“Summer camp?”I almost laughed,but it quickly broke into sobs.
“Ethan,are you joking?What kind of camp drugs a child and drags her away?What camp is run by a single man living in the mountains?Tell me!”
I pulled up the security screenshot on my phone and shoved it at him,jaw tight.“Look!Look at Emma crying!Look at her struggling!You call this a summer camp?You tried to kill her!”
Ethan’s expression changed when he saw the footage.His eyes went away and his voice lost its force.
“Where did you get that video?Who tricked you?I just…I was doing it for her own good.That camp chance was rare…”
"For her own good?"I cut him off,nearly losing it and roared,“Selling our daughter to buy that woman a handbag is for her own good?Ethan,check your conscience—do you even have one?”
“Jane,watch your language!”
My words hit a nerve.Ethan’s voice rose,sharp and loud.“What difference does it make if she was sold or not?Natalie is right,you always act so arrogantly.You think the worst of everyone.Maybe this happened because you didn’t watch your child properly and now you’re blaming me?”
I stared at him,speechless in disbelief.How could he say that?
“I’m blaming you?The CCTV shows it all.You’re the one who took her!”
“I’m her father!What’s wrong with me taking her?”
Ethan looked at me,looking completely impatient now.His words were sharp and cruel.
“Is there a law that says a father can’t take his own daughter?Jenna,if a child goes missing,you’re the one responsible for it.Who told you to stare at your phone?What kind of mother are you?”
His twisted logic made my head spin.Rage and despair hit me so hard I nearly fainted.
Natalie put on a sweet voice.“Ethan,don’t be angry…Maybe Jenna didn’t mean it.Maybe she just wasn’t paying attention for a moment.Poor child.I wonder where she’s suffering now…”
Her words sounded gentle but were like knives and they pushed all the blame onto me.
“Natalie,shut up!”I stared at her with bloodshot eyes,teeth clenched.
“You have no right to speak here!You’re nothing but a mistress in someone else’s family,bitch!”
“Jenna!”At that,Ethan shoved me hard.
“Who do you think you are,cursing her?Say one more word about Natalie and see what happens.She’s a thousand times better than you!At least she knows how to care for people.You’re always so arrogant,just looking at you makes me sick!”
I staggered and almost fell,but a bodyguard caught me in time.I lifted my head and looked at him.
My heart broke completely.
So,in his eyes,I was so disgusting.
I looked at the man before me.He was familiar,but suddenly strange.The man I had loved for more than a decade,the man I had given my whole heart to,now felt only disgust.
My voice steadied,oddly calm.“Ethan,have you forgotten how you knelt before my father,begging for help?Have you forgotten how I emptied my savings to plug the hole when your company was about to collapse?Have you forgotten the first hundred-thousand-dollar contract you signed,how you hugged me and spun me,calling me your lucky star?”
Ethan’s face flickered,like my words woke a bad memory.Seeing him hesitate,Natalie wrapped her arm around him and purred,“Ethan,don’t hold on to the past.Let it go.You can stand on your own now.Don’t be dragged down by old favors.”
Ethan was eager for an excuse,so he nodded at once.
“Right.Natalie is right.Jenna,stop digging up the past.I didn’t need your family to survive.Everything I have I earned myself.”
“You earned it all yourself?”I sneered.“With that shell company that lost money year after year until my family kept it afloat?Ethan,without us,you’d be back on the farm.”
“You—”
Hearing this,Ethan went white with anger.Natalie rolled her eyes and,with a flirtatious sigh as if remembering something delightful,she said to him,“Oh,Ethan,didn’t you get a birthday gift for Jenna?Even if she’s been putting us in a difficult situation today,we should keep polite.Show her.”
Ethan looked confused for a moment,clearly not getting her words.
Then,Natalie pulled a small jewelry box from her new designer bag.She opened it to reveal a thin,cheap silver chain.
"Jenna,look at this.Ethan picked this only for you."
She came forward,holding the chain and smiling sweetly.“It’s not as nice as my handbag,but it’s thoughtful.He said you’re like this chain.This looks fine at a glance,but it is actually cheap and ordinary.Embarrassing to wear.”
As she spoke,her fingers let the chain slip and hit the cold floor.
With deliberate malice,she tapped it with her heel and crushed it.“Whoops,so sorry.My hand slipped.”
She covered her mouth and looked at me with a smug,satisfied smile.
I stared at the ruined chain,at Natalie’s face and at Ethan’s casual,almost relieved look.At that very moment,whatever remained of my sanity instantly shattered.
I raised my hand and,with everything I had,slapped Natalie across the face.
"You disgusting bitch!"
