Chapter 4
Dad sent Lily and me upstairs before Rachel explained the money.
I went upstairs.
I did not stay upstairs.
I sat on the third stair from the bottom while Lily sat beside me.
Neither of us spoke.
Rachel’s voice carried from the kitchen.
“Thirty-eight thousand dollars over fourteen months.”
Dad sounded stunned.
“That’s impossible.”
“It came out in smaller transfers.”
“I would have noticed.”
“You did notice.”
Silence.
Then Rachel continued.
“Remember when Amanda told you the automatic tuition transfers had changed because of the new investment manager?”
Dad cursed under his breath.
Lily looked at me.
“What’s tuition?”
“School money.”
“Oh.”
Dad asked, “How did she access it?”
“That’s what we need to determine.”
The trust had come from my mother.
Her name was Claire.
She died when I was three.
I remembered almost nothing about her except the smell of vanilla lotion and a song she used to hum when I couldn’t sleep.
Dad had told me she left money for school.
I thought it was something adults worried about in the far future.
Apparently Amanda had been worrying about it right now.
Rachel lowered her voice.
I leaned closer.
“We also found checks signed with your name.”
“I didn’t sign them.”
“I know.”
“How?”
“They don’t match the signatures on your business documents.”
Dad’s chair scraped across the floor.
“Are you telling me she forged my signature?”
“I’m telling you we need a forensic accountant before we accuse her formally.”
I looked at Lily.
Her eyes were huge.
“Mom stole your money?”
“I don’t know.”
She hugged her knees.
“She told me stealing makes you a bad person.”
I didn’t know what to say.
The next morning we went to court.
I expected a courtroom like television.
Instead, Dad told me Lily and I would stay in a small room with toys while the adults talked.
A woman named Ms. Perez stayed with us.
She was a court advocate.
Lily kept asking when she could see Amanda.
Ms. Perez never lied.
“I don’t know.”
“Is Mommy there?”
“Yes.”
“Can she see me?”
“Not right now.”
Lily looked at me.
Then she whispered, “She’s going to think I picked you.”
My stomach twisted.
“What?”
“Mom says people always pick sides.”
“You didn’t pick.”
“I gave you chicken.”
I remembered Amanda’s face.
Maybe that had been enough.
I moved closer.
“I’d give you chicken too.”
Lily sniffed.
“You hate drumsticks.”
“I’d give you all the drumsticks.”
That finally made her smile.
The hearing lasted almost two hours.
When Dad returned, his face was pale.
Rachel followed him.
Dad sat beside us.
“The judge made a temporary order.”
I waited.
“Amanda cannot come to the house.”
Lily’s mouth trembled.
“She also cannot contact either of you directly until another hearing.”
Lily started crying immediately.
Dad pulled her against him.
I felt relieved.
Then guilty for feeling relieved.
Rachel seemed to read my face.
“You can feel safe and still feel sad for Lily.”
I looked at her.
Adults weren’t supposed to know things like that.
Dad continued.
“The judge also ordered supervised visits for Lily after the child-services team approves them.”
“What about Ethan?” Lily asked.
Dad looked at me.
“Amanda isn’t asking to see Ethan.”
That hurt more than I expected.
I didn’t want to see her.
I was scared of her.
But knowing she didn’t want me at all made something cold settle inside my chest.
Lily got angry.
“Then I don’t want to see her.”
Dad shook his head gently.
“You don’t have to decide anything today.”
“She should say sorry to Ethan.”
“Yes.”
“She should say it first.”
Dad kissed her forehead.
Outside the courthouse, reporters were waiting.
I didn’t understand why.
Dad did.
He immediately turned us around.
Rachel stepped between us and the cameras.
A man shouted, “Mr. Miller, did you secretly record your wife?”
Another yelled, “Are allegations of child abuse part of a custody strategy?”
Dad picked me up.
Susan, who had come to help with Lily, lifted her.
We hurried toward the parking garage.
“Why are they here?” I asked.
Dad didn’t answer until we were inside the car.
Then Rachel showed him her phone.
A social-media post.
Amanda had written it less than an hour earlier.
MY HUSBAND HAS TAKEN MY DAUGHTER.
She claimed Dad had manipulated police.
She said he had planted a camera on me to manufacture evidence against her.
She said I had emotional issues.
She said Lily was being held away from her biological mother.
Dad’s hands shook as he read.
Then he reached one sentence.
I saw his face.
“What?”
He turned the phone away.
But Rachel had already seen it.
“What did she say?” I asked.
“Nothing you need to worry about.”
“Dad.”
He looked at me.
I knew when adults were hiding things.
Finally he sighed.
“She wrote something unkind about your mom.”
The cold feeling returned.
“What?”
Rachel spoke softly.
“She said Claire had mental-health problems and that you inherited them.”
I stared at her.
I didn’t fully understand what that meant.
But I understood Amanda was blaming my dead mother.
Lily understood enough.
“My mom is lying.”
Dad closed his eyes.
“Lil—”
“She is!”
Tears rolled down her cheeks.
“She said Ethan’s mom was an angel when we visited the cemetery last year!”
Dad looked shocked.
I remembered that day.
Amanda had placed flowers beside Mom’s grave.
She had smiled for a picture.
Then she had posted it online.
Our beautiful blended family honoring Claire.
Dad took the phone from Rachel.
His expression became calm.
Too calm.
“I’m not responding publicly.”
Rachel nodded.
“Good.”
“But preserve everything.”
“Already doing it.”
Dad looked through the windshield.
“She wants a war.”
Rachel corrected him.
“No.”
Her voice was sharp.
“She wants you to think this is a war between adults.”
She glanced toward Lily and me.
“It isn’t.”
Dad looked back at us.
Rachel continued.
“This is about keeping two children safe.”
The next day, the first threatening message arrived.
It wasn’t sent to Dad.
It was sent to me.
Someone had found my school email address.
The message contained only six words.
YOU DESTROYED YOUR FAMILY, LITTLE LIAR.
Dad read it before I did.
For the second time in three days, the police came to our house.
May you like
And for the first time, Dad said the sentence that made me realize Amanda might not be fighting alone.
“Find out who sent it.”
