“But first, I want to hear it from my daughter.”
I knelt down, gently brushed Lily’s hair.
“Lily, who gave you this watch? Who have you
been texting? Why didn’t you tell Mommy?
Are they telling you not to?”
Lily just cried, hiding behind Grandma Carol.
“Lily’s a good kid, why are you bullying her?
This is all your fault, stop pushing her!”
“Just apologize to Mark and say that you
won’t hit her again, or sell photos, let’s put it
to rest.”
“Lily’s still little, and she shouldn’t grow up
knowing that her mother sold pictures of her
body online, can you think about your
daughter for once?”
I clenched my fists.
“Lily, get over here, or I’m cutting off your
allowance. I mean it.”
Г
I never called her “Meredith“, she knew that I
was serious.
She knew the consequences and started
crying again, sticking her head out from
behind Grandma Carol.
Carol got angry again.
“Is this how you treat Lily when I’m not
around? Look at her shaking, you need to
apologize!”
I tapped Lily’s forehead and said in an icy
voice.
“Tell the truth. Who’s on the other end of that
phone? Why did you lie about me? What did
they give you?”
Г
Finally, she broke, sobbing.
“An uncle gave it to me. He said it was worth
a lot, but all I had to do was send him two
pictures of myself.”
“He’s giving me money. He’ll give me more if I
do what he says.”
“Mommy… I didn’t know I was doing anything
wrong. I didn’t mean to.”
Lily was bright red.
I wish I had paid more attention to my
daughter.
She finally confessed, and there was still a
chance to set things right.
く
I looked at Mark.
“Now do you believe me?”
He looked at me, full of apology.
“I… I can’t believe someone would trick Lily
like that. I should have thought more about
it.”
Carol shuffled her feet.
“I just care about my granddaughter and
believe everything she says. Thankfully things
didn’t get too bad.”
“Should we go to the cops tomorrow? Tell
them everything, let them find out who’s
talking to Lily?”
I thought for a moment, then nodded.
“Tonight, we need to hold our cards close. Tomorrow, we figure this out.”
Once the mess had been sorted, I called Ms.
Johnson and apologized.
Ms. Johnson said she’d keep a close eye on
Lily at school.
Lily complained she was too tired and stayed
at her Grandma’s.
Things seemed to be going smoothly.
I felt uneasy, like it was too easy, like
someone was pulling the strings.
I had to prevent anything from happening, so I
woke up and dragged Lily straight to the
“Lily, you have to tell them everything. What
does that guy look like? What did he make
you do? Tell the police everything.”
“If you tell the truth, I’ll double your allowance
for the next three months.”
Lily smiled and nodded.
“Mommy, I know what to say.”
Her smile took the shadow away, I knew I
could save her.
When we got to the station, Lily went in to
make a statement.
Mark, Carol and I waited nervously outside.
Carol cleared her throat.
“Will they be able to find out who Lily’s been
talking to? How long will it take? What can
we do to help?”
I took Lily’s hand, gently.
“Did you tell the truth, Lily? I will reward you
for it.”
