Chapter 4 - The Video
The clip was eleven seconds long.
Eleven seconds was all Vanessa needed.
It started after the cake hit Lily.
It started after Vanessa told my daughter to shut up.
It started exactly when I slapped her.
The caption said:
MY FIANCÉ ATTACKED ME AT HIS DAUGHTER’S BIRTHDAY PARTY. THIS IS THE MAN I ALMOST MARRIED.
By nine in the morning, it had been shared thousands of times.
Comments came faster than I could read them.
Monster.
Coward.
Hope he gets arrested.
Protect women from men like this.
I stared at the phone until Claire took it from my hand.
“Stop reading.”
“She edited it.”
“Obviously.”
“She planned this.”
“Maybe.”
I looked at her.
“What do you mean maybe?”
“Maybe she didn’t plan the cake thing. But she absolutely knew how to use what happened afterward.”
Lily came into the kitchen holding her stuffed rabbit.
“Why are you mad?”
I locked my phone.
“I’m not mad at you.”
“Is Vanessa coming back?”
“No.”
“Promise?”
“Promise.”
That answer came easily.
The next one didn’t.
“Did I make you not get married?”
I crouched in front of her.
“No.”
“But she said—”
“Vanessa made that happen because of what Vanessa did.”
Lily nodded, but she didn’t look convinced.
My phone rang.
My boss.
Then the wedding venue.
Then Vanessa’s father.
Then a number I didn’t recognize.
I ignored all of them.
Claire opened her laptop.
“We need the full party video.”
“What full video?”
“People were recording when Lily blew out the candles.”
She was right.
At least six phones had been pointed toward the cake.
I called my cousin Jason.
He answered immediately.
“Man, I saw the post.”
“Did you record the birthday song?”
“I think so.”
“Send me everything. Don’t cut anything.”
Five minutes later, the video arrived.
Three minutes and twelve seconds.
The whole thing.
Lily laughing.
Everyone singing.
Lily blowing out the candles.
Vanessa standing in the background with a tight expression.
Then Lily taking the first slice.
Vanessa walking over.
The cake being ripped from Lily’s hand.
The smash.
The silence.
“Why?”
“Shut up.”
Then me.
Then the slap.
Everything.
Claire watched twice.
“She’s done.”
“Not yet.”
My phone rang again.
This time it was the police.
They wanted me at the station for a formal statement.
Then another message appeared.
From Vanessa.
Delete whatever video you have. We can still fix this.
I stared at it.
Claire saw.
“She knows.”
I typed back.
There is nothing to fix.
Three dots appeared.
Vanished.
Appeared again.
Then Vanessa sent one sentence.
Ask Lily what happened to my necklace.
I looked toward the living room.
Lily was coloring at the coffee table.
A cold feeling moved through me.
I walked over.
“Sweetheart?”
She looked up.
“Yeah?”
“Do you know anything about Vanessa’s necklace?”
The red crayon stopped moving.
May you like
Lily’s face went pale.
And I knew immediately that Vanessa had found another weapon.
