When my parents tried to guilt me with everything they'd done for me, demanding I drop out of school and marry some middle-aged bachelor back home, I stole my own ID and birth certificate and cut them off for good.
When Alvin used the threat of leaving me with nothing to keep me in line, expecting me to swallow his affair in silence, I filed for divorce on the spot and fought tooth and nail to win custody of my daughter.
But now, under Fiona's gaze — the triumph she could barely contain —
I bent. Inch by inch.
My eyes throbbed with pressure. I ground every last shred of humiliation and fury between my teeth and swallowed it whole.
Just as I was about to force that apology through my clenched jaw —
A voice came from behind me. Familiar. Cold as steel.
"She doesn't need to apologize."
Alvin James stood in the doorway, tailored suit sharp against the cramped little office like he'd walked in from another world entirely.
He led Moira inside by the hand. He didn't spare a single glance at Fiona, whose eyes had already lit up at the sight of him.
His gaze landed on me, steady and burning, and he said it again.
"My wife doesn't owe anyone an apology."
Fiona's face twisted for a split second, the mask nearly cracking as a scream clawed its way up her throat.
Her eyes fixed on me, venomous. "She's your ex-wife. Is she really worth all this?"
"Moira refused to apologize. As her mother, shouldn't she take responsibility and apologize on Moira's behalf?"
"Her daughter hit my nephew — it's all on the security cameras!"
Alvin looked at Fiona as though he'd only just noticed she was in the room.
Even though he and Fiona had once been intimate, he looked at her now like she was a stranger.
His voice was ice. "Since you brought it up, let's check the footage."
"Pull up everything. Let's see who started it and where those bruises really came from."
With Alvin's word, the security recordings from both the classroom and the office were retrieved in under ten minutes.
The footage was crystal clear. Fiona's nephew shoved Moira first.
Moira hit the wall and stayed there, head down, silent.
She didn't react until the boy's eyes darted sideways and he brought me into it.
"Is it because you're not really his kid? Is that why your dad dumped you?"
"Your mom's just used goods nobody wants! And she had you, you little bastard!"
Only then did Moira snap her head up, something inside her breaking loose.