My eyes were bloodshot. "River, I don't care how you slander me, but you will not slander my daughter!"

River looked innocent. "Did I say something wrong? If you hadn't used the child to force Tom into marriage and taught her to fake being sick to restrict Tom's freedom, how could he have ever been with you?"

I looked at Tom coldly. "Is this what you've always thought?"

He didn't say yes, but he didn't deny it either.

Back then, if he hadn't agreed, no one could have forced him.

Our daughter, who was frail and sickly, was so afraid that her father would dislike her that she always felt deeply guilty after getting sick.

I could give her all the motherly love, but I couldn't give her the fatherly love she longed for. I begged Tom, even to the point of bowing, just to get him to look at her a bit more.

And yet, he thought our daughter was pretending, that I had taught her to do it.

Ha.

How ridiculous.

For years, I had been obedient and pleasing to him, and our daughter had been so well-behaved it was heartbreaking. The two of us were pathetically begging, hoping to win back his heart.

In the end, we were just part of his emotional game with his first love.

I looked at Tom with disappointment.

This was the man I had silently loved for seven years.

I suddenly questioned what I ever liked about him.

River took the opportunity to fan the flames. "Tom, my face hurts so much. Is it swollen from the slap?"

I had used all my strength in that slap, and her face was indeed swollen high.

"Amber, apologize!"

It was an order, filled with anger.

"Why should I apologize!?"

"Amber, don't test my limits." He was barely holding back his anger.

In truth, I had always been afraid of upsetting him, so much so that I didn't even dare say an extra word in front of him.

Because I cared about him, and about our daughter.

But now, it didn't matter anymore.

River put on a pretentious look of understanding. "Tom, don't let this cause a rift between us. Is that a knitted Hawaiian silversword plant she's holding? Doggie really likes that flower."

Tom seemed to catch on. "Amber, give that flower to River, and we'll pretend this never happened."

His words felt like charity, as if he was offering me a way out.

But I didn't know how to appreciate it.

I tightly held onto the flower and glared at her. "Don't even think about it."

The Hawaiian silversword plant was my daughter's favorite flower.