By the time I got home, the anger still simmered in my chest. The quiet of my house, without Lily here, made everything seem larger and more lonely. The house felt empty. There was no one to tell me I had gone too far. No one to tell me that I shouldn’t have done it. But I knew, deep down, I hadn’t.
The phone rang, shattering the silence. I didn’t have to look at the caller ID to know it was Mark.
I picked up the phone, my voice sharp. “Hello?”
“Anna,” Mark started, his voice clipped. “What you did was insane. You’ve crossed a line. You need to stop acting like this is some sort of revenge game.”
I leaned against the counter, my pulse racing. “I’m not playing a game, Mark. I’m showing you exactly what it feels like when you stand by and let someone destroy something that matters to someone else. You were there. You watched it happen.”
His voice softened, just barely. “I didn’t agree with Rachel’s actions, you know that. But this? You think throwing her bike into the pool will fix things? You think that’s the lesson Lily needs to learn?”
I closed my eyes, remembering the hurt in Lily’s face when she saw her sewing machine sink to the bottom of the pool. “You don’t get it. She worked for that machine, Mark. She earned it. And you just let Rachel throw it away like it meant nothing. But you know what? I won’t let anyone teach her that she’s worthless, not even you.”
Mark let out a heavy sigh. “You’re being irrational, Anna. This isn’t about Lily’s sewing machine. This is about you and Rachel. This is about us and how we deal with each other. If you think this—this stunt—helps anything, you’re wrong.”
“No, Mark,” I shot back, my voice shaking but firm. “What’s wrong is letting a child be punished with destruction, letting them be humiliated for something that doesn’t even deserve it. I had to teach you both what it feels like. If you can’t understand that, then maybe we’re further apart than I thought.”
There was a pause on the other end, and for a moment, I wondered if he was going to say something that would tear the wound open even further. But then, in a tone almost too calm, Mark finally said, “Rachel’s leaving. She said she can’t stay in a house with a man who lets his ‘crazy ex-wife’ get away with things like this.”