Chapter 2: The Secret Behind the Tablet
I didn’t sleep that night.
Not because of the slap.
Not even because of the broken tablet.
It was because of Lily’s message.
“Mom has been lying to you for years.””
Those words kept replaying in my head.
At midnight, I finally opened the photo again.
It showed the tablet sitting on Lily’s desk.
But the important detail wasn’t the tablet.
It was the reflection in the mirror behind it.
In the reflection, I could see Lily’s hand holding a heavy book above the device.
The picture had been taken moments before the tablet broke.
I stared at it.
My own stepsister had evidence proving she caused everything.
But why?
The next morning, I found Lily waiting outside my bedroom door.
She looked exhausted.
Her hair was messy.
Her eyes were red.
“Emily,” she whispered.
I crossed my arms.
“Why did you let her hit me?””
Her face fell.
“I was scared.””
“So was I.””
She looked down.
“I know.””
For the first time, Lily didn’t look like the perfect daughter Victoria always praised.
She looked like a kid who had been carrying something heavy.
“Come inside,” I said.
She entered my room and closed the door.
For several seconds, neither of us spoke.
Finally, Lily sat on the edge of my bed.
“I didn’t mean for Mom to hit you.””
“But you knew she would blame me.””
“Yes.””
The honesty shocked me.
“Why?””
She swallowed.
“Because Mom told me to.””
I froze.
“What?””
Lily looked at me.
“She told me if anything happened to my tablet, I should say it was you.””
My heart started pounding.
“Why would she tell you that?””
“I don’t know.””
“You do know.””
Lily looked away.
And that silence told me everything.
“Lily.””
She sighed.
“Because Mom wanted Dad to send you away.””
The room felt smaller.
“What?””
“She thinks Dad spends too much time worrying about you.””
I laughed quietly, but there was no humor in it.
“My dad barely talks to me anymore.””
“I know.””
“Then why?””
Lily wiped her eyes.
“Because she’s afraid.””
“Afraid of what?””
Before Lily could answer, we heard Victoria calling from downstairs.
“Lily? Where are you?””
Lily immediately stood.
Her fear returned.
“She can’t know I told you.””
“Why?””
“Because she’ll punish me.””
I stared at her.
“You’re afraid of your own mother.””
Lily didn’t answer.
She didn’t have to.
After she left, I sat there thinking about everything.
The missing birthday cards.
The arguments where Victoria always took Lily’s side.
The times Dad promised we would spend time together but somehow plans changed.
I had always believed my family was falling apart because of grief.
Because after my biological mother died, everything became harder.
But now I wondered if someone had been making it harder.
That evening, I decided to talk to my father.
I found him in the garage fixing an old motorcycle.
“Dad?””
He looked up.
“Hey, sweetheart.””
The nickname almost broke me.
Because I hadn’t heard it in months.
“Can I ask you something?””
“Of course.””
I hesitated.
“Do you think I’m a problem?””
His face changed.
“What?””
“Do you think I make things difficult for this family?””
He immediately put down the wrench.
“Emily, why would you ask that?””
I wanted to tell him everything.
The slap.
The tablet.
Victoria’s behavior.
But before I could speak, Victoria appeared in the garage doorway.
“There you are.””
Her voice was calm.
Too calm.
My father looked between us.
“What’s going on?””
Victoria smiled.
“Nothing. Emily is just upset because she’s been having attitude lately.””
I stared at her.
She was doing it again.
Changing the story.
Making me the problem.
My father sighed.
“Emily, maybe you should apologize to Victoria.””
My heart sank.
“Apologize?””
“She’s under a lot of stress.””
I looked at him.
“Dad… she hit me.””
Silence.
Victoria’s expression changed.
Just slightly.
But I saw it.
Fear.
My father looked shocked.
“What?””
“I didn’t—” Victoria started.
“You did,” I said.
My father stood up.
“Victoria?””
She quickly recovered.
“She’s exaggerating.””
“I’m not.””
My father looked uncomfortable.
And then Victoria said the one thing that made me realize she had been planning this for a long time.
“She has always been dramatic since her mother died.””
I felt like the air had been knocked out of me.
My mother.
She used my mother to make me look unstable.
I walked away before I cried.
That night, I packed a small bag.
I didn’t know where I would go.
I just knew I couldn’t stay in a house where the truth didn’t matter.
Then my bedroom door opened.
It was Lily.
She was holding something in her hands.
An old envelope.
“Emily,” she whispered.
“You need to see this.””
I looked at the envelope.
“What is it?””
Her face turned pale.
“It’s something Mom hid from you.””
I opened it.
Inside was a document.
And at the bottom of the page was my father’s signature.
But the date was from before my mother died.
Before Victoria ever entered our lives.
I read the first line.
And my hands started shaking.
Because it wasn’t about the tablet.
May you like
It wasn’t even about Lily.
It was about me.
