Chapter 2

Hearing my threat, Damon angrily tossed his phone onto the bed, then slapped me across the face.

"Iris Reynolds, what are you talking about?! Chelsea is so innocent and kind; she'd never break our daughter's legs. She can't even bring herself to kill a fly!"

He'd used so much force that his glasses slid crooked on his face from the impact.

His face was ashen. He pushed his glasses back into place, glaring at me with a cold, piercing gaze.

It was as if I was the one who had an affair and whose mistress had kidnapped our daughter into the deep mountains, not him.

I stared in disbelief at Damon, who, after thirty years of being mild-mannered, was now raging at me for the first time.

"Willow is on her knees, dragging her bleeding legs to serve Chelsea tea, her body covered in festering, oozing wounds that are unbearable to look at – and you say it's fake?"

"Tell me, what app has special effects like that? Or is there a master makeup artist hiding in those mountains? Tell me!"

I clutched my swollen, stinging face, screaming hysterically at Damon.

When we first got married, I struggled with a condition that made it hard for me to carry a baby, and Damon had a low sperm count. We went through hell and back to have Willow.

The day she was born, Damon and I were so overwhelmed with joy we almost fainted.

Willow was truly beautiful and adorable, with a sweet, bubbly personality.

For three years, we treated her like the most delicate treasure, showering her with love and spoiling her like a little princess.

But then Damon posted a picture on his SnapChat of Willow hugging his neck and kissing his cheek, forgetting to block Chelsea.

Chelsea immediately went ballistic with jealousy, posting on her own SnapChat that Willow was Damon's karmic burden from a past life, a conniving little pest trying to seduce him in this one.

But Willow was only three! It was perfectly normal for her to kiss her dad and hug his neck.

Furious, I replied to Chelsea's post, demanding a public apology for me and Willow.

Instead, she waited until Willow was at daycare, pretended to be her aunt, lured her away, and kidnapped her into the mountains.

Even when Chelsea's video call came in from the mountains, I couldn't believe she was so sick and twisted.

What I couldn't believe even more was that Damon had told me he'd broken things off with Chelsea ages ago, yet he'd been secretly seeing her all this time.

With such a terrifying crisis, he wasn't rushing to the mountain to find our daughter. He even stopped me from calling 911, insisting that Chelsea would eventually get tired and bring Willow back unharmed.

Seeing my hysteria, Damon's face finally showed a flicker of exasperation. He glared at me impatiently.

"Fine, you crazy woman! I'll go get Willow from the mountain right now, okay?!"

"But if Willow isn't like you say, you will get on your knees and apologize to Chelsea!"