Chapter 8 - Phase Two
Lily read only the parts adults decided she needed to know.
She still understood enough.
“She was going to use me next.”
Ethan sat beside her.
“Yes.”
“For what?”
“She had ideas for videos about how Noah’s supposed illness affected you.”
Lily’s jaw tightened.
“I would’ve said no.”
“I know.”
“She would’ve filmed anyway.”
Ethan had no answer.
Vivian had already filmed Lily without permission in the background of several clips.
One showed Lily walking away from the kitchen.
Vivian captioned it:
His sister tries to stay strong.
Lily had actually been leaving because she was angry about the camera.
The truth had been edited into its opposite.
“Delete it,” Lily said.
“We’re requesting removals.”
“I mean all of it.”
“I know.”
Copies remained on reaction channels and repost accounts.
Attorneys sent notices.
Platforms removed many.
Not all.
Dr. Patel helped Lily understand a painful reality.
“You may not be able to control every copy.”
“So she gets to keep doing this forever?”
“No. She loses control over what happens next. But some evidence of what already happened may remain.”
“I hate that.”
“You’re allowed to.”
Lily wanted to make a public video explaining everything.
Ethan initially said absolutely not.
Then stopped himself.
Another adult deciding how her image should be used.
They discussed it.
Rebecca joined.
So did Dr. Patel.
Lily ultimately chose not to post.
Not because Ethan forbade it.
Because she realized she did not owe strangers an explanation.
“That feels better,” she said.
Ethan smiled.
“That sounds like your decision.”
“It is.”
The accountant continued untangling Vivian’s business.
VB Digital Media had one major source of revenue.
Noah’s fundraiser.
But advertising contracts showed Vivian was negotiating sponsorships.
Children’s supplements.
Meal-replacement drinks.
A therapy app.
She had pitched Noah as a long-term “family health storytelling platform.”
One company had already paid a $7,500 deposit.
The money went toward the condo.
The company immediately terminated negotiations after learning the medical claims were false.
Its legal department provided emails.
In one, Vivian wrote:
The audience responds strongest when Noah is visibly distressed. We can guarantee at least two high-emotion pieces monthly.
Ethan could barely breathe after reading it.
Noah had become inventory.
Two high-emotion pieces monthly.
The prosecutors now had evidence supporting a broader theory of financial fraud.
The family court had something simpler.
Vivian agreed not to seek contact with Noah or Lily while the criminal matter was pending.
The agreement was entered without a finding that ended the entire case.
It gave the children stability.
Divorce proceedings began.
Ethan felt ashamed of how relieved he was when Vivian signed the initial papers.
He had loved her.
He could admit that.
There were evenings she sat with him after nightmares about Rachel.
She remembered Rachel’s birthday when even Ethan nearly forgot.
She once drove three hours to retrieve Lily from a canceled school trip.
Not every good memory was fake.
That complicated grief.
It did not change what she did.
Dr. Patel told Ethan he did not need to solve the contradiction.
“People who cause serious harm can also have done kind things.”
“That makes anger harder.”
“Yes.”
“I want her to have always been terrible.”
“That would make your judgment feel safer.”
He looked at her.
Exactly.
If Vivian had been obviously monstrous from day one, Ethan could tell himself he had missed a disguise.
Instead, the truth was worse.
She had crossed lines gradually.
And he had ignored smaller warning signs because acknowledging them threatened a life he desperately wanted to keep.
One night Lily asked him:
“Did you really love her?”
“Yes.”
“Do you still?”
Ethan paused.
“I don’t know what to call what’s left.”
“That’s weird.”
“Very.”
“Does that mean you might take her back?”
“No.”
Lily visibly relaxed.
Ethan noticed.
He had answered too vaguely for months.
Children living through adult betrayal sometimes needed clarity more than nuance.
“I will not bring Vivian back into this house,” he said.
“Okay.”
“And you and Noah do not have to forgive her to make me comfortable.”
Lily nodded.
Then asked:
“What if Noah does?”
“That’s his decision when he’s ready.”
“What if I never do?”
“That can also be your decision.”
She looked relieved again.
The next morning Noah asked a question of his own.
“Are donations bad?”
Ethan stared.
“No.”
“Then why did everybody get mad?”
“Because Vivian lied about why people were donating and used the money for things they didn’t agree to.”
“So if someone asks for money and tells the truth, that’s okay?”
“Yes.”
Noah thought.
“Can I raise money for the animal shelter?”
Ethan almost laughed.
“Yes.”
“No crying?”
“Preferably not.”
Noah created a school pet-food drive instead.
No videos.
No public story about himself.
Just boxes near the school office.
He collected 380 cans.
When the shelter thanked him, he shrugged.
“It was mostly Mrs. Kim’s class.”
Ethan had never been more proud.
Then the prosecutor called.
Vivian wanted to enter plea negotiations.
But before doing so, she had turned over an encrypted external drive.
Her attorney said it contained financial records.
The forensic examiner opened it.
There were records.
And hundreds of unpublished videos.
One folder had a name that stopped Ethan cold.
RACHEL CONTENT
May you like
Vivian had been using footage of his dead wife too.
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