CHAPTER 6
CHAPTER 6 - THE CALL
Sabrina’s phone began ringing beside the coffee cup.
Victor.
She ignored it.
It rang again.
Then Celeste.
Mia looked at her. “Do you want me to end the live?”
“No.”
Sabrina answered the call on speaker and placed it near the laptop.
Celeste’s voice came through breathless and sharp.
“Mom, what are you doing?”
Sabrina looked into the camera, then down at the phone.
“Telling the truth.”
“You’re humiliating me.”
“No, sweetheart. Your father did that when he built your crown out of my silence.”
There was a pause.
Then Victor’s voice cut in. “End this right now.”
Sabrina’s expression did not change.
“You don’t get to give me instructions anymore.”
“You’ll regret this.”
“I already regret waiting this long.”
Celeste sounded smaller when she spoke again. “Is it real?”
That broke something in Sabrina’s face, just for a second.
“Yes.”
The livestream went silent except for the faint hum of the ring light.
Sabrina picked up the photograph again.
“You were six months old in this picture,” she said softly. “You had a fever that night. I held you while I signed the first investor agreement. Your father told me nobody would take a young mother seriously, so he put his name first.”
Celeste did not answer.
Victor did.
“She’s lying.”
Sabrina opened the notebook to the first page and held it close enough for the camera to see the dates, but not the private details.
“Then sue me.”
May you like
Victor went quiet.
Everyone watching understood why.
