Chapter 7 - THE VIDEOS THAT DID BETTER WHEN LILY WAS MISERABLE
Sarah did something uncomfortable the next weekend.
She watched Vanessa’s old content.
Hours of it.
Not because Naomi asked her to.
Because Lily’s comment about being “good” at crying bothered her.
Sarah made a spreadsheet.
Date.
Video.
Lily’s age.
What happened.
Whether Lily appeared distressed.
Approximate public view count.
Sarah hated what emerged.
Videos where Lily calmly baked cookies or opened birthday gifts performed reasonably well.
Videos where she became embarrassed, startled or upset often did far better.
The salty lemonade clip had more than three times Vanessa’s normal views.
The hidden-rabbit video had thousands of paid subscriber interactions.
Another clip showed Vanessa pretending to cut a lock of Lily’s hair.
The scissors never touched her.
Lily had not known that.
Sarah remembered that afternoon.
Lily had come home unusually quiet.
Sarah had asked what was wrong.
Lily said she was tired.
Sarah had accepted the answer.
That realization hurt more than blaming Vanessa.
She had missed things.
Not because she did not love her daughter.
Because the behavior arrived wrapped in balloons, family jokes and free pizza.
Sarah called Lily into the dining room.
“Can I show you something?”
Lily looked suspiciously at the laptop.
“Do I have to watch the videos?”
“No.”
Sarah closed it immediately.
“Actually, no. Forget that.”
Lily sat down.
Sarah pushed the laptop aside.
“I need to apologize.”
“For what?”
“I saw some of those videos before. I thought they were funny.”
Lily picked at a scratch in the table.
“Everybody did.”
“That doesn’t make it okay.”
Lily looked up.
“Are you going to make Aunt Vanessa delete all of me?”
Sarah paused.
“What do you want?”
Lily thought carefully.
“The ones where I’m crying.”
“Okay.”
“And the haircut one.”
“Okay.”
“I like the Christmas cookies.”
Sarah smiled slightly.
“Then we’ll talk about that one separately.”
For the first time, the goal became clearer.
This was not about erasing Vanessa from Lily’s childhood.
It was about giving Lily some control over how that childhood was used.
That afternoon Naomi received an unexpected email from Vanessa’s attorney.
Vanessa was willing to remove additional videos.
But there was a condition.
Sarah would have to sign a mutual non-disparagement agreement.
She could not publicly accuse Vanessa of exploiting Lily.
She could not contact Vanessa’s sponsors.
She could not share the unedited birthday livestream.
In exchange, Vanessa would withdraw the $1,500 demand.
Sarah read the proposal.
“They’re scared of the sponsors.”
Naomi did not speculate.
“They want certainty.”
Sarah pointed to one line.
“Why does this specifically prohibit sponsor contact?”
Naomi looked at her.
“That is a very good question.”
Sarah went home.
That night, she opened the original demand letter again.
For the first time she noticed something odd.
It never actually itemized a broken phone screen.
It simply called the $1,500 “commercial damages arising from disruption of the livestream.”
May you like
Sarah had assumed the money was for the phone.
Nobody had ever said it was.
