Chapter 3

I marched straight into my bedroom and locked the door behind me.

Before going to sleep, I pulled Helen's card from my pocket and dialed her number.

"Have you watched the footage? Can you put the truth out first thing tomorrow morning?"

Helen's voice on the line was impossible to read. She hesitated before answering.

"Don't worry. People are definitely going to see the truth."

After hanging up, I went to sleep, feeling a heavy weight lift from my chest.

Thinking about how Riley's true nature would be exposed tomorrow brought me immense relief.

Early the next morning, I was jarred awake by a deafening commotion outside my window.

I pulled back the curtains and peered down. The entire driveway was swarming with reporters, camera crews, and angry onlookers.

They were all screaming at the top of their lungs.

"Lorraine Jiang! Get down here if you've got the guts! We have questions for you!"

Seeing the sheer scale of the crowd, I paused, confused.

Did the truth already break? Were they all scrambling to get an exclusive interview with me to apologize?

A split second later, a voice from the street shattered that hope completely.

"Lorraine, you shameless psycho! If I ever see your face in public, I'll beat you senseless!"

Sensing something was horribly wrong, I pulled up my phone.

Sure enough, the top three trending topics on social media were all about me.

Exclusive! The Horrifying Truth Behind Why Lorraine Jiang Sued Her Daughter!

I tapped on the link. The footage Helen had uploaded was indeed the videos from my flash drive—the candid clips of my daily life with Riley.

The first clip was set at the dining table. I had intentionally served Riley a plate of spicy mapo tofu.

"Riley, eat up. Tofu is healthy for you."

Riley looked visibly hesitant. "Mom, I'm in high school now... how can you still not remember I have a severe soy allergy?"

In the video, I instantly flew into a rage, scraping the entire plate of tofu into her bowl and forcing her to eat it.

"Allergy my foot! Don't you think I know what you're allergic to?! You're just being a picky brat!"

"Finish every bite, or don't even think about sleeping tonight!"

Riley choked down the entire bowl while fighting back tears.

A few minutes later, angry red hives broke out all across her skin, and her breathing turned into a ragged wheeze.

"Mom, it's an allergic reaction... please, take me to the emergency room..."

In the footage, I simply sneered, completely indifferent.

"Stop being so dramatic! You think your little performance works on me? I'm not playing along!"

I walked away from the table, and the video cut to black.

Within ten minutes, the comment section exploded with thousands of replies, every single one tearing me to shreds.

"Is this Lorraine woman insane?! Her daughter was literally having an anaphylactic shock and she refused to take her to the ER?! That's attempted murder!"

"This level of psychotic control is terrifying. I pray Riley escapes that toxic household and gets far away from that monster!"

"This is the first time I actually support severing parental ties! The judge needs to reverse the ruling—Riley deserves so much better!"

Reading the sheer vitriol, my heart seized with white-hot fury.

I clicked on the second video, another piece of evidence I had given Helen.

The timestamp in the corner read September 17th, a day when temperatures soared past a hundred degrees.

Riley was about to head to school wearing a short-sleeved polo uniform when I barked at her to stop.

"You think you're walking out looking like that?! Put your heavy jacket on right now!"

I forcefully shoved her into a thick winter school jacket.

Within seconds, beads of sweat rolled down her face. She gasped for air, pleading, "Mom, it's scorching outside. I'm going to pass out from heatstroke."

My face on camera was stern and merciless. "Girls your age need to have some modesty! Showing your bare arms is completely inappropriate!"

"And don't you dare think about taking it off when you get to class! I'll be checking the classroom monitors. If I see you without it, you're dead meat!"

The video ended with Riley stumbling out the door, sweltering inside the suffocating layers.

Just as I was about to scroll down, Helen's call buzzed onto my screen.

"Is this the 'truth' you were talking about?"