“Okay… okay… okay…” I whispered under my breath.

The door to Lila’s room was slightly open. Just enough to see.

Daniel reached into his wallet and pulled out a crisp hundred-dollar bill. “I mean it. Take this and keep it a secret.”

Lila frowned slightly. “Daniel… I don’t—”

“It’s nothing bad,” he said quickly. “I promise. I just need you to trust me on this.”

Trust. That word didn’t sit right.

“…Okay,” Lila said quietly.

“Good. Thank you, kid.”

I stepped back quickly before the floor could creak beneath me and walked to the kitchen.

Dinner that night felt like one of those polite small-town potlucks where everyone smiles, and no one says what they’re really thinking. Daniel talked about work. Lila mentioned a test at school. I stirred the pasta.

Lila barely looked at me. And when she did, it was only for a second.

Okay… okay… okay…

I told myself I’d ask her later. Just the two of us. I didn’t want to corner Lila while Daniel was still home. I didn’t want to make her choose sides.

So I waited.

The next morning, Daniel left early for a two-day business trip. Lila left for school not long after.

The house went quiet. I stood there with my coffee, staring at nothing, replaying Daniel’s voice in my head. Take this and keep it a secret. All day, I tried to make sense of it.

By the time my daughter came home, my nerves felt stretched too thin.

She walked into the kitchen. “Mom…”

“Yeah, honey?”

“I think you need to know the truth.”