Chapter 4

I called my father and asked him to send our people to pick up Eve and me without Vincent knowing.

He texted back right away. "Seven tonight. Teterboro Airport."

I breathed a sigh of relief.

Nine hours before takeoff, I gave my lawyer the divorce agreement and all the evidence of Vincent favoring Daisy and failing Eve as a father. I gave him full authority to handle any remaining divorce matters after I left.

Meanwhile, Eve was staring blankly at her phone.

Daisy had posted something.

In the photo, her freckled face was beaming as she shared a horse with Vincent, who held her protectively in his arms.

In the comments, someone had asked, "Isn't your daddy busy with work?"

She'd replied, "Daddy says nothing else matters today. Taking me hunting matters most."

I was about to comfort Eve when she yanked the crystal hair clip out of her hair, the one Daisy had given her the first time they met, and threw it in the trash.

Eve said quietly, "I thought we were friends. Last time, I even gave her half of my secret candy stash."

She pressed her lips together. Her eyes were red, but she didn't cry.

"But she just wanted to steal my daddy."

Three hours before takeoff, my daughter and I took one last look at what used to be our home.

She suddenly remembered something and hurried back inside. She returned with a few things and threw them into the trash one by one.

First was the tiny ornament Vincent had made the year Eve was born. He'd shaped it from a branch of the cedar planted at the old estate the year he himself was born, and on the back he'd carved "My Little Princess" in crooked letters.

Next was the bracelet he'd had made for her first birthday, engraved inside with all three of our initials.

Last was a photo from the day Eve first called him Daddy, with Vincent holding her up and showing her off.

Her little hands were shaking the whole time.

Eve was too young to make sense of it. All she knew was that the daddy who used to lift her over his head now held another child.

But she was smart enough not to cling to something that was no longer hers, even her father's love.

I stood quietly beside Eve while she said her goodbyes.

With nothing left to hold her back, Eve said calmly, "Mommy, let's go."

At seven that night, the plane took off.

I got a voice message from Vincent. "Adela, where are you two? Why aren't you at the restaurant? Did you go home?"

Eve looked out the window. She heard Vincent's voice but didn't turn around.

I didn't reply. I pulled out my SIM card, snapped it in two, and tossed it.

Vincent, this is goodbye for good.