Redleaves
Before a gathering of New York's underworld Families, I slipped into the vintage Chanel gown my mother had left me. As I looked in the mirror, my seven-year-old daughter suddenly said, "Mommy, it doesn't matter what you wear. You're always the ugliest one."
Just like that, all the joy the gown had brought me disappeared.
It wasn't the first time my daughter had said something cruel.
Once, the FBI took me in for questioning and kept me for three days. The moment I got home, I wrapped her in my arms and asked if she'd missed me.
She only shrugged. "No, Mommy. You're too stupid. Smart people don't get caught."
My husband, Vincent, said sternly, "You can't talk to her like that. We're a family."
I asked carefully, "If Mommy's so stupid, will you take care of me, sweetheart?"
My daughter spread her hands. "Not me. Daddy said this family doesn't feed freeloaders."
I was too stunned to speak.
She just smiled at me, all innocence. "Don't be mad, Mommy. I'm only telling the truth."
Every time she hurt me, she always added those same words.
No matter how much it hurt, I kept telling myself she was simply too young to understand. That she didn't truly mean to hurt me.
Until the day she smugly posted one of her "honest truths" on TikTok, hoping the whole internet would judge me.
This time, she would regret telling the truth for the rest of her life.