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"Bella, are you sure you don't know what this is?"
Bella shook her head. My cousin frowned. "It was in your backpack. You really don't know? ‘Sat 5'—Saturday at 5 pm? This feels strange…"
She looked at me, her expression serious. "Besides Bella, only you, Liam, or her teachers have access to her backpack, right?"
We exchanged a look. Something wasn't right.
My husband, Liam, usually helps Bella with her backpack. I'd never noticed any notes before.
This time, Bella came home early, so Liam didn't get a chance to tidy her bag. That's why I found it.
As for who it was meant for… It had to be one of her teachers.
Liam, a man who married into my family, lives off my wealth, and now he's using our daughter to communicate with his mistress?
Disgusting. How could he use Bella as a pawn in his affair?
My thoughts were interrupted by my phone ringing.
Speak of the devil—it was Liam, my probably cheating husband.
"Honey, I heard you got into an argument with Bella's teacher? You're trying to get her fired?"
I frowned. How did he find out so quickly?
I hadn't even contacted the principal yet. Firing a teacher isn't something I can do unilaterally.
"It wasn't really an argument. The teacher's the one with the problem. She—"
He cut me off. "Honey, Ms. Miller just texted me. She said she was stressed from the field day, Bella was being difficult, and she lost her temper."
"She only argued with you because she was worried when she couldn't find Bella. Can't we just let it go?"
"Bella just started with this teacher—it'll look bad if we switch her class now."
My chest tightened. "So it's acceptable for her to take her stress out on Bella? Bella's arm was dislocated!"
"She didn't apologize. She insulted our parenting. Is that what a good teacher does?"
"The sooner we change teachers, the better!"
I hadn't expected Ms. Miller to go straight to Liam to plead for mercy.
If I hadn't suspected him of cheating, his smooth talking might've worked.
But now? His credibility was zero.
Maybe Ms. Miller really was his mistress.
I kept my composure, not letting him suspect anything. He continued, "Since when are you so harsh? It's just a Swiss roll."
"Do you really need to cost someone their job? Bella was in the wrong—she shouldn't have taken it without permission."
"What happened to all the manners we taught her?"
"Liam! Our daughter's arm is injured, and you haven't even asked how she is!"
"All you care about is defending that teacher! Does Bella deserve to be assaulted?"
"What, is Ms. Miller your little girlfriend? Is that why you're protecting her?"
Liam went silent. When he spoke again, he sounded nervous. "What are you talking about?!"
"We're discussing Bella and her teacher! How could you think that of me?"
"I love you—you know that! How could you doubt me? You're breaking my heart!"
My heart turned cold. His defensiveness confirmed it.
I didn't have proof yet, so I couldn't reveal my hand.
I forced a sweet tone. "Well, you're so busy defending her, you forgot about your own daughter!"
Hearing me soften, he relaxed. "Haha, I was just worried. I knew you'd take care of her."
He still wouldn't drop it. "So, about Ms. Miller…"
"Hmm… She was rude and hurt Bella. She needs to apologize properly before I let this go."
"She wants to! She wants to take us out to apologize in person. Should we agree?"
Fighting back disgust, I agreed and ended the call.
Now I needed to plan how to deal with these two.
Soon enough, it was the day of Ms. Miller's apology dinner.
When we arrived, Ms. Miller was already in the private room. "You're here! Please, sit."
Liam casually took the seat next to Ms. Miller. She smiled and signaled to a server. "We're ready to order!"
The server entered, glanced at Liam and Ms. Miller, and seemed to recognize them. "You two again? The usual?"
"Oh, you have guests today—want to add a few dishes?"
