Jemima laughed and cried at once, nodding frantically. Then she sent me a message.
[Everyone says Otis loved you so much back then that he defied his entire family to marry you. That he knelt in the Sanchez ancestral hall for seven days straight—no food, no water—and took the family's punishment just to make them accept you.]
[And your mother, clinging to life by a thread? She's only alive because Otis brought in the best medical team money could buy.]
[But you don't know the truth, do you?]
Another video arrived.
[It was never what you thought.]
The lighting was dim. A private club—Otis's usual haunt. I recognized every face in the room.
Someone's voice, teasing:
"Otis, what's the deal with you and Debbie? This whole mess—what's the point?"
Otis sat in the center, rolling our wedding ring between his fingers. The man pressed on.
"Debbie's been running wild out there. Five boy toys, at least. Aren't you worried she'll catch something? Doesn't it disgust you?"
"She's out there running wild, and you're just going to look the other way?"
Otis said nothing.
It was Jemima who snapped, slamming her glass down on the table.
"At the end of the day, you still have feelings for Debbie."