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When Jules handed Cesar the USB drive, a wave of unease washed over him.
He had already begun to suspect Zora after witnessing her curse Naya. He hesitated for a long moment before finally opening the files.
The surveillance footage showed Zora, jaw tight, forcing spoon after spoon of peanut butter into Abigail’s mouth.
Even though Abigail had clearly said she was allergic, Zora didn’t stop.
Instead, she leaned in and whispered, “Abigail, if you don’t eat the peanuts, that woman will keep clinging to your father. She’ll have more children and push you aside.
“Listen to me. I’m your real mother. I’d never lie to you. Just eat it, bring the peanut butter home, and say Naya made you do it Your father will leave her. And then I can come back. I’ll take care of you, I promise.”
Abigail cried and protested, but Zora ignored her. Spoon after spoon, she kept feeding her until the jar was half empty. Cesar’s veins pulsed as his brows drew tight. He couldn’t believe it. The woman who had always seemed so gentle, yet she would do this to her own daughter,
His hand slipped on the mouse, and a string of screenshots opened on the screen.
There, in plain view, were chat logs; pictures and videos of him and Zora, arms wrapped around each other, followed with mocking words.
But what made his blood boil was that Zora had already told Naya about their marriage. And worse, she had told Naya that Abigail was her child.
Cesar’s heart pounded. He couldn’t help but keep scrolling.
“Help me find out if Naya is dead. If she isn’t, then help me kill her. And if she is, scatter her ashes! I won’t let her get near Cesar ever again!” Zora’s vicious voice echoed from the recording.
Shock and fury filled Cesar’s eyes.
He had thought Zora might be a little petty, maybe even jealous of Naya, but he had never imagined that the woman he’d loved for so many years could be this cruel.
He couldn’t stop himself. He had to call her.&
Zora was at the kindergarten when the call came through, in the middle of breaking up a fight between Abigail and another child.
The kid had been shouting cruel things, saying Abigail had no mother and calling Zora a mistress.
Furious, Zora had rushed to the school, ready to confront the parents. When she saw Cesar’s name on the screen, she picked up right away.
This was the perfect time to show the other parents that she and Cesar were legally married. She had never been a mistress. If anything, Naya had been the other woman.
