She reached for it with wet fingers—and instantly smiled.
Daphne.
She answered, already bracing herself to hear her daughter’s voice. But instead—
“Mom, have you completely lost your mind?!”
Nina froze. The voice was loud, furious, packed with irritation and contempt.
“You humiliated me! You humiliated Dad! Now the whole campus knows my mother is insane!”
An icy cold spread through her chest. She swallowed, her voice coming out weak.
“What are you talking about?”
“Turn on the news.”
She blinked. What damn news?
“Daphne… how can you talk to me like that? What kind of tone is that?” Nina snapped, already raw from the way her daughter had been acting lately.
“No wonder Dad decided to divorce you! Who could survive twenty years next to a woman like you?!”
The pain stole her breath. How could she speak to her like that?
“You know about the divorce?” Nina whispered.
“Dad told me a couple of days ago.”
She said it so casually, as if their family weren’t collapsing. What else had Frank told their daughter? How had he dared to turn her against her?
“And I support his decision.”
Something inside Nina boiled over.
“And did Dad tell you how he had me locked up in a psychiatric clinic?”
Silence.
“How he transferred all the property to his mistress and left both you and me with nothing?”
Nothing.
“But maybe you don’t realize that now you get nothing either. He signed everything over to his mistress—and after that, it’ll go to their shared child—not to you. Not to you. Your father didn’t even hesitate to give your grandfather’s company to his lover while I was locked in the hospital!”
“You’re lying!” Daphne screamed.“You’re just—just trying to turn me against Dad!”
“That’s the truth, whether you like it or not.” Nina said quietly,“But you’d better decide whose side you’re on.”
“You’re pathetic, Mom. You’ve always been pathetic!”
“Daphne—”
“I hate you!”
The call disconnected.
The water in the bathtub had long since gone cold, but Nina sat staring at nothing—and felt absolutely nothing at all.
