Chapter 3

He dragged me home by my hair.

The second we were through the door he threw me down onto the couch. "Think hard about how you're going to apologize to your fans. The people I called will be here any minute."

Ten minutes later, two influencers arrived.

Both were streamers with millions of followers.

The moment they walked in, my father said to them, "This is my daughter. Go ahead and film."

"She slept her way into a role, but I brought her home and made her drop out of the production."

"They say you shouldn't air your dirty laundry, but I'm not afraid to. Owning your mistake is the right thing to do."

"In a little while she's going to apologize to the whole internet. I want you to share it, spread it around, so everyone can see she means it."

The two streamers just stood there.

They stammered out to my father, "Mr. Delgado, we make our living off traffic. The bigger the numbers, the more we earn."

"Which is to say, we're the last people to shy away from a good scandal."

"But this time, we have to say something to you."

"Once this video goes out, your daughter could get hit with a full-on pile-on online."

"She's just starting to make a name for herself in the industry. Raise her right, and she could become a real leading actress someday."

"But if she actually admits to the whole internet that she traded favors for a part, that's it. She's done. No one will ever cast her again."

"Mr. Delgado, can you really bring yourself to do this?"

"You're not making her own up to anything. You're destroying her."

The two of them meant every word, but my father wouldn't hear it.

He looked at me the way you look at something you've given up on. "This daughter of mine is nothing but bad habits now."

"Drinking. Staying out all night. Hanging all over men."

"If I keep letting her run wild, there's no telling how many worse habits she'll pick up. Maybe past saving."

"There's still time to fix it. Better late than never."

"As for no one casting her, that won't happen. As long as she apologizes and means it, the public will give her another chance."

The two streamers looked at each other, then at me, and had no choice but to set up the camera the way my father wanted.

My father kicked me. "Are you ready or not?"

I said nothing, tears running down my face.

Just then the front door swung open.

My mother was home, out of breath.

She'd rushed straight from work, drenched in sweat.

The moment she was inside, she said to my father, frantic, "Do you have any idea what her reputation means for a woman?"

"You're going to let everyone think she's a slut? How is she supposed to face anyone after that?"

My father said coldly, "If she did it, she shouldn't be afraid of people saying so."

"And if she's afraid of people saying so, she shouldn't have done it."

I pulled out my phone and held it out to him, my face soaked with tears. "Look. This is what people are calling me."

In just a few hours, the livestream my father posted earlier had already blown up.

The whole internet was calling me a slut.

Someone had even gotten hold of my phone number and was texting me insults.

My mother was crying, pounding her fists against my father. "What is it you even want? Are you trying to get your own daughter killed?"

My father frowned and said to me, "If you'd just admit it, no one would keep coming after you like this."

"You dig your heels in, of course people get angry."

"Willow, if you want a long career in this industry, you have to learn some self-respect."

"Take this as a lesson. Consider it a vaccine against worse."

My mother forced down her fury. "You say your own daughter is a slut, that she slept her way up. Do you have proof?"

"You've got nothing, so why are you framing her?"

My father said, "I saw it with my own eyes."

My mother pressed, desperate. "Saw what? Did you see her get into someone's bed? Walk into someone's room?"

"You made all of it up in your own head. You don't have a shred of hard evidence."

My father said impatiently, "She's my own daughter. Don't I know her?"

"And even if I'm wrong, correct it if it's true, watch yourself if it isn't. No harm in that."

"At the very least, after a scene like this, the whole industry will know our family raises its children strictly, and no one will try to lure her into being a slut."

Having brushed my mother off, my father turned to me. "Write a statement of apology. You'll read it out loud in front of the camera in a minute."

I shook my head.

My father's voice went urgent. "Still won't admit it? You think there's nothing wrong with being a slut?"

I said through gritted teeth, "You're the one accusing me of something I didn't do. I didn't do anything."

My father suddenly lost it and roared, "How did I raise a daughter with no shame?"

"It's not enough for you to disgrace yourself, you've dragged the whole Delgado name through the mud too."

He went wild, smashing and breaking things all over the house.

The TV shattered, the coffee table went over, a chair came apart in pieces...

My mother rushed over crying to stop him, and he shoved her hard. She hit the floor.

Venting his rage, he snarled at me, "So you'll never repent? Then I'll tell everyone exactly how you got that role."

"Willow Delgado, you want to make money by throwing away your dignity, I won't let you get away with it."

"You won't confess? Then I'll confess for you. Every single day, I'll apologize on your behalf on my livestream."

I looked at him in despair, tears pouring down my face. "I'll do what you say. I'll confess. Is that enough?"