Chapter 2 - TWENTY-FIVE DOLLARS FOR A BRAID
I locked the bedroom door.
Vanessa pounded on it from the hallway.
“Daniel!”
I ignored her.
Lily sat beside me on the edge of the bed, clutching the yellow hat against her chest.
I lowered the tablet volume before continuing the video.
“You don’t have to watch.”
“I know.”
“You can go into the bathroom if you want.”
She shook her head.
“I want you to know.”
That sentence broke something in me.
I pressed play.
The livestream had started seventeen minutes before the section I first saw.
Vanessa appeared alone at the beauty table.
The title was simple.
YELLOW HAT CHALLENGE.
No last names.
No location.
No explanation.
Only Vanessa smiling into the camera.
“Somebody’s been bragging today.”
Comments rolled up the side.
WHO?
SHOW HER.
Vanessa stepped away.
Then Lily entered the frame.
My daughter wasn’t smiling.
Her hands were behind her back.
Vanessa placed the yellow hat on her head.
“Tell everybody what you won.”
Lily whispered, “A ribbon.”
“Speak up.”
“A running ribbon.”
I remembered that ribbon.
Lily had won a short race during a preschool activity morning.
It was cheap blue fabric with a plastic medal attached.
She had worn it all day.
I had told Vanessa about it because I was proud.
Now the livestream comments made my skin crawl.
PRINCESS THINKS SHE’S SPECIAL.
TAKE SOMETHING AWAY.
A payment notification sounded.
Ten dollars.
Then another.
Fifteen.
Vanessa smiled.
“Apparently everybody thinks you need a humility lesson.”
Lily looked confused.
“What’s humility?”
Vanessa laughed toward the camera.
“See?”
I paused the video.
My hands were shaking.
Lily looked at me.
“Dad?”
“Did Vanessa tell you these people were watching?”
“No.”
“Did you know she was live?”
Lily shook her head.
“She said she was making hair videos.”
I forced myself to breathe.
I pressed play again.
Vanessa brushed Lily’s hair.
At first, nothing happened.
Then a viewer wrote:
CUT IT SHORT.
Vanessa glanced at the comment.
“No, Daddy likes it long.”
Another donation.
Twenty-five dollars.
CUT THE BRAID.
Vanessa looked at Lily.
“Stand up.”
Lily obeyed.
Vanessa tied an elastic around the braid.
My daughter turned.
“No.”
“It grows back.”
“I want Daddy.”
“He’s working.”
“Can I call him?”
“No.”
Lily began crying.
Vanessa leaned down.
“If you make this difficult, he’ll think you were naughty.”
“I wasn’t.”
“Then hold still.”
I heard myself whisper, “Jesus.”
Lily touched my arm.
“I tried.”
“I know.”
On-screen, Vanessa raised the scissors.
She stopped just before cutting.
Then looked at the chat.
“Last chance.”
Another notification sounded.
Fifty dollars.
DO IT.
The blades closed.
Lily screamed.
The braid dropped onto the floor.
My daughter reached behind her head.
Vanessa grabbed her wrist.
“Stop moving.”
“I want my hair!”
“It’s hair.”
She cut again.
And again.
Not carefully.
Not to repair anything.
To make it worse.
Each uneven section brought more comments.
More payments.
Then Lily jerked her head away.
The scissors caught the skin above her ear.
She cried out.
Vanessa froze.
A thin line of blood appeared.
For the first time, Vanessa looked frightened.
Not because Lily was hurt.
Because the camera had captured it.
“Oh, damn.”
She grabbed a tissue.
Lily sobbed.
“You cut me!”
“No, you moved.”
“You cut me!”
Vanessa looked at the livestream.
Then she did something that made my blood run cold.
She leaned close to Lily.
“You’re going to tell Daddy you found the scissors.”
Lily shook her head.
“No.”
“Yes.”
“No.”
Vanessa gripped her shoulders.
“You want him to get mad at you?”
“No.”
“Then you say you did it.”
The livestream ended eleven seconds later.
I sat completely still.
Vanessa had lied.
She had injured Lily.
She had coached her to take the blame.
And she had done all of it while strangers paid to watch.
I checked the video details.
Total livestream revenue: $487.
Four hundred eighty-seven dollars.
For humiliating my daughter.
Then I noticed something beneath the video title.
A collection label.
EPISODE 4.
My stomach dropped.
I scrolled.
Episode 1.
Episode 2.
Episode 3.
All marked private.
All featuring the same yellow hat.
I looked at Lily.
“What happened the other times?”
Her face changed.
That was when I understood the haircut wasn’t the beginning.
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It was simply the first time I had caught Vanessa.
📖 Discover what Vanessa had done to Lily in Episodes 1 through 3—and why the yellow hat had become a signal my daughter was terrified to wear in CHAPTER 3. 👇
