“Dad, I really can handle this, their questions inclusive,” I interrupted gently, anticipating his fears. “Don’t you trust me?”
“I do, my dear. But you just returned, my child, and I don’t…”
“Dad, my reputation is currently in tatters online,” I said, my voice deadpan but polite. “I have to do this, my own way. Trust me.”
He let out a heavy sigh.
As much as I understood his concerns, I needed to do this entirely for myself. For my dignity, and for the heavy, silent ache of the child I had lost to Shawn's treachery.
“Alright then, my princess,” he murmured softly.
He turned and threw open the heavy doors, and immediately, a blinding barrage of camera flashes went off like a wall of lightning.
The sheer volume of the auditorium hit me like a physical wave. Hundreds of reporters from
