He Mocked Me, I Ruined His Plans

Chapter 3

Dad had been stuck in a foul mood for ages.

That changed when Mom's best friend showed up to celebrate her birthday.

"I'm so excited Celeste's finally here!"

Mom picked me up and helped me slip into a pretty little dress.

"This is a gift from Aunt Celeste. Do you like it?"

That was when it clicked.

Mom's best friend was named Celeste!

Sure enough, the second she walked through the door, she sneaked off to the wine cellar with Dad to talk in secret.

"Dorian, if you don't want me and our son, just say so!"

Dad frowned. "I'm not lying to you, I swear."

"You gonna blame Elara for messing things up again? Using a kid as an excuse every single day? Have you got no shame?"

One was Mom's most trusted friend. The other was her husband.

They were teaming up to hurt her, for crying out loud.

I had to make them pay for what they were doing.

Before I could even make a move, Mom walked over from the living room.

"Celeste, my head's spinning a little. If you need anything, just ask Dorian, okay?"

Celeste agreed right away, no questions asked.

The second Mom was out of earshot, I heard them snicker like they'd just pulled off the perfect heist.

"My Celeste's the brains, alright. Drugging her snacks was genius!"

"Please. If I left it up to you, my son and I would be waiting around forever for you to get your act together."

A cold, bad feeling coiled tight in my stomach.

Right then, Celeste started heading straight for Mom's study.

"If she won't agree to a divorce, we'll just sell her trade secrets. We'll make way more money that way!"

Those trade secrets were the next thing Mom loved most in the world, right after me. There was no way I'd let them destroy that.

I darted forward to stop her.

But Dad snatched me up with one hand.

"Elara, we have guests over. Don't be a brat!"

Celeste patted down her dress like she'd just dodged a bullet.

"This dress cost thousands! You couldn't pay for it if you ruined it!"

To punish me, she told Dad to dump me back in my room.

"We're helping your mom sort out her files. Don't cause trouble again!"

The second they left, I sprinted to find Mom.

If she caught them red-handed, this whole nightmare would be over.

"Mom, wake up! Dad and Aunt Celeste are gonna hurt you! Don't sleep!"

But no matter how hard I shook her, she wouldn't wake up.

I was as anxious as a cat on a hot tin roof.

Then I spotted the drone sitting in the corner of the room.

A lightbulb went off in my head.

I raced out to the yard right away. Mom has flown it with me tons of times. I knew exactly how to work it.

I filmed every single second of them prying open the safe and copying all the files from Mom's USB drive.

I'd just finished saving the video when I saw Dad wrap his arms around Celeste, both of them completely naked.

Half an hour later, I transferred all the footage to my smartwatch.

Then I went back to keeping an eye on them.

Mom didn't wake up until evening.

All the friends who'd come to celebrate her birthday were already there.

Celeste shoved her phone into Mom's hand.

"Selene, take some cute photos of me, quick! I wanna post them on my i********: feed!" As she spoke, she started sneaking little suggestive touches with Dad again.

I dropped my little cupcake right away and held up my watch.

"Mom! I want to take photos of you guys!"

Mom smiled fondly. "Okay, today we'll let Photographer Elara take the pictures."

Celeste rolled her eyes at me in clear disgust.

"What does a little kid know about taking photos? My i********: carousel post is totally going to be ruined today."

I didn't say a word, just focused hard and clicked the shutter deliberately.

"Auntie Celeste, aren't you going to strike a pose?"

She curled her lip and decided I wasn't worth the hassle.

Mom's friends got a kick out of it, and started egging me on to take photos of them too.

Amid all the laughter, the birthday party started winding down.

I stood up and proposed in my high, squishy toddler voice. "Uncles and aunties, let's make a group chat! Elara will send all the photos there!"

All the adults around the table burst out laughing.

"Selene, you're so amazing, teaching a two-year-old to take photos and make group chats. No wonder you're the glue that holds our whole group together!"

As soon as the group was created, I sent the photos one by one.

Right along with the video of Dad and Celeste taking off their clothes in Mom's study.

Dad's eyes locked on the video thumbnail, and he recognized it immediately.

He was so spooked his voice came out all high and shaky. "Elara, retract that right now!"

I pointed at the delete option on the screen. "This button?"

Dad shrieked, "No!"