Chapter 7 - The Shattered Group Chat
By 2:00 PM, the storm had turned into a full-scale hurricane on social media.
The original video of Seth striking Paisley had leaked. It wasn't me who posted it; it was Aunt Clara’s twenty-year-old daughter, Chloe, who had secretly recorded the family dinner on Snapchat. The video was twenty-two seconds long, crisp and horrifying: Seth yelling, the loud crack of the slap, Paisley falling back into the high chair, Seth taking a drink of his soda with a smirk, and my mother handing him a napkin while Robert barked at me to calm down.
Within four hours, the clip had amassed three million views on TikTok and Twitter. The hashtag #JusticeForPaisley was trending nationwide.
The public was outraged. The comments were ruthless:
*“What kind of animal hits a baby like that?!”*
*“The entire family just sat there eating like it was normal! Sickening!”*
*“Arrest the parents too for child endangerment!”*
My phone buzzed relentlessly. The family group chat, titled "The Vance Dynasty," which had been silent since Seth’s arrest, suddenly exploded with frantic messages.
**Uncle Greg:** *Robert, turn on the local news! They are running the clip on the channel 4 broadcast! My dental practice is getting one-star reviews on Google just because of our last name!*
**Cousin Brad:** *People are calling my office! Clients are canceling contracts! Chloe, did you post that video?! Delete it right now!*
**Chloe:** *I won't delete it! Seth is a disgusting bully and Dad, you know he is! Uncle Robert paid off his last victim and Kallie is the only one with the guts to stand up to him!*
**Mother:** *Chloe, you ungrateful brat! Your uncle pays your college tuition! Kallie, look what you have done to us! Your father is having chest pains! Are you happy now?! You are destroying our good name!*
I stared at the messages, my thumbs hovering over the keypad. For years, I had been the peacekeeper. I had been the daughter who apologized when someone else stepped on my toes. I was the one who smoothed things over to protect Robert’s blood pressure and Seth’s volatile pride.
Not today.
I typed my response into the group chat:
*"To everyone in this chat: You watched my two-year-old baby get hit. You watched her cry while a grown man mocked her. Not one of you stood up. Not one of you checked on her. You only care now because the world sees you for what you truly are—cowards who worship Robert’s checkbook.*
*My daughter’s bruised face is not a family inconvenience. It is a crime. And none of your reputations are worth more than her safety. I am done protecting this family. Save your breath, because tomorrow morning, Seth has his arraignment, and I will be there to make sure the judge sees every single piece of evidence."*
I hit send. Then, without waiting for the furious replies that were already typing, I removed myself from the group and blocked every single family member, except for young Chloe.
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Five minutes later, Chloe sent me a private text:
*“Kallie, I’m so proud of you. I’m moving out of Dad’s house tonight. And I have something else you might want: Seth’s backup laptop was left in our guest room last Christmas. It has all his work emails on it.”*