Chapter 81 - Daddy Dominant's Good Girl

I heard my name being whispered through the assorted chaos.

“Olivia Richardson wasn’t in the chapel when Toby was pushed in the water,” someone whispered.

I looked around, my heart beating faster as I heard the rumors and speculations fly through the guests.

“She changed her dress,” someone else said.

“Did she change because her dress got wet?” another voice asked.

“Why would she push a child?”

“She was the only one not here at the time of the incident,” someone else said.

“Ellis Peterson wasn’t here either,” another voice said.

I shook my head. How quickly a rumor like that spread. The last time I had seen Toby, he and Ken were playing happily in the gardens together.

“You b*tch!” that shrill voice that had been screaming earlier shouted. A woman ran right up to me and slapped my face.

My head snapped to the side and I rubbed my tender cheek.

“How dare you hurt my son! He could die because of you!” she cried. She tried to hit me again but I stepped back.

“I didn’t hurt Toby,” I said. I held my hands up and shook my head. My pulse raced as everyone in the chapel was staring at me.

“What kind of a person goes after a poor, defenseless child!?” Toby’s mother wailed, pointing accusingly at me.

“I didn’t,” I insisted, shaking my head again.

Bethany’s party guests had turned into a ravenous mob out for blood. They weren’t going to stop until someone was punished for hurting Toby.

“Susan, settle down,” Bethany said. She walked up to Toby’s mother and put an arm around her. What happened to Toby is terrible. I don’t think Olivia is responsible, though.”

I stared at Bethany and she gave me a quick, supportive smile. I was hesitant to trust her kindness, but I nodded to her, grateful that she’d stepped in.

“How can you say that? Olivia wasn’t here when Toby got pushed. She’s the only one that could have done it,” Susan said. She broke down in sobs, crying into Bethany’s shoulder.

I felt sorry for her. Toby was her son and he’d been injured, possibly on purpose. If it had been Ken, I would have been furious and upset too. I’d want someone to be held responsible. That was her little baby.

“I’ve known Olivia a long time. She’s always been kind and nice. I don’t think she’d go after a child. Especially not one that is related to me,” Bethany went on.

I didn’t know what had caused her change of heart. Maybe Bethany just needed a reality check to remind her that we were still sisters, even if just half-sisters. If she hadn’t stood up for me, I didn’t think the crowd would ever have backed off.

Now that Bethany had spoken, the others weren’t staring at me. They were whispering amongst themselves instead. I sighed, and relaxed my tense shoulders. Looking around, I met Ellis’s eyes. He had a stern, warning look on his face.

I glanced back at Bethany who was comforting Susan. Susan continued to cry.

“We’ll find who really did this,” Bethany said with a big sigh, rolling her eyes toward me.

Susan didn’t miss the gesture and I froze. Suddenly, Bethany’s support seemed vindictive and spiteful.

“What aren’t you telling me?” Susan asked, sniffling. Her tears dried up and her face turned red with anger again.

“It’s probably nothing,” she said, shaking her head.

“Bethany, you tell me what you know about my son, right now!” Susan demanded.

The attention was back and everyone in the chapel was focused on us again. I cringed as I was once again the center of attention.

“Well… it is just that, Olivia is a mother too. She is kind and gentle but she can be protective of Ken. If Toby and Ken got into a fight…” Bethany sighed dramatically as she trailed off.

Susan rounded on me, her nostrils flaring and eyes wild. “I knew it! You did this to my boy! You’re so over protective of Ken, you’d hurt my son!” she shouted, getting right in my face.

“I didn’t hurt Toby,” I insisted. I took a deep breath, trying to keep my voice calm. “The last time I saw Toby and Ken, they were playing happily together. Then I came in here.”

“So, you admit that you were the last person to see him before he fell in the water?” Susan asked, jumping on my words.

I bit my tongue. How stupid was I to stumble into that? “There were other kids in the garden with them. I didn’t go near Toby, ask any of them.”

“Kids will say whatever they think will please adults,” Susan said, shaking her head.

I caught Bethany’s eye and she smirked cruelly at me. She’d only stood up for me to throw me under the bus herself. I was so naïve to think she would ever see me as her sister again.

“Susan, I have a son Toby’s age. I’m a mother and I understand the pain and fear of having your son hurt. Why would I do that to another mother?” I asked.

“That’s right, you don’t ever want Ken to get hurt. So, when he and Toby got in an argument, you protected him,” Bethany said with a sharp laugh.

“No!” I said, shaking my head. Every time I tried to explain, it just made things worse.

“You’re an attempted murderer!” Susan shouted in her shrill voice. She pointed right at me again.

The crowd went silent. My face burned hot and I wrapped my arms around myself. How could I get out of this? Everything I said, Susan and Bethany twisted around as a way to prove my guilt. I needed to come up with a better plant to prove my innocence. I sighed and looked at the floor.

“You monster!” someone in the crowd shouted.

The guests started to close in around me, pointing fingers and shouting.

“You’re a b*tch!”

“Evil! How could you hurt a child?”

“You deserve to rot in jail.”

“It should be you drowning in a pond, not that boy!”

“Enough!” Ellis’ voice boomed over the crowd as they slung insults and threats at me. I hadn’t even noticed him come up beside me.

The guests immediately fell silent at his voice. With Ellis next to me, I felt a sliver of hope and relief. He was a powerful ally and even though I didn’t want to, I still trusted him. Bethany had already betrayed me. It would be somewhat ironic if Ellis was there to condemn me, as well.

“This is clearly a malicious setup,” he stated firmly, his voice even and calm.

“How can you know that?” Susan wailed. She fell against Bethany, crying again.

“Olivia Richardson was not anywhere near Toby when he was pushed into the pond. I was with her during her period of absence from the party, the entire time,” he explained. “Even when she looked in on the boys in the garden, I was with her and she didn’t so much as speak to them.”

My heart fluttered and a wave of relief swept through me as Ellis took my side. I looked around at the guests and none of them looked like they wanted to challenge Ellis Peterson.

“Now, I will swear to being the witness to Olivia’s actions at the time in question. If anyone has any disputes or questions, they can deal with me directly,” he said. I bit back my smile as his offer sounded so much more like a threat.

Everyone was silent and no one looked at me or Ellis anymore.

There was no reason for Ellis to lie about anything and no one would dare challenge his authority. I knew it, he knew it, and everyone in the chapel, including Bethany, knew it. Even if Susan doubted Ellis’ words, she wouldn’t speak up again.

More whispers started.

“They were alone together?”

“Are Olivia Richardson and Ellis Peterson in a relationship?”

“Weren’t there rumors that they have a kid together? That would be Olivia’s son, Ken, right?”

“There was another party where Ellis claimed he and Olivia had a relationship.”

“Are they still together now?”

I sighed and shook my head. The crowd didn’t care what or who the gossip was about, as long as they felt like a part of it. I gave Ellis a quick nod of thanks and looked at the other guests. Some of them refused to meet my eyes like they regretted attacking me.

When I looked at Susan, I could see she was still angry with me and still blamed me.

“Susan, what matters now is that Toby is okay,” I said. I offered her my hand, a gesture of peace. “Once he is awake and on the mend, we can figure out what really happened and who really did this to him.”

“We’ve got him!” a masculine voice shouted from the chapel doorway. Three men walked in, carrying Toby’s wet, limp body. He looked pale and pasty, his clothes hanging off of him and dripping.

“Oh, my son!” Susan cried. She ran over to them as they set Toby on the nearest table. Susan brushed his hair out of his face and kissed his cheek. “Is he alive?”

Ellis strode over to the boy and held his wrist, then leaned in close to his face. “He’s breathing but his pulse is weak,” he reported.

“Who would do this to you?” Susan asked. She flashed a glare at me but then returned her attention to Toby.

My stomach churned. If a boy so young wasn’t safe at a party like this, who was?

The other kids started filing into the chapel. Ken ran up to me and took my hand.

“Is Toby going to be okay, Mommy?” he asked.

“I don’t know, sweetie,” I said. I ran a hand through his hair. I was glad my own son was safe but I didn’t want to make Susan feel worse by making a big deal over Ken being perfectly fine.

I knew there were still eyes on me and if I made a fuss over Ken, people would become suspicious again. I wouldn’t ask him if he saw what happened, either. Not yet. Not when Toby was still unconscious and when I was still under suspicion.

Bethany sauntered over to me and stopped right beside me.

I took a deep breath and held my tongue so I didn’t snap at her. She had tried to make me the bad guy in this but I wasn’t going to stoop to her level.

“You must be f*cking Ellis real good if he’d go to such lengths to stand up for you,” Bethany muttered in a snide tone.

“What?” I asked. “Bethany, that’s vile. Did you ever think he stood up for me because he knows I didn’t do this?” I asked.

“All I know is that every time you’re in trouble, he stands up for you. Your p*ssy must be made of gold or something,” she sneered.

I just shook my head. I had no response for Bethany. She was mouthing off about things she didn’t understand and there was nothing I could say to convince her she was wrong.

“You just wait…” she hissed before walking away.