As Rachel’s smile wavered, I felt a steely resolve settle over me. I’d spent years trying to smooth things over, trying to be the bigger person, trying to shield Lily from the fallout of a broken family. But this? This was a step too far.
“Mark,” I said, my voice steady, “I need you to understand something. When you let this happen, you became part of a lesson that will linger in Lily’s mind far beyond this afternoon. You’ve shown her that her dreams can be discarded, that her efforts are nothing more than objects to be trashed. You’ve shown her that the people who are supposed to protect her might stand by and do nothing while her world crumbles.”
He shifted, his face a mix of shame and reluctance. “It was… it was just a machine.”
