She had not merely used my child as unpaid labor and stolen the money I sent for her care.

She had taken my absence — a thing I already carried enough guilt for — and weaponized it, teaching a little girl that her own father did not love her, and then intercepting the desperate letters in which that little girl tried to win the love back.

She had turned my daughter’s longing for me into just one more tool of control.

Chapter 13 — Why Didn’t You Mail These