“Dad, stop! My childhood is filled with pain because of them! Do you really have no idea what I went through at their hands?" Tilda said furiously as she interrupted Wilton.

She furrowed her brows in anger and continued, "You see Renata as an angel because she acts delicately around you. If only you could see her for who she is. To her, Ivy was her precious little daughter, while I was just a liability that needed to be kept under control.

While Ivy had access to classes she was interested in, such as piano, chess, calligraphy, and painting, I was never permitted to attend classes that I was interested in. I was denied a normal childhood.

Apart from going to school, I wasn't allowed to go anywhere else.

After coming back home from school and during school-free days, she would Lock me indoors. I couldn't visit anybody and nobody, not even my classmates, was allowed to visit me. She would turn my classmates back at the gate whenever they came to play with me. Do you have any idea how evil someone has to be to do all of these to a child?"

Wilton shook his head and said, "Oh, Tilda, you're looking at all of these wrongly. Being a stepmother is hard, Renata would have had to balance her desire to protect you and the need to not want to appear overbearing. Trust me, she has always had your interest at heart.

You've always been a gifted individual. She didn't hire a tutor for you because there was no need for one. Your grades were excellent already. She was afraid that if she sent you to additional classes, you might believe she was pushing you away or working you too hard.

As for your classmates not being allowed to visit, you've to understand that... Well, I'm pretty sure she has a valid reason.

Tilda, believe me, everything Renata did to you, she did it for your own sake."

Hearing this, Tilda smiled mockingly.

Her father was incapable of seeing Renata in the wrong light.

Shaking her head, Tilda said, "You keep on praising a woman who treated me badly. You said she loved me, then why, if I may ask, did she treat me as inferior to Ivy? She always turned a blind eye to everything bad that Ivy did to me. Frankly, she turns a blind eye to everything wrong that Ivy does. Have you forgotten how she condoned Ivy when she intentionally injured a boy?"

Wilton let out a heavy sigh as he remembered the incident that she was talking about. It happened a long time ago, in Tilda's senior year of high school.

"You are dwelling too much in the past. Ivy was just a minor then, she didn't know any better. Besides, if what happened had reached media outlets, it would have affected the reputation of the family, which includes you. Also, it was the wish of the family of that boy for the matter to be settled amicably. And I'm pretty sure they did that just so to extort money from us, not out of the goodness of their hearts."

Tilda was speechless. It was obvious that Renata was the one who cajoled the victim's family to settle the situation that way. And now, her father was describing them as gold diggers!

She shook her head, tired of listening to him repeatedly defend the evil ways of both Renata and Ivy.

Tilda kept her emotions in check. "Dad, is that all? Just so you know, I can't reverse the script changes. It's not just up to me;

I'm not the only scriptwriter here. You're aware of the other scriptwriter, aren't you? She's the daughter of the Moreno couple and the wife of Brian Hughes. Pressuring the assistant director won't budge her."

Having said that, she quickly ended the call.

The sun dipped low, casting warm, yellow rays that created a play of light and shadow in the corner.