The Photos
Chapter 11 - The Photos
The photos appeared online before sunset.
Madison crying in her car.
Madison asleep on the couch while bottles sat unwashed in the sink.
Madison sitting on the bathroom floor three weeks after Noah's birth.
Private moments.
Vulnerable moments.
Each image was posted beside a headline asking the same question.
WAS MADISON COLE AN UNFIT MOTHER?
Blake denied releasing them.
Nobody believed him.
But belief was not the same as stopping the damage.
Online strangers tore Madison apart.
Some said she had endangered Noah.
Others said she was mentally unstable.
A talk-show host called her "the real mystery behind the hot-car baby."
Madison stopped reading after the first hour.
She sat on her father's porch, holding Noah, tears running silently down her face.
Walter stood beside her.
"I can have our attorneys threaten every outlet."
"It won't matter."
"No."
Madison kissed Noah's head.
"They're not really talking about me. They're talking about every mother who's ever had a bad day and was terrified someone would decide it meant she didn't love her child."
Walter had no answer.
Then Ethan arrived.
Madison looked up.
"You shouldn't be here. They'll photograph you."
"Let them."
He sat on the far end of the porch.
For a while, neither spoke.
Then Ethan said, "After Sophie died, they took a picture of my mother outside court."
Madison looked at him.
"Everyone used that picture to decide who she was."
"Was she a bad mother?"
Ethan thought about it.
"Sometimes."
Madison blinked.
It was not the comforting answer she expected.
"She loved us," he continued. "But love doesn't erase what people do. And what people do doesn't erase every good thing they ever were."
Madison looked down at Noah.
"So what am I?"
"A mother who trusted the wrong man."
She laughed through tears.
"That's not going to fit in a headline."
"No."
For the first time that day, she smiled.
Then Walter opened the front door.
His face was hard.
"Madison."
She stood.
"What?"
"The board called an emergency meeting."
"When?"
"Tomorrow morning."
"Why?"
May you like
Walter looked at her.
"Blake has asked them to remove both of us from the company."
