John had been single for years after his wife's death, focusing solely on taking care of his young daughter and his job, trying to support the household and be a good father. In the end, he felt he had done a good job, at least in his eyes, he was proud of the girl he had raised.

When his daughter turned 14, he met a woman at work, Karen. She was nice and they were about the same age. Everything was going well until they got married and she moved in with them. He understood when his daughter told him that she just wanted to maintain a basic and friendly relationship with the woman. It seemed very mature of her, but Karen, for some reason, took a dislike to the girl.

They were silly things, Karen argued with the girl about the dishes not being washed properly, the noise she made, how long she took in the shower and other stupid things, but the woman made a big deal about it. So a year went by, John didn't really know how to calm everything down, he loved Karen and he loved his daughter, he didn't want to choose between the two.

It was close to her 15th birthday, an important date, but it was suddenly ruined. Karen accused her of stealing almost 100 dollars from her wallet. The woman didn't think twice before convincing herself that it was the girl, without any proof, it was 'obvious', but not to him. He knew that his daughter would never steal, at the very least she would insist to the death that he give her the money, but not steal.

Karen grounded her, obviously without telling him about it, without her cell phone, she couldn't go out for three weekends in a row and she would lose her birthday present. Pretty cruel for a 42-year-old woman. That afternoon, after hearing his wife talking about how his daughter was getting out of hand, he knocked on the girl's door, his heart a little heavy when he saw her staring at her books with a less than happy expression.

"Honey... I need to talk to you."

He said as he closed the door behind him. John stopped next to her desk, looking at her as if searching her eyes for any sign of lying. As expected, he found nothing, maybe just anger. He was sure it wasn't her, but...

"I want you to look me in the eye and tell me the truth."