I shot Aunt Clara a subtle glance. She picked up on it right away and quietly stepped out of the room, taking the wailing baby with her.

Janice stepped forward with all the fake grace she could muster, her voice dripping with syrupy superiority.

"Amara, you're married now. That means you're gone for good, like water down the drain. There's no way to scoop it back up. How dare you even consider registering my nephew under your name? You married into our family, and you married far away. What if one day you decide to take off with the baby? My brother is then left with nothing. You need to try to understand where Mom is coming from."

I stared at her, not even bothering to hide my disgust.

She kept going, completely oblivious.

"Also, my brother didn't care that you were an orphan. He still married you, despite having no family left. You should be grateful for that. Now that you've given him a son, just be content and live quietly. That land of yours in the mountains isn't worth much anyway. Just let Paul submit it to the state and be done with it."

Oh, I could see the greed flicker in her eyes plain as day.

So I looked her right in the face and said coldly, "You keep saying a married woman is like water down the drain. So what does that make you? Some stray bitch sticking her nose in business that isn't hers?"

"Amara! That's completely uncalled for. I'm only trying to help," Janice huffed, eyes wide with fake shock. "If Mom weren't so concerned about your postpartum recovery, I wouldn't have even bothered to come visit."

I almost rolled my eyes.

Even under the hospital-grade disinfectant on her clothes, I could still catch that faint scent of fresh and metallic blood clinging to her. Aunt Clara had been right. Janice was downstairs in the OR earlier today, delivering babies.

So she had come up here with blood on her hands and venom on her tongue.

"You little bitch!" my mother-in-law exploded, voice shaking the walls. "You dare insult my precious daughter? Just because you popped out a boy, you think you're above everyone now? Don't think I won't tell Paul to divorce you!"

I froze.

Divorce?

Honestly, that sounded like a relief.

In my past life, I had begged and prayed for that day to come, but I knew better now. These people weren't going to let me go, not until they'd sucked every drop of use out of me and take my son with me. But no, that was never going to be an option.