“Isn’t she just the nanny? How can the nanny stay in Alpha’s room? Nannies should stay in the tiny room by the stairs downstairs.”
Charlton quickly pulled the child closer, silencing his innocent honesty. He turned to me, his voice softened.
“Let it go, Arizona. Why don’t you stay in your son’s old room?”
My lips parted. He must have thought I was about to explode. Instead, I whispered, “All right.”
I could tell his chest tightened with unease. After five years apart, I was different—so different that he must have felt a creeping loss of control.
Then, he shook his head, as if protesting, ‘No. Impossible. She was still the same girl from that small town—kind, devoted, hopelessly in love with me. What real change could five years bring?’
With a blank expression, I walked toward the children’s room. But when I pushed open the door, my chest wrenched in agony.
The room that once belonged to my son had been turned into a storage space!
The colorful drawings he once painted on the walls—our little family smiling together—had been scribbled over with markers.
His awards and certificates were ripped into pieces, tossed into the trash bin, trampled and crumpled like worthless scraps.
“Dr. Crumpler.” Mariam followed me inside, shutting the door with a careless hand. She leaned lazily against it, her eyes brimming with contempt, her voice lowered to a sneer.
“So what if you’ve come back? This house no longer has a place for you. If you know what’s good for you, you’ll leave quietly.”
A rush of blood thundered in my head. Hatred surged, threatening to consume me whole.
“Mariam—” My voice shook, but she cut me off with a derisive laugh.
“What, did you come back to overturn the case? To take revenge on me? Oh, Arizona, you’re still so naive. Do you really think the people who sent you to prison five years ago would give you another chance now?”
She stepped closer, her gaze sharp and malicious.
“As for your dead son…” Her lips curved into a cruel smile. “I had his grave leveled long ago. I bet his soul will never rest.”
My mind exploded into white noise.
“And you?” Her smile widened, her contempt obvious. “You’re just as pathetic. Damaging your hand was only the first step. If you don’t obediently divorce Charlton, I’ll make the rest of your life nothing but endless darkness!”
That was it. The last of my restraint shattered.