The moment I step out of the terminal, my mother with my son Liam rushes toward me. One look at me, and she knows. She pulls me into her arms, her warmth the only thing keeping me from collapsing completely.
"He was never mine," I whisper brokenly. "Ethan… he’s someone else’s husband."
My mother stiffens, her grip tightening around me. She doesn’t ask questions. She doesn’t say, I told you so.
***
Two weeks.
Two weeks of drowning in my own misery.
Two weeks of holding my son close, pretending everything is fine, while inside, I am nothing but a hollowed-out corpse of the woman I used to be.
Then, on a stormy evening, the devil returns.
A sleek black car pulls into the driveway, its headlights cutting through the darkness like a warning.
I freeze on the porch, my grip tightening around the mug in my hands. My mother steps out behind me, already sensing the storm brewing.
The car door opens. And there he is. Ethan Caldwell. The man who destroyed me.
The man who made me love him and then threw me out like trash. He steps toward me like nothing happened, like he didn’t strip me of my dignity in front of a crowd.
"Claire." His voice is calm, too calm, as if my suffering is nothing more than a small inconvenience to him.
I don’t speak. I don’t move. I just stare, waiting—because I know he didn’t come here out of guilt.
And I’m right.
He exhales, running a hand through his perfect hair. "I need to take Liam with me."
I blink. The words don’t register at first.
Then—
SLAP!
The crack of my palm against his face echoes through the air.
"How dare you," I whisper, my entire body trembling. "How dare you!"
He doesn’t even flinch. He just straightens, eyes darkening.
"I’m his father."
I laugh, a sharp, broken sound. "Father? A father doesn’t abandon his child! A father doesn’t lie and humiliate the mother of his son! You have no right, Ethan!"
He sighs like I’m a child throwing a tantrum.
And that’s when my mother storms down the steps, fury in every movement.
"You have some goddamn nerve coming here!" she spits, shoving at his chest. "You lied to my daughter, used her, destroyed her! And now you want to take her child? You selfish, worthless bastard!"
"Mrs—"
SLAP!
Another one. This time from my mother.
His jaw tightens, but he doesn’t react.
"I’m taking Liam," he repeats, his voice final.
"No, you’re not!" I scream, shoving him back with every ounce of strength in me. "Over my dead body, Ethan!"