“Carol, I know you miss Liam. I miss him even more than you do. But you need to take care of yourself. I’ve already lost my beloved child—I can’t lose you too. Why don’t you rest at home today? Let me handle Liam’s funeral.”
Leave it to you? Leave it to the very man who orchestrated my child’s murder? I swallowed back my bitter sarcasm and replied in a flat voice, “No need. I have to see Little Treasure off for the last time.”
At the funeral, from a distance, I saw Sophia and a teenage boy standing beside my mother-in-law, supporting her like the perfect daughter-in-law and grandson.
The boy was smiling as he spoke, making her laugh with joy. It was a solemn event, yet Sophia wore a luxurious red designer dress and even the boy was dressed in an eye-catching crimson suit. Unlike the rest of us dressed in mourning black, they stood out like guests at a celebration.
My mother-in-law, completely ignoring the grieving atmosphere, clung to them with obvious favoritism, doting on them as if they were her real family. To shield them from the sun, she even ordered a maid to hold an umbrella over them—as if Sophia were her rightful daughter-in-law and the boy her cherished grandson.
Then Sophia turned to me, curling her lips into a mocking smile. “Auntie, I’m fine under the sun. Carol is here, though. The sun is so harsh—better let her have the umbrella. After all, unlike me, she’s both childless and injured. She needs extra care.”
Hearing this, my mother-in-law sneered, her face twisting with disdain as she looked at me.
"It’s just a dead brat. What’s the big deal? Who are you trying to impress with those grieving eyes? Acting all high and mighty, completely forgetting the dignity of our Nelson Family."
She scoffed before continuing, "Even Sophia and Benny have better manners than you. The moment they landed, they rushed here to support me, bringing me expensive jade bracelets. They’re a thousand times more thoughtful than you, you ungrateful wretch."
She had always despised me. From the very start, she never thought I was good enough for Willy. And when I struggled for over a decade to conceive, she labeled me a useless hen who couldn’t lay eggs.
Later, when I finally had Liam, she hated him too. Because despite his young age, he always stood up for me. And in her eyes, that made him a traitor—an ungrateful child who sided against his own bloodline.