I let a faint smile curl the corner of my lips and lifted a glass of red wine from a passing waiter's tray.
"Miss Mason, you certainly have your ear to the ground. As far as I recall, we never shared any of that publicly."
Monica flicked her hair with a self-satisfied toss, her gaze fixed on me, brimming with the certainty that she'd already won.
"Don't you want to know where your heart and your daughter's kidney ended up?"
Before she could finish, I hurled the wine straight into her face.
The crimson liquid dripped down her hair in thin rivulets, leaving her a sputtering mess. She opened her mouth to unleash a tirade, but before she could get a word out, Lily shoved Marilyn hard to the ground.
"You two mean women! Don't you dare bully my mommy!"
The instant Marilyn hit the floor, the urine bag hidden beneath her skirt burst open, and the foul-smelling liquid spilled across the tiles.
Marilyn's face crumpled in panic. She grabbed fistfuls of her skirt, desperately trying to cover the mess spreading around her.
She was still so young. Ever since losing one of her kidneys, she'd had trouble controlling her bladder. Whenever we went out, she wore a collection bag to avoid exactly this kind of humiliation.
Monica let out a sharp, delighted laugh at the sight.
"Why would you even bring her out in public like this? How embarrassing."
"If I were you, I'd stay home with the kid where you belong. Spare yourself the disgrace. The floor reeks now. At such a lovely banquet, no less—"
She didn't get to finish. My palm cracked across her cheek.
But before I could say a single word, a brutal force slammed into me from behind. I lost my balance and pitched forward, landing face-first in the puddle of urine on the floor.
"Alberta! What the hell are you doing?!"
The moment Thaddeus appeared, Monica transformed entirely.
"Thaddeus, Marilyn fell down. We were just trying to help her up."
"Lily was curious about what Marilyn's bag was and asked one little question, and Alberta just lost it—threw wine in my face and slapped me out of nowhere."
Seeing me on the ground, Marilyn crawled to my side, sobbing, frantically wiping at the filth on my clothes with her tiny hands.
"Mommy, Mommy, let's go home. Let's go home."
Her crying shattered something inside me. I was done holding back. I lifted my head and glared at Monica.
"Monica Mason, everyone here saw what happened. What you just said to us—"