Chapter 5

The sight of Terry's injuries and tear-streaked face sent a rush of anger through Greg.

The bodyguards were still holding Kathleen. He had ordered them to put Terry's safety first, so if they had restrained her, Greg assumed she must have tried to hurt Terry.

"Why did you do this, Kathleen?" he demanded.

Then he met her dull, empty gaze, and his chest tightened.

His tone softened when he asked again, "Terry's hurt all over. What happened?"

Kathleen had seen Rita pinch Terry herself. She hadn't injured him, yet Rita was trying to make her take the blame.

"You should ask Rita. She did it."

Rita shook her head frantically.

Kathleen's refusal to admit she had done anything wrong only made Greg angrier.

"You're saying Rita set you up? If you're going to lie, at least make it believable. You can't have children, so I'm having Rita leave Terry with you so you can raise him. Why would you still do this to him?"

Once again, he was reminding her that she couldn't have children. But the only reason she couldn't was because she had been injured protecting him.

Kathleen looked at him, then at the mess on the floor. She was the one who had been wronged, yet Greg believed Rita without question and was completely on Terry's side.

Greg ordered, "Apologize!"

"I didn't do it!"

Kathleen refused to back down.

She suddenly remembered their honeymoon. They had been traveling overseas when someone accused her of stealing. No one believed her except Greg.

He had stood protectively in front of her. "If she says she didn't do it, then she didn't do it!"

There hadn't been a shred of proof back then, but Greg had defended her without hesitation.

This time, there were plenty of signs that things weren't what they seemed, yet he still refused to believe her.

"Greg, do you really believe I would hurt a child? Or are you taking your anger out on me because you failed to keep Terry's identity secret?"

For a split second, anger flashed across Greg's face, as if she had hit a nerve.

"Apologize!" he repeated.

Kathleen didn't back down.

The bodyguards forced her down. Her knees slammed into the broken glass scattered across the floor. The pain was so intense that her vision went black for a moment.

After Kathleen apologized, Greg came over to tend to her injuries himself.

His touch was gentle, and he took his time cleaning her wounds. But there was no emotion left in her eyes.

"I punished you because I wanted you to set a good example for Terry. You'll be his mother, at least in name. If you do something wrong and refuse to admit it, what kind of example does that set for him?"

Kathleen didn't answer. She kept staring out the window, ignoring him.

Greg sighed and reached for her hand. "What happened between Rita and me back then was a mistake. Terry won't change the fact that you're Mrs. Gilliam. But for his sake, I think Rita should stay here too.

"She and Terry can have the master bedroom, and you can move into one of the other bedrooms."

Kathleen slowly turned to look at him. He was watching her with a perfectly serious expression, as if he were proposing something completely reasonable.

The irony of it was almost laughable.

"You can arrange things however you want, Greg. It won't change what they are. Terry is still your illegitimate son, and Rita is still the woman you kept on the side! That's all they'll ever be!"

Greg slapped her hard across the face.

"Can't you just let the past go, Kathleen? I'm already letting you raise Terry as your own. What more do you want?"

Kathleen covered her cheek and said nothing. Tears blurred her vision again.

Greg stormed out.

Later, Kathleen heard Terry ask in his young voice if they could all sleep together in the big bed as a family that night.

Greg agreed.

Kathleen's belongings were cleared out of the master bedroom and moved into another room.

Meanwhile, she crouched on the floor of the study, picking up the torn pieces of her sketches one by one.

Rita appeared beside her without warning. "Kathleen, you recovered years ago. Do you know why none of your IVF treatments worked after you and Greg remarried? Because Greg never wanted you to have his child.

"He wanted me to have his child. He arranged for me to fake the abortion back then. And all those IVF shots? There was never any medication in them."

Kathleen watched Rita walk away with a smug look on her face.

So that was the truth. No wonder the doctors had spent the past few years looking at her like they wanted to tell her something but couldn't.

Kathleen had thought she was already numb to the pain, but she was wrong. It still hurt just as much.

She never moved into the other bedroom.

Before dawn, Kathleen got into a car and headed for the airport.

Before her flight took off, she sent proof of Greg's affair, along with information about Rita and Terry, to one of his business rivals. Then she snapped her SIM card in half.

At last, she thought, she was free. She would never see Greg again.