Chapter 2

The next second, Charlie turned to me. "Is this how you act as a mother, Harps? When did you become this selfish and vicious?"

His gaze dropped to the suitcase on the floor, a trace of mockery in his eyes. "Staging a walkout, huh?"

Dakota ran straight to him and grabbed his hand. "Mom hurt Cecilia and won't even apologize."

I watched Charlie's expression darken, and for a moment, I was pulled back to when I first arrived in this house. Even the household staff used to push me around.

Back then, he would fiercely step in each time. "If anyone messes with Harps again, you're out of the Lockwood residence—no exceptions!"

Ever since Cecilia showed up, however, I began to see the real allocation of his attention. What he gave me didn't even register next to what he gave her.

When Dakota's school held a speech competition, no one informed me. They simply had Cecilia attend in my place.

Afterward, when I asked her how Dakota performed and what feedback the teacher gave, she had nothing to report. I was frantic and lashed out at her, ultimately saying a few harsh words.

That same night, she collapsed from poisoning.

The housekeeper, Moira Clarkson, pointed at me and made the call. "I saw Mrs. Lockwood go into the kitchen. It looked like she added something to Ms. Moore's bowl."

Without running a basic fact check, Charlie grabbed me by the collar and blew up. "Have you had enough? Cecilia only went to one competition, and you got jealous like that? You could've killed her!

"With a mother like you, I can't imagine what our kids will turn into."

Of course, I snapped back furiously after getting accused like that. "And what exactly can you teach them? To betray their own family? To be disloyal to their future partners?"

He lost patience and shoved me. I stumbled, lost my balance, and slammed into the cabinet beside me. A decorative piece fell cleanly and struck my forehead. Blood started running down in a glaring red.

Charlie froze for a second and stepped forward, as if to check on me, only to stop midway and pull his hand back. Coldly, he spat out, "This is what you get for hurting others."

I sank to the floor, my head spinning, the room going out of focus. Then, everything went black. When I woke up, all my memories had come back online.

…

My son, Dominic Lockwood, came running out from behind Charlie, crying as he rushed toward me. "Mom, don't go…"

Before I could respond, Dakota tapped him lightly on the head and whispered, almost like she was closing a deal. "If she leaves, Cecilia will be our new mom."

Dominic froze mid-cry. Just like that, the switch flipped. He wiped his tears, lifted his head, and broke into a smile. "Okay! I like Cecilia the most! She's gentler than Mom and doesn't force me to study!"

He had always been mischievous and headstrong. I kept trying to instill some structure, teaching him humility, honesty, and basic decency, but when Cecilia showed up, the entire framework shifted.

In her model, kids should be left to their natural instincts, not managed too strictly by adults. She would always say, "Harps' approach is too aggressive."

So, she let Dominic get away with everything. When he bullied other kids, she didn't correct him. Instead, she leveraged the Lockwood family's influence and forced the other child's parents to apologize.

"Boys need to be brave," she lectured. "If someone hits you, you hit back. That's what makes a man."

With that kind of backing, Dominic became unmanageable. I escalated the issue to Charlie more than once, telling him that indulgence like this would ruin the child. He dismissed it outright.

"Kids are innately kind. You're the one overthinking this."

In the end, I was isolated from every angle. Internally and externally, I had no support. Somehow, Cecilia became the one positioned as the woman who had sacrificed the most for this family.