LOGINScarlette. I didn’t even realize we had reached the mall.If I was being honest, I hadn’t been listening to a single word Liam was muttering under his breath the entire drive. His complaints faded into background noise, drowned out by my own thoughts and the quiet hum of the road. I only became aware we had arrived when the car slowed and came to a full stop.Then my phone buzzed.The sharp little sound snapped my attention away instantly. I picked it up and smiled when I saw the notification.Vic: I’m here.Perfect.I had texted her earlier, somewhere in between Liam’s grumbling about his clothes and my own internal victory parade, asking her to come help with the shopping. I knew I’d need backup—someone who understood me, who wouldn’t let me settle for “good enough,” and who wouldn’t hesitate to tell me the truth if something looked awful on me.It had been a long time since we’d seen each other in person.Most of our connection lately had been through video calls—late nights, ti
Scarlette. For the next few hours, the mansion felt like a graveyard—too quiet, too still, as though even the walls were holding their breath.There were no sharp heels clicking down the hall. No belligerent calls for coffee. No tantrums about the temperature being too hot or too cold, no maids scrambling to correct imaginary offenses. Claudia’s voice, which usually filled the house like a siren, was nowhere to be heard.I hadn’t heard a peep since that confrontation earlier, and honestly, it suited me just fine. If anything, it was a small victory, proof that I’d finally rattled her enough to shut her up, at least for a few hours. She better stay in her place, stewing in whatever bitterness she carried. I couldn’t bring myself to care one bit. I didn’t care what she was doing or where she had retreated to. If this quiet meant she was finally licking her wounds, then it was well deserved.I had done something today.Something no one had ever dared.But rest? That was the last th
Scarlette. “Claudia…” Ethan repeated slowly, disbelief flickering across his face as he looked at her.Mother’s lips curled with bitter contempt. “You see now, Ethan? She calls me by my name. She’s lost every shred of respect she ever pretended to have. And Liam just stands there, watching this insanity unfold.”Ethan turned fully to me, his expression darkening. “Since when did you start calling my mother by her name? Have you finally lost your mind? Or are you just stupid? Maybe it’s the pregnancy hormones—I’d like to believe that—but there’s a limit to this nonsense. Claudia? You don’t get to do that.”Then he rounded on Liam.“And you,” he snapped, voice sharp with disbelief. “You’re just standing there? Letting her disrespect our mother in her own house? Have you lost your goddamn mind? How can you be here and not control the woman you’re with? Tame her, for Christ’s sake. Put her on a leash if you have to, because this madness is getting out of hand. Honestly, the best thing
Scarlette.I was ready to turn the entire place upside down. Ready to tear the walls down brick by brick if I had to. If rage could become fire, this mansion would have burned to ash already. No one here deserved peace. No one deserved calm.“Liam,” Mother said sharply, her voice slicing through the room, “how can you stand there and let another woman insult your mother this way?”She straightened, pride stiffening her spine. “I didn’t raise you to be this gullible. This shaken. This pathetically invested in a woman.”Her eyes flicked toward me with open contempt.“Your emotions are clouding your judgment. Ethan would never allow this.”Liam laughed, but there was nothing amused in it. It was bitter. Cutting.“Well then, good,” he said coldly. “Because Ethan—your favorite son—would also never allow you to be questioned about something you and he have been hiding for years.”The room seemed to still.“I don’t want to ask again,” Liam said, his voice rising, his hands gripping her ar
Scarlette. “Mother… listen,” I said softly, my expression shifting into a smile so strained it felt like it might split my face in two.“I made you lunch.”I turned slightly, gesturing toward the food tray on the table. “I’ve been waiting for you all day. I wanted you to eat this.”I walked closer to it, my fingers hovering over the lids. “Madam Julie didn’t prepare it. I did. I told her—what was the point of me being here if I couldn’t prepare a simple meal for my mother?” I let out a quiet breathless laugh. “I mean, you were my mother-in-law for years. And soon, you’ll be my mother-in-law again. I’ve always seen you as my mother in fact… because I never had one of my own.”My voice faltered for a fraction of a second before I forced it steady again. “It’s just unfortunate that you’re so cruel.”I waved the thought away as if it didn’t matter. “Anyway… come see what I made. It’s your favorite.”I lifted the lid.The aroma reached me first.And then pain did.Her hand clamped arou
Scarlette.I have replayed every version of this moment in my head so many times that it almost felt rehearsed, like a scene from a play I had memorized down to the last breath. In every version, Mother’s face twisted with the same familiar contempt, her lips curling as she spat out words designed to cut deeper than knives. I had imagined her voice rising, sharp and triumphant, telling me how lucky her son Ethan was to have left me. How fortunate he was to have divorced a woman like me. How, if he had stayed married to me, he would have become the biggest joke of the year, a man shackled to a barren wife who could give him nothing.I imagined her laughing, that cold, superior laugh she always used when she thought she had won, when she believed she was standing on higher ground. I imagined her accusing me of trapping Liam, of seducing the “good” son after failing to keep the first. I imagined her saying that if Liam did not leave me soon, I would ruin him too, turn him into some







