Chapter 6

Emma sat on the edge of the bed, phone in her hand, staring at the screen like it might bite her.

She knew she shouldn't do this. She knew it before her thumb even moved.

But her fingers opened I*******m anyway, and she typed in Luna's username.

The profile loaded, public, just like always. Photos filled the screen, fresh ones, posted only hours ago.

Her breath caught in her throat.

A video sat at the top, posted three hours earlier. She pressed play.

Laughter came first, warm and easy. Then the picture settled. Lawrence. Rose. All three kids sitting around a table covered in open pizza boxes, everyone grinning at the camera.

"Say hi to everyone!" Luna's voice rang out from behind the phone.

"Hi!" Jane waved, beaming.

Samuel gave a thumbs up, grinning wide.

Rose leaned into Lawrence's side. "We're having the best family night!"

Family night.

Emma's hands began to shake.

"Rose makes the best homemade cookies," Jane said. "Way better than Mom's store bought ones."

The words landed like a slap.

"And she actually listens when we talk," Luna added. "Like really listens. Not just pretending while looking at her phone."

Emma never once looked at her phone during a conversation with her children. Not once, in fifteen years.

"Plus she's cool," Samuel said. "She gets us, you know?"

Rose laughed and kissed Lawrence's cheek. "These kids are amazing. I'm so lucky."

The video ended.

Emma stared at the dark screen, her own pale reflection staring back at her, hollow and tired.

She scrolled further. More photos followed. Rose braiding Jane's hair. Rose and Luna shopping, carrying matching bags. Samuel teaching Rose how to play his video game.

All posted that same day. Every caption gushing about how wonderful Rose was.

Not one mention of Emma anywhere.

Her chest hurt like something inside was being pulled apart slowly.

She kept scrolling. Couldn't make herself stop.

Another video appeared, this one from Rose's own account.

"My new family!" Rose's voice, bright and sweet. The camera panned across the kitchen, Lawrence cooking at the stove, the children setting the table together.

"I've always wanted kids," Rose said, smiling into the lens. "And now I have three perfect ones. Dreams really do come true."

The phone slipped from Emma's fingers and landed on the bed beside her.

She couldn't breathe.

They had replaced her. Two days. It had only taken two days.

A sound tore out of her throat, half sob, half something closer to a scream. She grabbed a pillow and pressed it hard against her face.

Maybe they were right about her. Maybe she really had been a bad mother. Maybe Rose truly was better at all of it.

No. That wasn't true.

But look at them. Look how happy they seemed without her.

The tears came loud and messy, nothing graceful about them.

A soft knock sounded at the door. She didn't answer. It opened anyway.

"Emma?"

Simeon.

She couldn't lift her eyes to meet his.

"Hey." His voice moved closer. "What happened?"

She only shook her head.

The mattress dipped as he sat beside her.

"Talk to me," he said gently.

She lowered the pillow. Her face was wet and blotchy.

"I looked at their social media," she whispered. "My children."

His jaw tightened. "What did you see?"

"They're with Lawrence. And her. Rose. They posted videos. They look so." She couldn't finish the sentence.

He picked up her phone and looked at the screen. His expression hardened.

"This is cruel," he said quietly.

"Maybe it's true." Her words came out broken. "Maybe I was a terrible mother. Maybe they're better off without me."

"Stop."

"Look at them, Simeon. They don't miss me at all."

"They're children being manipulated. That's all this is."

"They chose her."

"They chose whatever felt easier. That doesn't make you a bad mother."

Emma pulled her knees against her chest. "I should call them. Maybe if I just explain."

"Explain what? They don't want to hear it right now."

The honesty stung, but she knew it was true.

She grabbed the phone anyway and opened it, staring at Jane's number on the screen. What could she even say? Please love me again? Please remember I'm your mother? Her finger hovered above the call button.

"Don't," Simeon said softly.

She set the phone face down and let it go.

He stood after a moment and walked toward the window.

"I have an idea," he said. "You'll probably think I'm out of my mind."

She lifted her head. "What kind of idea?"

He turned to face her, hesitating like he was still deciding whether to say it out loud.

"Disappear," he finally said.

"What?"

"Leave. Go somewhere far away. Learn something new. Come back changed, when you're ready."

"I can't just leave everything."

"Why not? What's actually keeping you here?"

The question hung heavy in the room.

What was keeping her? Nothing came to mind. Nobody here wanted her anymore.

"Where would I even go?" she asked quietly.

"Germany," he said. "I own a villa there. Quiet countryside, far from everything. You could stay as long as you need."

Germany. A whole country away.

"And do what, exactly?"

"Learn. Change." He walked back and sat beside her again. "I can teach you about business. Finance. How money actually moves in this world. You'd come back different. Stronger than before."

"Why would I need to understand business?"

He hesitated again, like the next words cost him something.

"Lawrence is hiding money offshore," he said finally.

Emma stared at him. "What?"

"I had Thomas look deeper into things. Lawrence has accounts in the Cayman Islands. Properties tucked under shell companies. This wasn't sudden. He's been planning it for years."

Her stomach twisted. "How long?"

"At least five years, from what we found."

Five years.

"The affair. The rushed timeline. None of it happened by accident." Simeon's voice stayed steady. "He wants to marry Rose fast, lock everything down before you can do anything about it."

"He's already planning to marry her?"

"He's applied for the license. The wedding is set for next month."

Next month. Their divorce wasn't even finalized yet.

"How do you know all this?" she asked.

"Thomas is very good at his job."

"You've had someone investigating Lawrence?"

"Yes."

She knew she should feel angry, violated even. Instead she just felt exhausted.

"What else did you find?"

"Lawrence's company. I own shares in it. Thirty percent."

Emma looked at him sharply. "Thirty?"

"I'm the second largest shareholder. He has no idea. Everything sits under a holding company with a different name."

"Why are you telling me all this?"

Simeon looked down at his hands. "Because I can help you, if you want that. Leverage. Information. Everything you'd need to fight back."

Fight back.

She had never fought back against anything in her life.

"I don't even know how to fight," she admitted.

"I'll teach you."

"In Germany."

"Yes."

She stood and walked toward the window, looking out over the gardens below.

Months in another country, learning things she barely understood, only to come back for what exactly?

"What if I come back and nothing's different?" she asked. "What if I'm still nobody to them? What if they still don't want me?"

"Then at least you'll be someone who chose to fight instead of hiding."

"But what if I don't even want to fight? What if I just want my children back the way they were?"

Her voice cracked on the last words.

Simeon stood and crossed the room to stand beside her.

"You can't force people to love you," he said quietly. "Not even your own children. But you can earn their respect. You can make them regret how they treated you."

"Is that enough?"

"I don't know. But it has to be better than this."

She turned and really looked at him then. He looked almost afraid, like her answer mattered to him more than he wanted to admit.

"Why do you care this much?" she asked.

He opened his mouth, then closed it again, looking away for a moment.

"Because you deserve better," he said finally. "You always have."

Something shifted in the air between them.

"If I do this," she said slowly, "if I actually go, what happens to me?"

"What do you mean?"

"I'll be alone. In a country I don't know, learning things I don't understand. What if I can't do it? What if I fail completely?"

"You won't."

"You don't know that."

"No. But I believe it anyway."

She wanted to believe it too. But believing meant hoping, and hoping meant risking more pain than she thought she could survive.

"I'm scared," she whispered.

"I know."

"What if they're right about me? What if I really am as terrible as this feels?"

"You're not."

"How could you possibly know that?"

"Because I've known you for thirty three years. You've never once been terrible. Not a single day."

The words landed somewhere deep in her chest.

She turned back to the window. The sun was sinking low, painting the sky orange and soft pink.

Tomorrow she could leave and start over completely. Or she could stay here, still crying, still checking their accounts, still letting the ache eat her alive.

She thought of Jane's laugh in that video. Samuel's easy grin. Luna's bright, careless happiness.

They seemed fine without her. Better, even.

Something inside her shifted then, and hardened.

"Okay," she said.

"Okay?"

"Yes. Germany. All of it."

Relief broke across his face. "You won't regret this."

"I already regret everything else."

He almost smiled at that.

She looked down at the phone still resting on the bed, still showing her children laughing with someone who wasn't her.

"I want them to see me," she said quietly. "Different. Strong enough that they can't just look away this time."

"They will."

"And Lawrence. I want him to understand he made a mistake."

"He will."

She wasn't sure she believed that yet. But she wanted to.

"When do we leave?" she asked.

"Two days. I need to arrange a few things first."

Two days.

"What about Sara?"

"She's thrilled. Already packing her bags."

Of course she was.

Emma picked up her phone one final time, looked at it a moment longer, and then deleted I*******m completely.

Done watching. Done letting it hurt her.

"Teach me everything," she said, meeting Simeon's eyes. "I want to know how to win."

"I will."

Outside, the sun slipped fully below the horizon, and darkness settled over the gardens.

For the first time in days, Emma didn't feel afraid of it.

She felt ready.