Chapter 04

Freya POV

It was the same routine, the same quiet humiliation I had come to accept as life.

Malum had brought home his secretary again. I’d lost count of how many times since our marriage this had happened—sometimes it was her, sometimes it was another woman, always a body that wasn't mine. He claimed it was natural for men to stray, that I was lucky he’d chosen me to bear his name. Out of all the women who flocked to him, he said I should feel honoured to be the one in his house. To want more than that was selfish.

So I stayed quiet. I washed the sheets they sweated in, gathered their clothes, and pretended I didn't see the lipstick marks that weren't mine.

I rose early to get Finn ready for school. He tugged at my sleeve before leaving, his small voice thick with hope.

“Mommy, please… ask Daddy to come today. For the parents’ meeting.”

I smoothed his hair and promised him I’d try, though the knot in my chest told me the truth.

After he left, I made Malum’s breakfast—just in case he woke hungry—and brought tea to his mother in the living room.

“Warm water for my leg,” she demanded without looking at me. I fetched it, setting the bowl at her feet. I turned to go, but her sharp voice stopped me.

“Massage it.”

“I—don’t know how to,” I admitted.

She leaned forward, eyes cold. “If we’re providing for you and your son, the least you can do is try to be useful. Don’t be useless.”

So I knelt, awkwardly pressing my hands to her leg, heat rising from the bowl. Suddenly she snatched it up and poured the water over my head. My scalp burned as it ran down my face, soaking my dress.

“Too hot!” She shrieked. “Do you want to kill me?”

I gasped, blinking through dripping hair. Malum appeared in the doorway with Cassandra clinging to his arm, both of them fresh from the bedroom. He looked me over once, then sighed.

“Can’t you do anything without making her lose her breath? Honestly, Freya.”

I said nothing. I only bent to clean the spilled water, my hands shaking. Then my phone rang. It was Finn’s teacher—gentle but firm. The meeting had already begun, and neither parent was there.

“Malum,” I said softly, “it’s about Finn. They’re waiting.”

He glanced at me as if I were insane.

“And so what?”

“The meeting—you said you would—“

“I never said that.” His laugh was sharp, cruel. “I have real business today. You go. He’s your son, isn’t he?”

He disappeared back into his room with Cassandra, while his mother smiled as though to bless his words.

I hurried to bathe, choosing a modest dress. But when I stepped into the living room, her eyes raked me from head to toe.

“Doesn't look like you're going to a school,” she sneered. “More like a whorehouse. Is that how Malum Sutton’s wife should dress?”

I bit down on a reply and changed into something plainer. It was always easier not to fight.

By the time I hailed a taxi, traffic had swallowed the city whole. My hands twisted in my lap, guilt pressing heavier with each stalled minute. Finn only had me—just me—and I still couldn't get there on time.

When I finally arrived, the hall was already thinning. My heart sank as I searched the stage, expecting his small face to be crestfallen. Instead, I saw him clinging to the arm of a tall young man, his smile bright as summer. He waved wildly when he spotted me.

“Mommy!”

The man beside him looked from Finn to me, then smiled—warm, steady, like sunlight breaking through clouds. And beside him stood a face I recognized. Kai. The man from the hospital.

After the event ended. Finn rushed to me, breathless with excitement.

“Mommy, this is Kai’s friend!” he said, pointing to the tall man. Before I could answer, he darted away fords a girl I had seen near Kai.

Kai stepped forward, his smile easy.

“We meet again,” he said. “I’m Kai—you remember, yesterday at the hospital. Finn looked so sad when things started without his father. My friend offered to step in, just so he wouldn’t feel alone. I hope that wasn’t disrespectful.”

Emotion caught in my throat. “No,” I said quietly. “You thought of him when no one else did. I’ll always be grateful for that.”

The other man extended his hand, his grin kind.

“Hi. I'm Aiden, Kai’s friend.”

For the first time that day, I felt the heavy fog around me thin, just a little.

Aiden crouched down to Finn’s height, handing him a small paper airplane folded from the program sheet. “Keep this, champ. If it ever crashes, just make another. That's the trick—never stop folding new ones.”

Finn’s eyes lit up as he clutched the toy. “Thanks, Mr. Aiden!”

I caught the fleeting glance Aiden gave me, not pity but something warmer—recognition, perhaps. As though he saw beyond the silence I carried, beyond the careful smiles.

For an instant, I wanted to ask him to stay, to not let this moment dissolve back into the weight of Sutton House. But I only nodded, thanked him politely, and turned to gather Finn.

Still, as I walked away, I realized my hand felt lighter on Finn’s shoulder—as if kindness, once shown, could linger like sunlight on skin.