4!

MABEL

Morning came quickly. I didn't even remember when I left Jason's nursery to sleep in my bedroom.

A bedroom I share with my husband, Ethan, but it wasn't as warm as it used to be.

It felt icy cold because he wouldn't touch me or face me while he slept.

Most nights he wouldn't even sleep here.

The only reason he was here was probably to keep up appearances because of the crowd of people we'd be having in the house.

I quickly got up and prepared myself as best as I could. I finally opted to put on a beige-colored ball gown.

There was no way I was going to wear a black dress to present my son to the world.

I quickly ran down the stairs to get to my son. He would be awake now and would need to be breastfed. Even though he might not accept half of it.

"Where are you going?" Claire asked as she saw me descend down the stairs.

"To my son," I said, unsure why I even gave her an answer.

"You can't go in there..." She tried to stop me, but it was too late.

I opened the door of my son's nursery to see yet another terrifying and humiliating sight.

Hailey was feeding my son from her breast!

Oh my God!

I felt the scream in my head as I held on to the door to maintain my balance.

What the hell am I looking at? Why is my son's mouth on another woman's breast?

And why is he clinging to her like his life depends on it?

I shut my eyes, hoping, begging, that this wasn't real. But it was. It was happening. Right in front of me.

"Get away from my son!" I yelled as I rushed to get Jason away from her.

I yanked him away, and his scream tore through the room like a siren.

"What are you doing?" Hailey asked me. Her voice came out like a mother whose child was just taken away from her forcefully.

That's how I'm supposed to sound because she's the one taking my child away from me.

"I should be the one asking you that question," I said to her in disbelief. "How could you do this?"

I looked at Claire, my mother-in-law. "How could you let her do this to my son?" I continued, trying to soothe him to stop him from crying, but nothing I did worked.

"I didn't do anything," Claire said without thinking twice.

"You let her into my son's nursery. How dare you?!"

"She didn't," Ethan's voice cut through the chaos. I turned, and there he stood. Calm and cold. "I did."

I turned to him slowly, like if I moved too fast I might actually shatter.

"You did?" I asked, voice trembling. "You gave another woman permission to breastfeed our son?"

Ethan didn't flinch. He just stood there. His eyes weren't warm, they were distant and humiliating. Like this wasn't the most violating, humiliating moment of my life.

"She offered," he said, shrugging like it was no big deal. "And Jason took to her. That's what matters right now."

Took to her? Took. To. Her?

I blinked hard, heart pounding in my ears.

"So that's it?" I whispered. "Just because he doesn't scream in her arms, you hand her my role? Just like that?"

"How long has this been happening?" I demanded, my voice breaking.

Silence.

"HOW LONG?"

Ethan shifted uncomfortably. "Mabel…"

"A month," Claire said calmly. "Maybe six weeks."

My knees almost gave out. "Six weeks?"

"You weren't producing enough milk,"

Ethan said. "He was losing weight. Hailey offered to help…"

"Help?" I choked out. "She's been breastfeeding my son for six weeks and no one told me?"

"We didn't want to upset you," Hailey said softly, still standing there. "You were already struggling."

"Because you were STEALING HIM FROM ME!"

Claire folded her arms with a smug little smile, like this was all going exactly the way she hoped.

Hailey stood behind them, not saying a word. Her expression didn't show regret or shame. No. She looked... proud. Almost victorious.

Something inside me snapped. "You're sick," I hissed. "All of you."

"Mabel, calm down..." Ethan began, but I didn't let him finish.

"No, you don't get to tell me to calm down!" I shouted. "You don't get to gaslight me into thinking I'm overreacting when I just walked in on your so-called best friend nursing my child!"

"He needed milk, Mabel," Ethan said, his tone shifting to that patronizing calm he used when he wanted to feel like the rational one. "You weren't available—"

"I'm his mother!"

The title was the last and only thing I could tie my son to me.

"Not from where I'm standing!" He shot back at me. Claire, who was standing beside him, flinched.

"I have been watching silently for months as my son suffers because of you, but no more."

I looked at him, confused.

Jason was still wailing in my hands. Hailey

stood in front of me to take him from me, and I shot her a deadly glare.

She didn't move. Instead, she stood firm

and turned to look at Ethan. I followed her eyes, and Ethan's cold eyes met mine.

"Hand Jason over to her," he said, and I took a step back.

"No," I said, holding him tight despite his

wailing. "He is my son."

For just a second, one brief, flickering second,.something crossed Ethan's face.

Regret. Doubt. Maybe even pain.

He opened his mouth like he wanted to say something.

But then Claire touched his arm, and whatever it was died in his throat.

"Give her the papers," Claire said quietly.

Ethan's jaw clenched. He pulled a folder from his jacket and held it out.

"Hand him over to her, or I'll have you arrested," Ethan's words sounded so foreign to me.

This was the man who confessed his love to me in front of the ivory tower, and here he was threatening me.

"Ethan, please don't do this," I cried out. Hailey walked towards me and held out her hands.

Jason turned over and stretched his hands. It was like he sensed her and wanted her.

Like when a baby knows his mother is just around the corner.

"See, even Jason doesn't want you," Claire said, and I shot her a nasty look.

"Take the baby from her, Hailey," Ethan said as he walked deeper into the room.

He was fully dressed for the occasion, and we were definitely contradicting each other.

But Hailey wasn't. She wore a red off-shoulder gown that matched his red tie.

Claire smirked at me when she saw the recognition on my face.

She planned this. All of this. What kind of mother-in-law is she?

As Ethan walked deeper into the nursery, he had the folder with him. Jason's cry seemed to have stopped since he was in the arms of Hailey.

"Here," Ethan handed me the folder.

"What is this?" I asked as I took it.

"Divorce papers," he said, and my heart dropped. "Once you're done signing, walk away."

He led Hailey out with Jason.

"Ethan, stop!" I cried out, but Claire stopped me. "Ethan, please, don't take my baby away. I'll do better. I'll be a better mother!" I was almost begging him.

But before Claire could say anything else, she stepped closer, her voice dropping to a venomous whisper.

"You know what your mother's problem was? She thought she was special too. Thought her talent made her untouchable."

I went still. "What are you talking about?"

“Wouldn't you like to know,” She smirks

I couldn't breathe. "What did you do?"

"I did what I had to do to protect what was mine." Claire straightened, smoothing her dress. "And now history repeats itself. You come into my family. Embarrass my son. Prove yourself inadequate. You're exactly like her, Mabel. Weak. Delusional. Thinking you deserve more than you're worth."

She turned toward the door. "At least your mother had the decency to disappear quietly. Sign the divorce papers, Mabel, and get out of our lives."

Then she walked out, leaving me shaking.

My mother worked for Claire. Claire stole her designs. Claire destroyed her.

And now she was doing it to me.