All Chapters of I Am Their Mother: Rebirth Of The Wicked Stepmother : Chapter 21 - Chapter 30

The office was silent... Jade sat behind his desk, his posture deceptively relaxed, one arm resting near the edge of his iPad while files lay scattered and untouched before him, meetings long postponed, calls ignored without a second thought, because for the past few hours, none of it had mattered. His entire world had narrowed down to the screen in front of him, to the series of videos playing one after another with unsettling precision, each clip stitched carefully into a seamless narrative that captured everything: the mall, the confrontation, the apology, the chaos, and then the shift. The shopping, the laughter, the amusement park, the aquarium… every second of Clara’s outing with the children documented, recorded, delivered to him as if someone had deliberately ensured he would witness it all. And he had, every detail, every expression, every moment that contradicted everything he thought he knew. Because when he first opened the files, he hadn’t expected much, at

What began as silent observation turned into small exchanges, simple jokes, occasional comments, and before either of them realized it, the kitchen had filled with something warm and alive, the rich, inviting aroma of food spreading through the house, curling through the hallways and drifting upstairs like an unspoken invitation. The children came down just as Clara finished setting the table, their hair still slightly damp, clothes fresh, faces clean, but their excitement remained untouched. “Wow…” Emily breathed, her eyes widening as she took in the spread. “It smells sooooooo good!” Sophie added immediately, already climbing into her seat, while Lucas said nothing, though the way his gaze lingered on the food spoke volumes. They were ready... more than ready... but just as Sophie reached forward, Clara’s voice stopped them. “Ah-ah.” Three heads turned instantly. “We’ll eat when your father comes home.” Silence followed, then three very different reactions. Emily blinked in

The night had long since settled into silence, not the gentle, forgiving kind that eases the mind into rest, not the soft hush that wraps around a person like a lullaby until even the most stubborn thoughts dissolve, but something far heavier, far more suffocating, a stillness that stretched endlessly. It pressed down on Clara’s chest as though the air itself had weight, clinging to her skin, and seeping into her lungs, refusing to let her breathe properly, refusing to let her rest, refusing, most of all, to let her forget. It wrapped around her, tightened slowly, burrowed deep into her bones, and no matter how tightly she pulled the blanket around herself, no matter how still she lay beneath it, staring up at the dim, shadowed ceiling, sleep never came, not even close, not even a fleeting moment, not even the illusion of peace. Because after she had said goodnight to Jade, after she had walked away with that small, careful smile still resting on her lips, after she had closed t

Jade didn't react immediately. For a moment-a long, stretched, almost suffocating moment, he simply sat there and stared at her. He didn't blink. He didn't breathe properly. He just stared, as if his mind had completely refused to process what she had just said. The air between them grew heavy, thick, and unmoving, pressing against his chest until even breathing felt like a burden. "...What?" he finally asked. His voice was flat. Not calm-just restrained, as if it could snap at any second. But Clara didn't repeat herself. She didn't clarify. She didn't soften it or take back what she said. She only stood there, still holding the pillow in her arms, her fingers curled gently into the fabric as if it grounded her. And that smile-that soft, quiet, almost innocent smile, remained on her lips, as though she hadn't just said something outrageous, as though she hadn't just walked straight into a storm and decided to sit down in the middle of it. That was when it hit him. Ja

The noise came first, soft at the beginning, so soft it almost dissolved into the quiet of early morning.Faint footsteps brushing against the floor, the distant scrape of something heavy dragged across the floor, and muffled voices filled the house.It felt like something alive moving just out of sight, and it threaded itself carefully into Jade’s sleep.It was subtle at first and then persistent, pressing in again and again as though determined to pull him out of the rare, unfamiliar, almost unreal rest he had fallen into...A sleep that, for once, was not haunted by nightmares, not torn apart by flashes of twisted metal, shattered glass, or the echo of screams, not poisoned by the memory of that night three years ago, the night everything ended, the night his wife died, the night something inside him stopped and never started again.Because instead of all that darkness, there had been warmth, real, steady, quiet warmth that did not vanish the moment he tried to hold onto it.Jade s