2. The divorce
1938 Words
Chapter Two
Sloane’s Pov
No one was ready to be a murderer so they set him loose and I held Cade so tight in that hospital parking lot that he squeaked against my chest.
My hands were shaking with blood still tackling down my neck from where I'd pressed that syringe, but I didn't care. Nothing mattered except the weight of my son in my arms, alive and safe and mine.
"Mommy, you're bleeding." His small hand touched my throat, and when he pulled it away, his fingers were red.
"Don't worry, baby. It's nothing. Mommy's strong, remember?" I kissed his forehead, breathing in the scent of his shampoo mixed with fear-sweat and antiseptic.
He pulled back to look at me with those big hazel eyes that were too old for a five-year-old. "Mommy, they kept calling me a monster. The doctors said I was broken. That something was wrong inside me."
My heart cracked and I cupped his face with both hands, not caring that we were standing in a parking garage with curious onlookers probably calling security. "You listen to me, Cade. You are not a monster. You hear me? You're not broken. You're just... you're special. You're super strong, and some people don't understand that. But I do okay, Mama understands."
"Promise?" His voice was so small.
"I promise, baby. I promise." I kissed his nose, his cheeks, his forehead. "Now let's go home and get you something to eat. I bet you're starving."
He nodded against my shoulder, and I carried him to the car even though he was getting too big for that. I didn't care. I needed to feel him, needed to know he was real and safe.
"How about spaghetti and meatballs?" I asked when we reached home, forcing brightness into my voice. "With extra parmesan, just how do you like it?"
"Okay, Mommy." He climbed onto one of the bar stools at the kitchen island, setting his favourite toy, Mr. Wolfie next to him, his eyes followed me as I moved around the kitchen, pulling out ingredients, filling a pot with water and in the next few minutes, I'm done.
We ate at the kitchen table, and I watched Cade twirl spaghetti around his fork, some of the tension finally leaving his small shoulders but I couldn't eat as my mind kept circling back to what Vivian had said.
He's a beast
A bastard child!
But what the hell was my son? How on earth could he break a bone?
After dinner, I got Cade settled in the living room with his favorite cartoon, then retreated to the kitchen. My hands were shaking again as I pulled out my phone. Seventeen missed calls from Garrett, three from Vivian. Two from numbers I didn't recognize.
I ignored all of them and scrolled to a different name. Declan.
He answered on the first ring. "Sloane? Jesus, I've been worried sick. Are you okay?"
Just hearing his warm and familiar voice made tears prick my eyes. Declan Foster had been my best friend since we were kids, growing up in the same trailer park, sharing dreams of getting out and making something of ourselves. He'd been there through everything. Every heartbreak, every triumph, every crisis.
"Dec, I don't know what to do." The words tumbled out in a rush. "They expelled Cade from school. They tried to... God, Dec, you should have seen it. They had him strapped to a table like he was some kind of lab rat. They were going to cut him open or inject him with God knows what. And Garrett, he just... he authorized it. He let them take our son without even telling me."
"Slow down…. and start from the beginning."
I told him everything that happened today, the teacher, the broken thumb, the hospital, the restraints, Vivian's comments about bloodlines and beasts. By the time I finished, I was crying so hard I could barely breathe.
"You need to leave," Declan said flatly. "Pack a bag, grab Cade, and get the hell out of there."
"What? I can't."
"Sloane—"
"I can't, Dec. Cade needs a father figure and stability. I can't just rip him away from his home because things are hard right now."
"Things are hard?" Declan's voice rose. "They tried to experiment on your kid! That's not hard, that's f*****g insane! You need to leave, my sister will come and pick you up…."
"I need to make my marriage work." I wiped at my eyes with the back of my hand. "Garrett and I can figure this out."
Declan's voice went quiet, dangerous. "Do you really love him? Or are you just trying to replace the man who abandoned you five years ago when he found out you were pregnant?"
The air left my lungs in a rush and I gasped at the sudden reminder.
"That's not—" I started, but my voice died because suddenly I was back there, five years ago, crazily in love with a green eyed blonde who would do anything in the world for me or to be with me, I could remember the strong hands on my skin and a voice rough with need whispering my name like a prayer. He'd been perfect, tall and broad-shouldered with blonde hair and eyes that seemed to glow in the dim light. Our last s*x had been intense, almost feral, like nothing I'd experienced before or since.
And then, the morning I bought the pregnancy test, I'd planned to tell him he was going to be a father but he left, he was gone like a wind with no note, no explanation. Just... gone. Like he'd never existed at all after getting my family attached to him. Mum loved him more and fed him anytime he visits but he disappeared and made us all stupid
"Sloane?" Declan's voice pulled me back. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have—"
"I have to go." I heard the front door opening and wiped the tears away. "Garrett's home, I'll talk to you later."
"Sloane, wait—"
I hung up and set the phone on the counter with my whole body vibrating with tension. Garrett walked into the kitchen, and the rage that had been simmering inside me all day exploded.
"Why the hell would you send our five-year-old child to an experimental facility?" I didn't yell as my voice was low and controlled, which somehow made it worse.
"Without my consent? Without even calling me?"
Garrett looked exhausted. His hair is messed up like he'd been running his hands through it. "Sloane, can we not do this right now?"
"No, we're doing this right now. Answer the question."
"Fine." He threw his briefcase onto the counter. "Because your son has been in multiple incidents this year. He's hurt other children and sent them into a coma and today he broke a teacher's thumb. This isn't normal behavior, and we need to understand what's happening before someone gets seriously injured. Or worse."
"He's five years old! He doesn't understand his own strength yet!"
"Exactly! A five-year-old shouldn't have that kind of strength! Don't you get it?" Garrett's voice rose. "Something is wrong with him, Sloane. Something we need to figure out before it's too late."
"There is nothing wrong with our son." I stepped closer, and he actually moved back. "And taking him without my consent, without even giving me the basic respect of a phone call is not protecting him. That's betraying him. Betraying me."
"My mother was there. She…"
"Your mother called him a beast!" I was shaking now. "She stood there and called our son a beast to my face. And you let them strap him down like an animal. You let them…"
I stopped, my eyes catching on something. A smear of color on his white shirt collar. A dark red lipstick.
My blood went cold. "Where were you, Garett?"
Garrett followed my gaze, and his face paled. "Sloane…"
"Where the hell were you." I grabbed his collar, and he flinched. "You said you had business meetings all day. So where did this come from?"
"It's not what you think….."
"Then tell me what it is! Explain to me why you have another woman's lipstick on your shirt on the same day you authorized medical experiments on our son!"
There was a heavy silence then Garrett pulled away from me, straightening his collar. When he looked at me again, something in his eyes had changed. "I want a divorce."
I tilted my head sideways. "What?"
"Not a permanent one. Just... a break. Some time apart. I think we both need it."
Hot tears spilled down my face before I could stop them. "What are you talking about? I've tried so hard to make this work. I've done everything—"
"Everything except… put me first!" His voice cracked. "It's always Cade. Everything is about Cade. What Cade needs, what Cade wants, how Cade is feeling. When's the last time you asked me how I was? When's the last time we had a conversation that wasn't about your son?"
"He's your son too and he needs attention!"
"He's not my son and he needs too much! And you... you give it all to him. There's nothing left for me. I'm tired, Sloane. I'm tired of competing with a child for my own wife's affection. I'm tired of being second place in my own marriage."
I wiped at my tears with shaking hands. "Are you serious right now? You're breaking up our family because you're jealous of our own son?"
"I'm not jealous Sloane, I know you're still in love with him. You see that bastard in Cade right? And you still think about him to put me in a ditch, don't lie to me because I can see right through you.”
“Garett…” I gasped at his words and shook my head. “You're exaggerating, he's just a boy”
“And I'm your husband! Look, I can't do this with you right now. My company is going down the drain because of Cade, you said my mother called him a beast, do you know what the others say and how it affects me? I can't do this Sloane, take the house and let's have a space…. we'll be back when..”
"f**k you." The words came out quiet, deadly. "You never loved me. You never loved either of us as you claimed."
"I never loved you?" Garrett's face twisted. "You're the one who's never loved me! It's always been about him, hasn't it? The bastard who knocked you up and left town. You settled for me because I was safe and available, but you've never stopped thinking about him even when we f**k! You think about him, don't you?"
The slap rang out before I even realized I'd moved. My palm connected with his cheek, and his head snapped to the side.
We both froze.
"Mommy?"
I turned to see Cade standing in the kitchen doorway, Mr. Wolfie clutched to his chest, his eyes wide and filled with tears.
"Baby, go to your room—"
But Cade was already running, his small feet pounding up the stairs. A door slammed.
I turned back to Garrett, who was touching his reddening cheek. "Get out."
"Sloane—"
"Get out of my sight now."
He stared at me for a long moment, and I saw something flicker in his eyes. Then he grabbed his briefcase and walked out.
The door clicked shut, and I stood alone in my kitchen, my whole life falling apart around me.
- Writer
