Chapter 2
1066 Words
"It wasn't me—"
He cut Megan off with a snarl. "Get back to the old family estate right now and calm her down. If you can't figure out how to be a proper wife, you don't get to keep our son."
Megan's hand clamped around the phone shook so hard she almost dropped it.
Right after their son was born, her mother-in-law had already tried to steal him away to raise him herself.
Back then, Liam saw how heartbroken Megan was, and he'd punched his way through every bodyguard his mother sent to take him. He'd said, "This is my son. No one but Megan has any right to raise him."
Now, he was threatening to take her son from her... all for Sandra.
Liam had already betrayed her. Megan couldn't lose her son either.
She swiped the tears off her face, handed their baby to the nanny, and rushed straight for the Huntington's old family estate. Inside the estate, Sandra sat off to one side, cradling her baby boy in her arms.
The second Megan stepped through the door, her mother-in-law slammed a stinging slap right across her face.
"Liam got down on his knees and begged me for three whole days just to get me to let you into this family!" she spat. "I thought you actually had some spine, some sense. He goes and cheats on you with an illegitimate daughter, sires an illegitimate child right under your nose, and you didn't even notice? Are you trying to drag the entire Huntington family name through the mud?"
Back when Megan's father brought Sandra and her mother home, Megan's mother never kicked them out. Instead, she jumped off the top of their apartment building to her death. Her mother-in-law had always called Megan's mother a spineless coward, and that prejudice had turned into her utter dislike for Megan from the start. But Megan never thought she'd actually blame her for Liam cheating on her.
Liam flicked a glance Megan's way, then turned to his mother and drawled, "Weren't you always complaining that Megan couldn't give me a kid? What's the problem with me getting you a grandson ahead of time?" His voice was lazy, casual, like he'd just done the whole family a huge favor.
Then he turned to Megan, one corner of his mouth tugging up in a cold, cruel smirk. "Well, Mrs. Huntington. This little mess you let happen? You get to clean it up yourself. As long as we're still married, keeping my mother happy and taking care of my problems is your job."
Sandra stepped forward and slid her arm through his, then turned to Megan with a gloating little smile. "Megan, I'm sweet and unworldly, I don't know anything about dealing with in-law drama. I'll have to leave all that to you from now on... unless, of course, you don't want to be part of the Huntington family anymore."
Megan bit down so hard on the inside of her cheek she tasted blood, staring daggers into Liam. She knew, logically, that she shouldn't waste her time clinging to a man who'd already fallen for someone else. But she couldn't let her son end up like her, growing up under a cruel stepmother's thumb, never knowing a day of kindness.
"Liam, don't you dare think I'll just hand everything over to you two," she snarled.
As long as she didn't divorce him, Sandra and her brat would always be nothing but dirty secrets, never allowed to stand in the light.
Sandra's smug provocation set her mother-in-law off. She snapped an order to her bodyguards, and they dragged Sandra down to her knees, holding her pinned to the floor.
"If you want to carry this family’s name, you’d better learn to take a punishment first," her mother-in-law said coldly. "Until then, you are not welcome under this roof."
Megan should have been happy that her mother-in-law despised Sandra too. But what Liam did next nearly made her lose control completely.
He slammed his foot out and sent two bodyguards crashing to the floor, then snatched Sandra into his arms, shielding her completely from harm. He cast one cold look at his mother, then let his gaze slide to Megan, full of raw, unmasked disgust.
"It's just a punishment. I'll take them for Sandra," he said. "But after we're done, Sandra gets free access to this house from now on."
Every c***k of the lash that landed on Liam's back felt like a sharp, jagged knife twisting deep in Megan's heart.
It had been three years since they married. Megan had gone through two rounds of IVF, and her stomach was still as flat as ever, no baby to show for it.
Her mother-in-law was furious. She insisted the Huntington family would never accept Megan and dragged her back to the family estate to face punishment for disgracing the family.
Megan was scared out of her mind, huddled in Liam's arms, trembling so hard her whole body shook. Selfishly, she begged him with her eyes to stand up to his mother for her, just like he'd done when he fought his mother to marry her in the first place.
But all he did was press a kiss to her forehead and murmur softly, "Megan, I know Mom just needs to let off steam. For our future, for our happiness, just bear with it a little longer."
No sooner had the words left his mouth than the family bodyguards ripped Megan out of his arms. Right in front of him, and every single member of the clan watching, she took every single punishment, one after another, until the very end.
The last thing Megan remembered before blacking out was the searing, bone-deep agony of her flesh split open and raw.
The blood she spilled that day blurred together with the gruesome blood staining Liam's body right in front of her.
It was like a brutal, stinging slap across her face, burning so hot she could barely breathe.
There were still nine punishments left, and even her mother-in-law couldn't bring herself to finish them. She paused and turned her gaze to Sandra, but before she could utter a single word, Liam interrupted her, panting under his breath.
"Let Megan take the rest for her."
All the blood in Megan's veins turned to ice in an instant.
Let her take them for Sandra?
- Writer
