Upstairs, Sophie held her sobbing son tightly, tears still tracing down her own face. She had cried for nearly an hour, waiting for Marcus to come. He never did.
Liam rubbed his tear-streaked face against Sophie’s shoulder, his small fingers clutching her clothes tightly.
“Mommy,” he whispered between sobs, “is Daddy angry with us now? Did he hit me because of that woman?”
A flicker of pain crossed Sophie’s face.
She smoothed a hand through his hair and pulled him closer.
“Don’t think like that,” she said softly. “No matter what happens, your father is still your father. He isn’t going to turn his back on us.”
Yet even as the words left her mouth, they felt uncertain.
Lately, Marcus had become a stranger to her.
For years, he had insisted that Elena meant nothing to him beyond a co
