After 8 Years Coldness, I Ditched Him

Chapter 3

I gasped for ragged breaths, and the second I caught my bearings, I rushed to hire a lawyer.

My parents backed me one hundred percent. They were just ordinary working people, but they still transferred twenty-nine thousand dollars to my bank account without hesitation.

On the eve of the court hearing, Daniel showed up at my company out of the blue. It was the first time he'd come to see me anywhere, let alone at work, in eight whole years.

"Carla, can you just stop making a fuss? Marian is just my secretary, there's nothing inappropriate going on between us."

I lifted a hand and pointed to the bruise blooming on my cheek. "She hit me right after you left that day. She hates me, do you know that?"

A flicker of pain crossed Daniel's eyes, and he reached out to brush the injury gently. "I'm sorry, Carla... Marian just got carried away in the heat of the moment."

I jerked back to dodge his touch, then jabbed my finger at the raw knife wound on my body and pinned him with a burning glare. "Was watching her stab me and running off to save her also getting carried away in the heat of the moment?"

Daniel averted his gaze, his voice turning cold and stiff, "Think whatever you want."

I bit out the words icy cold. "I want a divorce."

We parted on terrible terms. Right before he left, Daniel fixed me with a long, heavy look.

"Carla, you can't win this lawsuit."

I didn't believe him. I had years of proof that he was an unfit father. There was no way the court wouldn't give me custody of Carl. I refused to believe that could happen.

But when the trial started, Daniel pulled out a shocking swarm of witnesses that I'd never expected.

The maid who worked at our house said I was unstable. The neighbors who lived nearby all claimed I acted strange.

"Carla just obsesses over every little thing. All she does is yell at her husband and her kid."

"She even puts the kid up to hitting his grandma! That's not even human!"

"She had postpartum depression before, she even tried to kill herself once."

*****

Once all those nasty rumors started flying, they painted me as a total monster to the public. No matter how hard I tried to explain myself, nothing stuck. I lost the lawsuit.

Not long after, Daniel leaked a video to the public.

In the footage, Carl was shoving his grandma, screaming and sobbing through his words. "You're a bad person! Bad person! I want my mom! I only want my mom!"

Absolute chaos erupted online the second the video went viral.

A: [His mom definitely put him up to this. A perfectly good kid got turned into a violent little aggressive monster.]

B: [That kid's ruined. Who knows what he'll grow up to be? No manners at all!]

C: [Like mother, like son!]

Wave after wave of vicious insults crashed down on me from every direction.

Even when I was out in public, someone recognized me once and hurled a rotten, stinking egg right at me.

I crashed to the ground and retched so hard I thought my guts would spill out.

When the crowd dispersed, Daniel strolled slowly toward me where I lay. Pity swam deep in his eyes.

"Carla, why won't you just listen to me? I love you, you know."

I slapped him so hard my palm stung, and stared daggers into him. A bright red handprint bloomed across his cheek.

He snarled and grabbed my wrist tight enough to bruise. "Fine! We'll just see how long you can keep this stubborn act up!"

I dragged my dead-tired body home, my mind already spinning with plans to get Carl back.

Early the next morning, Carl came bursting through the front door, his whole face twisted with terror.

"Mommy! Mommy, save me!" His little face was paper-white, and sweat poured down his forehead from running for his life.

I wrapped him in a tight hug, my heart aching so bad it hurt. "What's wrong, baby? Take it slow and tell me."

"Aunt Marian's neck is bleeding, but I didn't do it! Daddy says he's going to kill me!"

A loud buzz exploded in my head. It has all clicked into place now. Marian had insisted on taking Carl home just to set him up and destroy him.

No sooner had he finished speaking than shouts boomed from the front gate.

I shoved my boy into the bedroom as fast as I could.

I fixed him with a firm, steady look. "Carl, don't you come out. No matter what you hear, stay hidden!"

Carl was sobbing so hard he could barely breathe.

I knew exactly what he was scared of, so I forced a wobbly smile onto my face.

"Mommy's an adult, everything's gonna be okay. Just cover your ears and don't listen to a thing they say."

The second I clicked the bedroom door locked, Daniel slammed the front door open, with a red-eyed, puffy-faced Marian trailing behind him.

Her neck was wrapped in thick layers of gauze, making the injury look way worse than it probably was.

I didn't even get a word out before Marian thudded to her knees with a heavy plop.

"Carla, I didn't do anything to deserve death, did I? That stab from Carl almost ended my life! What good does it do you to have a murderer for a son, even when he’s still little!" She cried and wailed, every bit the picture of wronged, long-suffering innocence.

Daniel looked like his heart was breaking. He hauled her up immediately, and when he turned to look at me, his eyes were colder than ice.

"Get him out here. Now."

"What proof do you have that Carl did this? Do you have any camera footage?" I screamed until my throat tore apart, my heart breaking that my sweet boy had such a blind, brainless father.

"Enough!"

Daniel's roar was so loud it practically split my eardrums.

He stormed toward me, every bit of rage he'd bottled up exploding out all at once.

He ground the words out between his teeth, one by one, "I regret it so damn much! I regret ever fathering that little bastard!"

I froze solid where I stood, rooted to the floor. Long seconds passed before I let out a wobbly, shaking laugh.

"A little bastard?"

This was his own son. How could he call his own flesh and blood a little bastard?

Daniel acted like he had never heard me. His jaw was set hard as stone when he said, "Marian found a strictly locked-down facility. We're locking him up there for a year, first off." With that, he spun and marched straight for the bedroom door.

He moved too fast, too blinded by fury, to notice the wild, unshakable resolve burning in my eyes.

The second his hand hit the door to break it down, I lunged forward and sank my teeth deep into his neck.

Daniel roared in agony, swung his arm back, and slammed me away with all his strength.

Blood seeped through his fingers where he clutched the bite, and he snarled, red-faced and furious, "Carla, you're really trying to drive me crazy!"

I crashed hard against the wooden floor, and I just laughed, wild and unhinged.

Then I felt something wrong down below, warm wetness seeping through my pants, pooling under my body.

A vicious, triumphant grin spread across my lips. I pointed at my belly, cackling each word out slow and sharp, "You called Carl a bastard, didn't you? Well, this little bastard inside me? I'm sending him straight back to you!"