I could still feel the sting in my hand, the ghost of the impact when I slapped her. My mind replayed the moment over and over, the force of my rage spilling over in a single, unrestrained strike. I didn't care about the consequences. How could I, when the love and care that I had known from my own mother as a child were so blatantly absent in Olivia? A woman like that didn't deserve the title of "mother."
I could see the pain and confusion in Lucas's eyes as he processed what had happened, but I didn’t flinch. If he was mad at me for hitting her, so be it. She had earned every bit of my anger. The look on Olivia's face when Lucas mentioned that she was with Elijah wasn’t one of relief, but of surprise, like she didn’t even care where her son was or what condition he was in. That reaction
