Chapter 4

Back home, Ethan's call came in.

"Chloe Hayes, how long are you going to keep up this act? Tell Dad to unblock my cards!"

Ethan heard my silence and roared impatiently.

"Have you had enough yet?! If you keep this up, we're getting a divorce. Madison already has my child anyway. You can just take that dead weight of yours and get out of the Carter family!"

My voice was calm, numb.

"The child is dead."

He scoffed dismissively.

"Are you going to claim I killed him, too?"

"You'll really say anything to break up Madison and me."

He hung up, the phone beeping.

At the same time, Mr. Bennett, the lawyer Mr. Carter sent, handed me the divorce papers.

I signed my name without the slightest hesitation, my mind replaying Liam's voice.

It was Father's Day. Liam had clumsily made Ethan a handmade card, but Ethan never came home.

To this day, I still remember Liam's disappointed eyes.

"Mommy, does Daddy not like me?"

"Why does Daddy never play with me or hug me? All the kids in my class get hugs from their Daddies."

I was physically and mentally exhausted. I curled up on Liam's small bed, the one he slept in before, and fell asleep.

The next day, Liam's body was sent for cremation.

As the incinerator hummed, I felt my own heart being burned into a handful of ashes.

The staff handed me a delicate ceramic urn.

The child who had just recently called me "Mommy" in his sweet, baby voice was now nothing but a cold urn.

Mr. and Mrs. Carter wiped their tears, looking as if they had aged ten years overnight.

They gently caressed the urn.

"After you bury Liam, could you please tell us the address? He is our grandson, after all."

I nodded, my voice choked with emotion.

"I only have one request: don't tell Ethan where Liam is buried."