The Monster-in-Law and Mama's Boy revealed their true colors.

When my baby was eight months old, my mother-in-law encouraged him to hit me, chirping, "Mommy's bad. Hit mommy."

That lit a fire in me. I leaned in to pick him up, but she quickly grabbed his hand and smacked me across the face with it.

She smirked at me triumphantly.

I spun around and slapped my husband hard across the face, who had just been standing there watching the show.

*****

We started teaching our baby, Alex Sullivan, how to roll over when he was three months old.

Alex hadn't managed it yet, but we weren't in a rush considering his age.

One day, while Alex was on his play mat, I just turned my head for a second and his grandma, Margaret Sullivan, pushed him, making him roll over.

The sudden move scared Alex so much he started crying loudly.

My heart ached for him. I scooped him up to comfort him and turned to Margaret. "Why would you push him like that? He needs to learn on his own."

Margaret just scoffed at my worry. "Chill out. Do you think I'd hurt my own grandson?"

Her dismissive attitude made me even angrier, and I couldn't help arguing back. "That's not how you help a baby grow.

What if you had hurt him?"

Margaret glanced at her son, Lorenzo, who was absorbed in his phone. And with a boost from his presence, she raised her voice. "Lillian, who are you to tell us what to do? You're an outsider. I raised Lorenzo just fine this way."

Before I could fire back, Lorenzo came over, trying to smooth things over, clearly siding with his mother.

Seeing Margaret's smug face and Lorenzo's indifference just broke my heart.

Lorenzo and I were high school classmates.

We had always liked each other. After we both graduated from a popular university program in the provincial capital, we rekindled our romance at a class reunion. We could have landed well-paying jobs in the capital, but Lorenzo was set on returning home.

"I have to go back to our hometown. My mom raised me by herself, and I owe it to her to take care of her," Lorenzo had insisted.

His dedication to his mother was one of the reasons I fell so deeply in love with him.

My parents were totally against me moving so far away. Tears in my eyes, I defended Lorenzo, "He's so good to his mom. Why can't you trust him with me?

It seems like you just want to keep me close to control me."

I wasn't an only child. I always felt my parents favored my brother, Derek Grant, which made me see most things as them preferring sons over daughters.

My stance deeply hurt my parents.

After moving to Lorenzo's hometown, he quickly got a job at a state-owned enterprise. Meanwhile, I scrambled to find anything, ending up as a low-level admin assistant due to the lack of better jobs locally.

Margaret never missed a chance to put me down, always lacing her comments with sarcasm.

"I never had Lillian's luck," she'd scoff. "She has no real skills, but boy, can she pick men."

While I was washing dishes, I'd overhear Margaret bad-mouthing me to Lorenzo. "Lorenzo, remember Amanda? Her daughter is a teacher now. Both Amanda and her husband have solid jobs in state companies. You're stuck with Lillian. Too bad you missed out on someone like Amanda's daughter.

Lillian just threw herself at you because she's desperate."

Her words would often leave me sobbing in the kitchen.

Thinking back, Lorenzo wasn't well-off and he was preparing for exams, so I didn't press him for a dowry. And we had a quick, simple wedding.

Lorenzo used to defend me at first. But once he started moving up at work and I was unfairly fired for being pregnant, his mama's boy traits started to really show.

During my second month of pregnancy, the sleepiest time, Margaret would barge into our bedroom every early morning, flipping on the lights. "Lorenzo, get up. Breakfast is ready."

She never cared about how I felt.

Trying to keep my cool, I'd argue with her, but she'd look at my belly and snap, "Don't think you're anything special because you're pregnant. If you have a useless daughter, don't blame me if I kick you out."

Lorenzo hinted at finding out the baby's gender. "Mom's had it rough. She just wants a grandson. We ought to make her happy, right?"

I stood firm. "If you insist on checking the baby's gender, we're getting a divorce. And I won't keep the baby either. It's your decision."

We were newlyweds then, and despite everything, Lorenzo was educated enough to understand the severity of my words. We dropped the subject.

Margaret pretended to agree with Lorenzo but treated me worse than ever behind his back.

As my due date neared, my parents tried to come by train to help, but last-minute problems kept them away.

I was recovering from childbirth in the coldest part of winter. Lorenzo was away on business, and Margaret didn't lift a finger to help, not even washing a single diaper.

With Lorenzo not around, Margaret, pinching pennies, wouldn't even heat up water.

I had to drag myself out of bed to wash diapers in cold water, fresh out of a C-section. That left me with lasting health problems.

I caught on that Margaret was messing with my baby Alex, so I kept him away from her as much as possible.

Margaret didn't have much to do except gossip with the neighbors, so it wasn't long before she focused on us again.

I used to do all of Lorenzo's laundry before I got pregnant. After having the baby, I told him he'd need to start handling his own laundry.

Despite being babied by Margaret all his life, Lorenzo understood my struggles and didn't make a fuss.

But Margaret lost it when she saw her baby boy doing his own laundry.

"Lillian, what kind of wife are you, making your man wash his own clothes?" Margaret snapped at me.

After giving birth, I really saw Margaret for who she was, so I didn't let her insults slide.

"What, does he not have hands? Am I supposed to be a servant?" I fired back.

Snatching the unwashed laundry from Lorenzo, Margaret hissed, "What makes you think you deserve to be part of this family? You freeload off us, and doing chores is the least you can do."

That hit a nerve with Lorenzo, probably because he'd been working late so much lately. He looked really upset.

I burst out laughing, incredulous. "Freeloading? Do you think Alex just popped out of thin air? Think your son is some great catch? When Lorenzo and I applied to the same company, they offered me a salary 500 dollars more than his."

That shut Margaret up. She just muttered curses under her breath while angrily washing Lorenzo's underwear.

After taking Alex back to our room, I posted a tweet that only close friends and family could see.

It said: [Turns out Lorenzo's still a big kid. His mom still washes his undies. Guess we'll just stick to managing our own kids.] I capped it off with a smiley emoji.

The Sullivan family was a complicated bunch. They pretended to be close just to keep tabs on each other, even though they really couldn't stand seeing one another succeed. Naturally, Twitter was their go-to for all the family gossip.

Margaret never stopped bragging about Lorenzo landing a great job and being so stable and competent. She could go on all day.

At family gatherings, the Sullivans usually had poker faces, all except Margaret, who was always over the moon.

My tweet racked up a bunch of likes.

Clearly, Lorenzo saw it too. He came into the room and said, "Lillian, stop tweeting nonsense."

When Margaret checked Twitter, her face turned red as a beet.

The comments section lit up. The Sullivan relatives pretended to be clueless, acting concerned while subtly slamming Lorenzo for being shameful.

Both Lorenzo and Margaret hate losing face. Seeing that I wasn't paying them any attention, Lorenzo backed down. "Mom, you should stop doing these things for me. It's making us look bad."

Margaret shot me a venomous look. Clearly, keeping up Lorenzo's image was her top priority.

Even though Margaret backed off, her eyes lingered on Alex in my arms.

After Margaret and Lorenzo started treating me like a freeloader, I decided I wasn't going to let them walk all over me anymore. It was time to prove myself.

After all, I had graduated from a top university, so I was confident I could land a job.

At my last job, a manager named Julia really valued me. She'd often say my talent was underused.

Even after I got laid off for being pregnant, Julia and I kept in touch.

A few months later, when Julia heard I was job hunting, her eyes lit up. "Hey, weren't you a journalism major? Ever thought about being a reporter?"

In college, I was a reporter for the campus newspaper, and I wrote a lot of the stories.

I took her offer.

That evening, when Lorenzo heard I'd found a new job, his face fell. It was not the reaction I'd hoped for.

He scowled and asked, "Who's going to take care of your son if you're working?"

His question annoyed me. "Isn't Alex your son too?

Why is it fine for you to work but I'm just supposed to stay home with the kid?"

Margaret was right there, playing with Alex. I shot her a meaningful look. "Without my own income, I don't have a voice in this family.

I wasn't born to serve others."

Margaret stopped, her hand frozen with a toy in it.

She grabbed Alex's hand and slapped it against her own palm, acting as if he was hitting her. "Mommy's bad. Hit mommy. Your mommy doesn't want you anymore."

I frowned and glanced at Lorenzo for support. Unexpectedly, he looked away, acting as if he'd heard nothing.

I walked over with a stern face, determined not to engage with Margaret. I bent down to pick up Alex and head back to our room.

Unexpectedly, Margaret grabbed Alex's hand, and slapped my face with it.

She smirked triumphantly, "Alex is just playing with you."

It wasn't a hard slap, but the insult was clear.

Furious, I turned to Lorenzo, who seemed to find the whole situation amusing.

I scoffed at both of them, then swung my hand hard at Lorenzo.

He was caught off guard and staggered back, his glasses flying off and shattering on the floor.

"Lillian!" he yelled, boiling with anger.

Margaret, overly protective as always, shrieked and lunged at me, trying to pull my hair.

"How dare you hurt my son! I'll kill you!" she screamed.

Margaret had always lived a life of comfort. She was frail and no match for me.

I easily dodged her, and she stumbled, nearly falling.

Cradling Alex, I chuckled. "Margaret, can't you take a joke? Lorenzo and I were just playing around. Isn't slapping fun?"

Margaret was livid, picking up on my sarcasm.

"I never knew what a wicked woman you were when you begged to marry into our family!" she hissed.

She snorted with contempt. "If it weren't because you didn't ask a dowry, practically throwing yourself at my son, I would never have accepted you.

Shame on you, bitch."

My hand still tingled from slapping Lorenzo, so I rubbed it. And now I felt oddly calm inside.

Overwhelmed by our fight, Lorenzo shouted, "We're getting a divorce!"

Margaret's face went pale.