"Mommy won’t let anyone bully you."

Lilith, ever the actress, held her daughter close as tears streamed down her face as she said, "Mario, I know that Tara and I have disrupted your life, but our home is under renovation and we truly have nowhere else to go. …"

Mario's expression darkened instantly. He grabbed my arm roughly as he growled, "What’s wrong with you? You’re an adult and you’re picking a fight with a child?"

"Apologize to Tara right now, or no one is sleeping tonight!" he threatened.

His grip tightened painfully on my wrist and Mario's face twisted in a menacing scowl to threaten me.

[They usually waited until after the baby had been born to show their true colors]. I had once read that line online, but back then, it hadn’t resonated with me. After all, Mario had been so good to me. His act was so good that it had covered up all the warning signs.

However, those words had now been like a bullet to my chest. I was the fool, the clown in this tragic circus.

"Release me!" With a gloomy face, I yanked my arm free from Mario's hold and asked, "Why should I?"

Then coldly I added, "She's the one who has no discipline and touched my things without permission!”

I stormed into my room, settled my baby down and started unpacking my hospital bag.

This was the first time I had ever gotten angry at Mario. Even after giving birth and finding out about his ex-wife and daughter, I only felt devastated. I never confronted him directly even once.

Mario was momentarily stunned by my outburst, but he quickly recovered and followed me.

"Kelly, don’t think that just because you gave birth, you can throw a tantrum at home! Before, I tolerated you because of the baby. However, now? What right do you have to act out? Apologize now! Or I take the baby!"

Mario's heartless words chipped away at the last remnants of my delusions.

He was not the man I thought I had married. I felt he was so unfamiliar and terrifying.

I trembled with rage, my limbs suddenly felt weak.

A stinging sensation built up behind my eyes and before I could stop them, tears spilled down my cheeks. However, then something even worse happened. A cold sensation between my legs.

Panic surged through me as I looked down. Turned out, I had wet myself.

"Auntie peed herself! Ha ha ha! Even though she is an adult. Daddy, Mommy, look!"

Tara Lombardi's laughter rang out. It was shrill and piercing. Mario looked at the growing stain on the floor, wrinkled his nose and scoffed, "Ugh. It stinks."

Lilith, who was standing behind Mario while holding Tara in her arms, crunched up her face in disgust and asked, "What’s wrong with your wife? Peeing herself in front of everyone? How can anyone live here now? It's so filthy."

The three of them stared at me from top to bottom like I was an animal in a zoo. Their mocking, sneering and belittling in their eyes stifled my breath.

"Daddy, hurry! Drag Auntie to the bathroom! She’s still peeing!" urged Tara.

Mario must have found the situation embarrassing too because, in a flash, he rushed over and grabbed me.

As he dragged me, my stomach slammed into the corner of a table. A sharp pain shot through me and I gasped and cried out, "Mario. It hurts!"

He ignored me and shoved me into the bathroom.  I instinctively reached for the door handle, but he slammed it shut and held it down.

"Did giving birth make you forget how to use the toilet?" he asked. "Then stay in there and relearn it!"

I clutched my stomach as I tried to stand on my feet, but then I heard it. It was the sound of the door being locked from the outside.

"Open the door … Mario! Open the door!" I yelled.

Panic crashed over me like a tidal wave. When I was little, my mother and I had been trapped in an elevator. I had watched her die right in front of me. Ever since that time, I suffered from severe claustrophobia.

Mario knew about this and yet he still locked me in.

My breaths came in ragged gasps. My limbs went numb. My vision blurred.

Outside, his voice floated through the door. "Come on, Tara. Daddy will take you and Mommy to stay in a five-star hotel."

Laughter echoed from outside the door as the three of them walked away. Then, the door shut and everything went silent after that.

Three years of marriage shattered in an instant. The whirlwind of changes that came with childbirth had caught me completely off guard.

For thirty years, I had carried myself with dignity, cherished my self-worth and approached love with sincerity and caution. However, I had still fallen flat on my face.

A crushing sense of regret clawed at my chest and the closed room seemed to press down on me and make it hard for me to breathe.

I had no idea how long I had been unconscious. When I woke up, my phone was ringing.

When I picked up the call, I heard the other end sound, "Hello, Miss Taylor? When do you plan to check into the postpartum care center?"

Postpartum care center .…

As my consciousness crept in, my mind cleared up. I took a sit, straightened my body and gripped the phone tighter.

"Three days. I’ll be there in three days. However, change the name on the reservation," I finally answered. "Oh, and switch the package to one for a single mother. No baby."

The person on the other end seemed surprised but didn’t ask any questions.

After hanging up, I updated the reservation under my best friend Christy Anderson’s name.

Then I called Christy. When she picked up the call, I said, "Cissy, I'm going to file for divorce. Help me find the best divorce lawyer."

She immediately asked what had happened. I gave her a brief rundown.

Christy let out a long sigh. "We all got fooled by that scumbag, Mario."

I did not reply to her statement. Instead, ended up comforting her.

I grabbed a wooden stool from the floor and smashed it against the bathroom’s glass door. The glass shattered and I reached through to unlock it from the outside.

I was sure Mario would not return home today, so I started packing. I boxed up my essentials, called a moving company and had everything sent to Christy's place.

After finishing all the work, I passed by the bedroom and saw the tiny baby squirming on the bed. My heart softened.

He had spent nine months inside me. Every single day for nine months, I had talked to him.  I truly looked forward to his arrival.

However, after all of this, I was suddenly told he was not mine. The pain and inner turmoil had been unbearable.

Yet, I could not just abandon him. My sense of responsibility would not allow it. At the very least, I had to care for him until Mario and others returned.

Sighing, I changed his diaper and made him a bottle.

I was so busy that it was not until the middle of the night that I finally dozed off from exhaustion.

The next morning, I was woken by the sound of movement outside and to my surprise, Mario had come back alone.

He acted as if nothing had happened. When he walked in, he called me “wife” like he always did and reached out to hug me.

A thick wave of perfume clung to him. It was sickly sweet and overwhelming. So, I instinctively dodged.

"Are you still angry at me?" he asked.

"Look, I sent them away, didn’t I? Don’t be upset, okay? Yesterday was my fault." Then he added, "Look at this, I even bought you your favorite seafood chowder."

Mario jingled the bag in his hand. On his face, he attached a sheepish grin to appease me.

Men were all the same. No matter how unforgivable their actions, they would just play like they were dumb and pretend nothing had happened.

They thought all it took was a little sweet talk to smooth things over with their woman. What if that didn’t work? He would sleep with her. If that still didn’t work? Then start throwing tantrums.

I glanced at the seafood chowder and took a deep breath before saying, "I'm not supposed to eat seafood chowder during postpartum recovery."

Mario’s expression stiffened. Frustrated, he slammed the seafood chowder down on the table.

He scolded, "Kelly, it seems you're just making an excuse to make a fuss. I know women in coastal cities eat crab right after giving birth."

I did not argue. Instead, I quietly looked down, focused on tending to the baby and said without touching the subject he asked, "I’m moving into the postpartum care center the day after tomorrow. Only one person is allowed to stay with me, so I asked Cissy."

Then I added, "As for you, you should just stay with your daughter and ex-wife."

Mario's face darkened when he heard this, "Didn’t we agree that I’d go with you?"

Me and Mario had booked the postpartum care center together. Back then, he had sworn up and down that no matter what, he would be there for me and the baby. 

However now, I did not need him anymore. Even the baby did not need me anymore.

"Mario, we're getting …."

"Mario! Tara is having a fever!"

Lilith's voice suddenly cut my words. She suddenly came from outside the door and rushed in. She was holding her daughter with a panicked expression.

"How did she get a fever?" After he said that, Mario turned and left resolutely.

Lilith did not even spare a single glance at the baby in my arms, as if he had nothing to do with her.

At that moment, it hit me. The baby may not have been mine, but both of us had been discarded like trash. We both had served our purpose and had to be thrown away.

This whole situation had been a twisted thrill-seeking scheme for them. It was a game they started without any intention of taking responsibility for the consequences.

For the first time, I realized that the baby and I were probably the two most pathetic people in the world.

A sharp ringtone snapped me out of my thoughts. An unfamiliar number flashed on the screen. I answered.

"Miss Taylor, I’m your divorce lawyer," a deep familiar voice sounded from the other end. 

I jolted at that moment. I opened my mouth, "Maxim Garrison?"

Maxim had been my college boyfriend. Our breakup had been quite messed up.

With our families fiercely opposed to our relationship, we had ended things on the worst possible terms.

I never thought I’d cross paths with Maxim again. I also had not imagined that Cissy would ask him to be my divorce lawyer.

Cissy had only told me that Maxim was the best divorce attorney in the field.

If Maxim could not win a divorce case, I was certain that no one could.

Maxim wasted no time. As soon as I finished explaining the situation, he drafted a divorce agreement and sent it to me.

He texted. [Install a surveillance camera at home and collect evidence.]

That was Maxim. He always said straight to the point without saying unnecessary pleasantries.

I quickly set aside any lingering nostalgia and focused on preparing the divorce paperwork.

However, unexpectedly, before I even had a chance to install the camera, the evidence delivered itself.

At dawn, Lilith sent me a video. It was a dashcam footage of her and Mario having sex in his car.                   

[Every single day of your pregnancy, this is how Mario spent his time. He was with me.]

[Frankly, he only married you to have a son.]

[He’s always loved me. Every trick he used to chase you? I taught him. I am also the one who picked all the gifts he gave you.]

[The bags and clothes he gave you? They were all second-hand fakes. However, mine? They’re all authentic!]

Lilith bombarded me with more messages. Each one was more taunting than the last. However, one thing she never mentioned was who the baby’s real parents were.

I read her texts and couldn't help but laugh. No wonder every single gift Mario had ever given me was perfect for me.

All those well-orchestrated romantic gestures, those heartfelt confessions were not made by Mario. Instead, the real maker was his ex-wife.

I forwarded the video and chat screenshots to Maxim.

A few minutes later, he responded with a single word, [Received.]

That same night, he informed me that the divorce papers had already been sent to Mario’s company.

The next morning, I was woken by the sound of Tara's playing and the blaring noise of the TV from the living room.

The baby was struggling to sleep. I stepped out of the bedroom and saw only Lilith and her daughter, Tara.

Holding the baby, I gently rocked him, my voice was quiet but firm, "Can you keep it down?" 

Lilith did not even bother to look up. Instead, Tara’s voice grew louder and she turned up the volume on the TV to the maximum.