She approaches cautiously, setting the baby carrier gently on the low coffee table and keeping a careful distance between us.Smart move, Lucia. Don’t you dare come any closer.
“So, what does it say?” is all she asks—no greeting, no small talk, no ‘how was your day?’ She cuts straight to the point.
At least she’s smart enough not to let this drag on any longer, especially when I’ve already uncovered so many of her lies.
I don’t answer her right away. The spiteful side of me wants to make this as painfully long and uncomfortable for her as possible. She might look calm on the outside, but I know my silence is tearing at her composure, bit by bit.
I rise to my feet and step towards Ari. For a moment, I just let myself watch her, studying every feature, every delicate breath and sound, committing it all to memory.
“Kaden?” the evil witch whispers.
I press a finger to my lips, silencing her without looking away from Arianna. I won’t let her steal this moment from me, not when she’s about to rip away the most precious gift I’ve ever been given.
I reach out and gently stroke Ari’s cheek with my thumb. She stirs a little, instinctively leaning into my touch. Even in her sleep she can still sense me.
That tiny, innocent response should fill me with joy, but instead, it cuts deeper into the layers of my skin, twisting the knife even further until it’s lodged right in my chest.
This will be the last time I’ll ever get to soothe this sweet, baby girl.
Blinking back the tears threatening to fall once more, I step away from Ari and finally turn towards her mother.
With a gaze, cold and unforgiving, I bridge the distance between us, each stride slow and deliberate, causing hereyes to widen with fear as I draw near. The second I’m close enough to tower over her, she instantly takes a step back, her body rigid and tense.
My gaze hardens as they fix on hers, wanting her to see the raw and utter hatred burning behind them.
This is the woman I sacrificed my marriage for. The one I destroyed everything good in my life to be with.
And what a waste it has all been.
She turned out to be nothing more than a cold, heartless bitch. An imposter. A liar. A homewrecking whore.
The biggest regret of my life.
I grip the document still in my hand and shove it at her chest, forcing her to stumble back a little. Her arms catch them just before they fall onto the floor, and when she looks up at me, shocked and wide-eyed, a low chuckle rumbles from my throat.
“Make sure you read every word, darling,” I say, my voice full of malice and contempt. “Because once you’re done, I’mma tell you exactly what’s gonna happen next.” I cross my arms over my chest and nod for her to start reading.
Her throat bobs with a sharp swallow as she lifts the document closer to her face, her eyes scanning across the pages as she reads them in silence. I watch her intently, her gaze bouncing from paragraph to paragraph, fingers pressing against the sheets as though to hold back the slight tremble in her hands.
Fear and panic hover just beneath her exterior, though she tries her best to mask them. But I can see right through it—and that, brings me a grim sense of satisfaction.
When her gaze finally falls on the one line that matters—the one stating zero percent paternity, her eyes instinctively snap shut as if to shield herself from the sting of the words.
As her eyes open again, she shakes her head slowly at first, then more insistently, denial flashing in her hazel gaze.
“This changes nothing, Kaden. Ari is yours! She has been from the day she was born!”
She rips the sheets of paper in half, the sharp, piercing sound echoing through the room, and lets the pieces flutter to the floor.
“Please, Kaden! She’s yours… she’s yours!” She repeats, her words trembling as sobs wrack her body.
Her hand reaches out to me, desperate and pleading, but I quickly retreat a step, not wanting to feel her touch anywhere on my body—ever again. That slight rejection causes her knees to buckle, and she collapses onto the floor in a broken, sobbing mess.
“I don’t know why you’re crying, Lucia.” I scoff, shaking my head in disgust. “I don’t know why this has come as a shock to you. What did you honestly think was going to happen?”
“I was so sure she was yours,” she whispers through gasps.
“Well those results just proved you wrong, didn’t it? And now, they’ve sealed our fate. You have stripped me of everything that ever mattered, and I can finally say without a shadow of a doubt—I’ve never regretted meeting anyone more than I regret meeting you.”
