mfort caught between my enraged gaze and Leo's tearful pleas.

his legs wrapped around Bethany's. "I want Aun

y at my heart, crushing the air from my lungs. My own son. My flesh and blood, the child I had carried for

m. She tried to pat my arm, a flimsy gesture of comfort. "Oh, Cl

words. My world had narrowed to Leo's tear-st

up, his face a thundercloud. "Leo Brown! That's enough! Stop

h shut, his sobs turning into choked, shuddering gasps. The room fill

most complete family unit. A tableau of betrayal. It was a grotesque play,

perfect family, my perfect life. Beck was a tech mogul, a success story. Our life was gilded, envied. I could continue to enjoy the luxury, the status, the ease. Bethany could

l hand reached out for her, not for me. My ten months of agonizing pregnancy, my four years of devoted motherhood, dismi

It was the emotional abandonment, the insidious way they had infiltrated my life, my home, my child's heart. My identity as

ed secret. They looked like a family. And I, the actual wife, the actual mother,