The Hero Husband's Cruel Betrayal

caught fire, he saved a child. But it wasn't our son. He walked right p

s rare heart condition triggering a life-threatening crisi

n our son' s only dose to the ot

e news hailed my husband as a self

ping the man I married would return. But watching him smile

g up. He's convinced I'm too weak to leave,

vered our mate bond, and am driving our son far a

pte

nt of burning wood and singed hair thick in the air. Greyson, my

nt, to answer a call from the hospital, when the first plume of black smoke billowed from the buil

son, gently, his face streaked with soot but resolute. The crowd cheered, a wave of relief and admiration washing over the

r. Where

iar, icy dread began to spread from my stomach, chilling my veins. It was the same dread I felt ever

He's still inside!" It was Mrs. Gable, one of the volunteers, her face pale w

Karter. His small, fragile heart. The smoke, the heat... it was too much. Fear c

inferno, ignoring the shouts of those trying to hold me back. The heat hit me like a physica

he ceiling, casting dancing shadows that made the familiar hall unrecognizable. I coughed

ter, where a

skin was mottled red, singed at the edges of his thin cotton shirt. Soot covered his face, and h

wn my face, washing paths through the grime. "Karter! Oh, my sweet boy!" I pulled him

nds clutched at my dress, seeking comfort, seeking reassurance. His

roken. "Daddy... Daddy saved Emil first. He d

wn breath caught, a wave of nausea washing over me as I squeezed my eyes shut, rocking him gently. How could I answer that? Ho

son, leaving him to suffer, and chosen another. Karter's innocent question was a condemnation, a tr

shed past me, Mommy. Emil was crying. Daddy scooped Emil up and ran out." He coughed, a wet, rattling sou

publicly disowned our son. He had proclaimed another boy his own, right in front of Karter. The humiliation burn

d screamed, but no sound escaped my lips. There was no explanation, no comfort I could offer to erase that memory from his innocent

ery moment I had clung to the hope that Greyson would change, that he would see Karter, that he would see m

er alone, nurturing his sensitive heart, explaining away his father's absence with stories o

myself a flicker of hope. I thought his homecoming would mend the gaping hole

mrade, and her son, Emil. He had come home to claim a surrogate family, leaving his

his eyes, unfocused, still held the hurt of his father's rejection. I pulled out the

again, his little voice cracking. The question was a re

t to the cloying smoke. I couldn't lie to him anymore. I couldn't make excu

icture for Greyson. A crude stick figure of a family, Greyson at the center, holding Karter's

, his small voice full of pure, unadulterated

ey were laughing, a picture of domestic bliss I had only ever dreamed of. As Karter had tentatively appr

s, right, champ?" He hadn't even looked at Karter, whose face had cr

d, my voice tight. "Kar

want to do tonight, Emil? My little warrior deserves a treat, don't you think?" His eye

ed Karter again, tears silently streaming down my face. "I'm so sorry, baby," I whispered, my voice thi

tful sleep, his feverish breathing shallow. Even in his slumb

y. Greyson's neglect hadn't just bruised Karter's skin; it had shattered his spirit. And I, his mo