Two Sons, A Mother's Divided Heart

n Garn

inful, Jo

who usually fawned over any Garner family member, suddenly found the paperwork on his desk

was heavy, thick with five

h paint under her nails and stars in her eyes. The woman I had used as a pawn in a brutal fa

orchestrated performance of power and legacy. My engagement to Christabel Fitzpatrick, a woman whose family tree was as immaculate as her po

who had trapped me. The truth was far more complicated. I had been the one to scheme. And when she became

e was confined, held until the scandal died down, and then, unceremoniously discarded. I had a security

adn't thought of her since.

n coiled in my gut. She looked different. The naive softness in her eyes had been replaced by a ha

of her son-her stepson. She was trembling, a faint, almost imperc

of his hand and glared at me, his small face

ance to Josephine's worn clothes. "Mom? Don't be ridiculous. She's just some

warned, my

e of that. I remembered the things people had called her, the lies Christabel

ments of life in the city. I' d always thrown them away. Now, looking at the fierce love in her eyes as she shielded thi

ame twisting into cruelty. "She' s a whore. She p

a small ball of fury.

ius, and for a fleeting moment, her eyes were filled not with anger, but with a profoun

n the rearview mirror of the car

oice sharper this time. "That'

stomping out of the office. The air cleared, but the

irectly. She just kept her eyes

aid, the words tasting like ash. "Sti

he said, her voice quiet but unyielding. I

thought I was here to drag her back into that gilded cage. The thought

said coldly. "I have no inte

warm honey, were devoid of the adoration they once hel

ut a small handful of crumpled bills. She placed them on the principal's desk.

ards the door, moving with a desper

, like static electricity, shot through me. A ghost of a

d, my voice roughe

hed but d

were a warning, a threat meant to

a moment, I thought she would turn, that she

ble dip of her head. It was an agreement. A

the hallway, I heard Iggy's voice from down t

s hand and almost ran, her footsteps echoing do