On her son’s birthday, Nora Sullivan saw a post on Moments.
Her former best friend, Willa Donovan, was leaning her head against a man’s shoulder. The two of them were holding a little boy in their arms, the three pressed close together, with the caption: "How is this not a family of three?"
Nora’s heart gave a violent shudder.
If she hadn’t known the people in that photo, she probably would’ve left a blessing.
Too bad she knew them all too well. The man was her husband of six years. The child was the son she had nearly died bringing into this world...
Her fingers trembling, she zoomed in on the picture. But on Cedric Thornwood and Adrian Thornwood’s faces, there wasn’t the slightest sign of being forced. It was all real, open, wholehearted happiness.
On the table, the Ultraman birthday cake had already melted into a sad, unrecognizable mess. The dozen or so dishes she had spent hours preparing had gone completely cold, just like her heart.
Kindergarten ended at three-thirty. Four and a half hours had passed, and neither of them had come home.
They wouldn’t answer her calls. They ignored her texts. Every message she sent vanished like a stone dropped into the ocean.
So the people she had been waiting for were busy celebrating a birthday with Willa, tossing her aside like she didn’t matter.
Even Adrian, before she had realized it, had already chosen Willa too.
Like father, like son. Even their taste in who they cared about was exactly the same.
After being let down again and again, Nora had gone past heartbreak. She felt numb.
Expressionless, she left a comment under the post: "You three look great together."
Then she took a screenshot, saved it, and posted it to her own Moments with the caption: "They really do look like a family with my husband and son."
Over the years, Willa had pulled this kind of petty stunt nonstop. Every single one of those posts had been visible only to Nora, like she was deliberately trying to gross her out and get under her skin.
This time, Nora wanted their mutual friends to see exactly how badly Willa wanted to steal someone else’s place.
The very next second, Willa deleted the post.
Nora laughed.
She got to her feet and told the housekeeper, "Throw it all away."
The food had gone cold, stripped of the smell and flavor it had fresh out of the pan. Their marriage was the same—bland, dead, nothing left to hold on to.
If it couldn’t be kept, then fine. Throw it away.
Back upstairs, Nora Sullivan had just finished her shower and stepped out of the bathroom when a rush of hurried footsteps came from outside. Before she could even get to the door, it was kicked open with a bang.
Cedric Thornwood stood there with a dark face, his whole body carrying that low, stormy pressure. He grabbed her wrist hard. "Willa finally started doing a little better. Why would you go out of your way to upset her?"
"Upset her?" Nora gave a cold laugh. For a second, she felt like the man she had lived with for six years was a total stranger. "Who exactly was provoking who? Or did you already forget what you promised me yesterday?"
She lifted her phone and shoved the chat screen in front of him. It was the conversation from the day before, the one where Cedric had clearly said he would come home to celebrate their son’s birthday.
A flicker of guilt crossed his eyes. His tone softened a little. "Something unexpected came up. I forgot to tell you in time. But that still doesn’t mean you should target Willa."
Tell you.
That word sounded ridiculous.
That was the kind of word a boss used with an employee.
In Cedric’s world, even if Willa Donovan had been the one to throw the first punch, Nora still had no right to hit back. She was supposed to do what she had always done—swallow it, keep quiet, act like nothing happened.
"Bad Mom! It’s all your fault Auntie Willa cried!" Adrian Thornwood stood at the doorway, shouting with a red little face. "You ruined their whole lives already, so why are you still going after her? Do you have to push Auntie Willa to death before you’re satisfied?"
His features were delicate and handsome, almost a copy of Cedric’s. Even the tone he used to accuse her was exactly the same.
Nora’s body swayed slightly. She looked at Cedric in disbelief, her fingers turning cold. "That’s what you told Adrian?"
Cedric’s brows drew together, annoyance written all over his face. "Was Adrian wrong? You’re angry today because we celebrated with Willa, right? But look at what she’s become now. Wasn’t that all because of you? Adrian and I are helping you atone for what you did."
Six years ago, Donovan Group was dragged into a tax evasion scandal. The whole empire collapsed overnight. Willa’s parents couldn’t bear the pressure and both took their own lives.
Tang Feng—Felix Donovan—Cedric’s closest friend, was hounded by debt collectors at university and fell to his death in an accident, leaving only his younger sister, Willa, behind.
At some point, rumors spread across campus that it had been the girl sponsored by the Thornwood family who showed the debt collectors where to find him. That was why Felix died.
And Willa, who had seen her brother fall to his death with her own eyes, developed a severe psychological illness from that day on.
His brother was dead. His girlfriend got sick. Even he had been drugged and ended up spending one chaotic night with the so-called informer.
And the person everyone pointed to as the source of all of it was the girl the Thornwood family had supported all those years—
Nora Sullivan.
Cedric had no face left to show Willa. Under pressure from Mr. Thornwood, he had no choice but to agree to marriage. His only conditions were that the Thornwood family would pay back the Donovans’ debts and send Willa overseas for the best psychiatric treatment possible.
On the night of their wedding, Cedric had pinned Nora onto the bed, fingers clamped around her throat, his eyes red with hatred as he demanded over and over again why she had killed Felix, why she had gone after the Donovan family.
Nora Sullivan tried her best to explain herself, but no one bought a word of it. With the surveillance footage broken too, the blame landed on her just like that, clean and final.
From that day on, she became the sinner in everyone’s eyes.
After she gave birth, Cedric Thornwood’s mother had even snatched Adrian Thornwood away and kept him by her side, feeding him day after day with the same poison—that Nora was rotten to the core, vicious, shameless, beyond saving.
It wasn’t until Adrian turned three that he was finally sent back to her. And even now, only a year had passed.
That seed planted so early had already taken root. Just like Cedric, Adrian looked at Nora with nothing but disgust.
Nora had done everything she could to be a good wife, a good mother. She kept hoping that one day, this father and son would finally see who she really was.
In the end, though, it was all a joke.
Six years.
She really should wake up by now.
Nora drew in a deep breath, picked up the document resting by the bedside, and held it out to Cedric. But before she could say a single word, his phone suddenly rang.
He slapped her hand away without even trying to hide the coldness on his face, then answered the call.
The next second, he turned to look at Nora, eyes like ice. "Because of you, Willa slit her wrist at home. If anything happens to her today, don’t think you’ll get away with it either!"
Adrian, who had been standing by the door, glared at Nora with open fury. "Dad, just divorce Mom already! Then Auntie Willa can be my new mommy!"
Cedric shot Nora one last look, full of naked revulsion, then took Adrian and strode out fast.
The words from that father and son kept echoing in Nora’s head, over and over, like they were stuck on loop. Suddenly, she let out a quiet laugh and lowered her eyes to the divorce agreement in her hand.
Looks like there was one more clause she needed to add—
She would give up custody of Adrian Thornwood.