Chapter 6: Torn apart
"Mommy, why didn’t you come to pick me up today?" Zane’s small fingers curled around Zara’s hand, his wide eyes brimming with innocent hurt. "I waited and waited... but then the driver came and brought me here. I don’t want to be here."
Zara’s throat tightened. She blinked back the sting of tears and forced a gentle smile onto her face. "Your grandma loves you, sweetheart. Why don’t you want to be here?"
"Because I want to be with you," he said stubbornly, his lower lip jutting out in a pout. "I like Grandma, I do. But I love you more. Take me home." He tugged at her hand, his tone demanding.
Her heart ached. Every ounce of her wanted to scoop him into her arms and take him away, abandoning the idea of ending this marriage. But Nathaniel’s cold voice echoed in her head like a sharp slap.
’She is not dead yet? Don’t call me until she is.’
The bitterness in those words had seared into her soul, a cruel reminder that the love she longed for simply didn’t exist.
This marriage was falling apart. His heart had grown cold toward her. No matter how hard she tried, Zara knew she couldn’t change his feelings or make him love her. Forcing the relationship would only bring her more pain and might even risk the life of the baby growing inside her.
Zara swallowed the lump in her throat. "Zane, don’t be upset. Stay here with Grandma, okay?"
Zane’s shoulders drooped. His eyes dimmed as he looked down at the floor. "Okay," he whispered. "I’ll obey you."
Zane’s disappointed expression tugged painfully at Zara’s heart. She pulled him into a tight hug, the ache growing inside her. She felt torn in half — one part of her was determined to break free from this loveless marriage, but the other part clung desperately to the bond she shared with Zane.
She had raised him not as her sister’s child, but as her own. Seeing him hurt, shattered something inside her.