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Chapter 2
Nolan looked stunned, his expression flashing with irritation.
"Don't be ridiculous," he said. "We already agreed to get the marriage license tomorrow."
He thought I was just messing with him, and reached for my injured hand. I pulled it back, meeting his gaze calmly.
"I'm not joking, Nolan. I don't want to marry you anymore."
He sneered, his voice suddenly sharp. "And you don't want Aiden anymore either?"
My heart clenched at the mention of our son, Aiden. I never thought he would use him as leverage against me.
Aiden was four now, and he'd been raised by the Birch family since birth. I had him out of wedlock when I was a teenager, and the Birches, a wealthy family, didn't think someone like me, a housekeeper's daughter, could provide for a child of their "noble blood." Even though I was Aiden's mother, I could barely see him.
Nolan knew Aiden was my weakness, and he also knew how helpless I felt in this situation.
He reached for my hand again, his eyes scanning the wound. "You should visit Aiden more. He's even calling Aria 'Mommy' now."
His words cut deep. It wasn't that I didn't want to see Aiden, it was that I was only allowed to visit him once a month, and Nolan never said a word in my defense when his parents made that decision.
I pulled my hand away, indifferent. "Then let Aria be his mom. She's eager for it, anyway."
Without warning, Nolan snatched the disinfectant from my hand and threw it on the floor, his face contorted with rage.
"Scarlett, haven't you had enough? Why do you always have to compete with Aria? What's wrong with her being good to Aiden?"
His words triggered a painful memory from last month. I had gone to visit Aiden, but I overheard Aria coaxing him with lollipops.
"Sweetheart," she said, "When your mommy comes to see you, throw rotten eggs at her. Then you can let Aunt Aria be your mommy, okay?"
The four-year-old, innocent as ever, threw rotten eggs at me, calling her "Mommy" as he clapped his hands in delight. I stood there, humiliated, while Aria wore a smug grin. Nolan's parents, Amanda and Oscar Birch, quickly arrived and dismissed it, saying Aiden was too young to understand. Nolan just stood there, watching.
That day, I fled the Birch Estate, only to be accused of being petty. The wound from that incident still stung. Some feelings, once they fade, turn into a festering pain, and no matter what you do, you're always in the wrong.
I let out a sarcastic laugh, the bitterness thick in my voice. "She did nothing wrong. It's all my fault. Are you happy now?"
I shoved him away and walked out, my heart heavy with years of unresolved anger.
Maybe my coldness triggered something in him, because Nolan snapped.
"Why have you become so unreasonable? The gentle, kind Scarlett I once loved is gone."
Yes, the Scarlett from before was gone. But hadn't the Nolan who once loved her also died in the past?