Chapter 101
Matty didn’t deny it. Instead, he said, “That’s because you called me a bastard with no mommy. And you talked badly about Sharon.”
Theo snapped back, still fuming. “Sharon is my mommy. I can say whatever I want about her!”
Matty raised his voice, defending her. “She’s not some nanny. I won’t let you talk about her like that in front of me!”
“And what are you gonna do about it?” Theo shot back, eyes blazing. “No matter what I say about her, she’s still my mom. That’ll never change. But you…”
He glared at Matty with all the cruelty a child could muster. “You’ll always be a bastard with no mommy.”
“Theo.”
“Enough!”
Two voices rang out at once-Carter’s and Sharon’s.
They both instinctively turned toward each other, eyes meeting for just a second before looking away, each expression cold and unreadable.
Carter’s gaze was icy, sharp as glass.
“Where are your manners?”
Theo was the future heir of the Biggs family. Carter had always held him to a strict standard.
And Theo had always respected and feared his father.
He could throw tantrums at Sharon, but never dared to talk back to Carter.
But today, for the first time, he did.
“I didn’t say anything wrong!” Theo said, chin lifted defiantly, eyes wet with resentment as he stared at Sharon, who was now crouched beside Matty, her voice low and gentle.
His voice trembled with jealousy.
He pointed straight at Matty. “That bastard said his daddy is going to marry my mommy. He said my mommy’s going to become his mommy, and that she won’t be my mommy anymore. He said she won’t care about me.
“He said Mommy cooks for him every day, gives him baths, tells him stories, and tucks him in at night. He said that I’m the one without a mommy!
“These days, he keeps coming up to me, going on and on about how nice she is to him… and that even though I have a mommy, it’s no different than not having one at all…”
By the time he got to the end, Theo’s voice had taken on a choked, teary edge. He looked completely miserable.
Seeing this, Kelly quickly stepped in. “Carter, this isn’t entirely Theo’s fault. Sharon abandoned her own son and went to care for someone else’s…”
She trailed off, as if trying to hold herself back.
“Theo just wants his mother’s love. Is that so wrong? Isn’t the real issue that Sharon isn’t doing her job as a mother?”
As she spoke, her tone shifted, and she glanced toward Sharon with a subtle air of blame.
“Sharon, Theo is your son. Why are you taking care of someone else’s son instead?”
1/2
Sharon looked at her, her expression unreadable. “You’re right. Theo is my son. Carter is my husband. So tell me, why are they supporting you instead of me?”
Theo didn’t catch the meaning behind her words. He yelled back, “That’s because you’re always bullying Kelly!”
Sharon turned to him. “So what you’re saying is, you and your father are fair and impartial, that you treat everyone equally?”
“Of course!”
Up until now, most people in the room had been quietly blaming Sharon, thinking she was an unfit mother. But after hearing this exchange between her and Theo, all eyes slowly shifted to Kelly, expressions shifting.
There was a lot hidden in those few sentences.
Whether or not Sharon had wronged Kelly, Theo had just told everyone-he and his father had taken sides with someone outside the family.
Kelly’s face stiffened. Just as she opened her mouth to respond, Sharon’s voice cut through the tension-calm, but laced with irony.
“Then I’m just like you. Since you’ve been bullying Matty, I’m being fair and impartial, too. What’s wrong with that?”
Theo froze.
2/2
