Chapter 201
“Theo said… he hates me,” Matty murmured. “He doesn’t want you and me to be together. He said the only reason he came to the amusement park was to make up with you. That if he just acted soft and sweet, you’d forgive him. And then you’d stop paying attention to me. He also said… he said…”
Matty’s eyes reddened suddenly. His voice caught in his throat, thick with the weight of something he didn’t want to say.
Sharon leaned forward. “He said what?”
“He said I’m just a substitute,” he whispered. “Sharon, am I really just Theo’s replacement?”
His wide eyes shimmered with tears, like a stray animal left out in the rain-beautiful, fragile, and aching to be loved.
Sharon’s heart tightened. And with it, her disappointment in Theo cut deeper.
A substitute?
Theo was just like his father. They liked to play substitutes. Like father, like son.
She knelt down to Matty’s eye level. “You’re not a substitute for anyone. You are yourself, Matty. That’s more than enough. If you want an apology from Theo, I’ll make sure you get it. But if there’s anything else you want, anything at all, tell me. I’ll do whatever I can to make it happen.”
Matty hesitated, then looked up at her with cautious, searching eyes.
“I don’t want anything else,” he said softly. “I just want you to stay with me.”
Her chest ached at that.
Ever since she met him, it felt like Matty had been constantly getting picked on by Theo, always suffering, always left behind.
And yet, he’d never once blamed her. Never even blamed Theo.
Sharon took a deep breath and turned toward the man who had been silently standing to the side this whole time-Xavier.
“Xavier,” she said. “If there’s anything you’d like to ask for… please tell me.”
Xavier looked her in the eye. “Sharon, you need to understand-Theo isn’t yours alone. The responsibility shouldn’t fall on just
you.”
“Because you’ve been carrying all of it by yourself,” he continued, “Carter’s never had to step up. He thinks raising a child is simple. He can’t see everything you’ve done. That’s why it’s so easy for him to dismiss you.”
His words stopped her. Something inside her went still.
She had done everything alone. She knew how much Carter had on his plate-running a massive company, his endless meetings, the stress. So she never asked him for help. Never let him worry about the little things.
She had wanted to be a good wife. The kind who made sure he had no reason to look back, no loose ends to tie.
And what did he do with all that free space? He gave it to another woman.
How absurd. How cruelly ironic.
“I understand,” she said quietly. “Thank you, Xavier.”
In Theo’s hospital room, after confirming that Theo was out of danger, Carter sent Madeline and Denise home before pushing open the door.
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Chapter 201
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The sound of it stirred Theo, who immediately turned toward it with hopeful eyes–only for that light to dim the second he saw who it was.
His father.
The disappointment on his face was impossible to miss.
Carter caught it all. He closed the door behind him. “Theo,” he said, “what really happened?”
Theo was silent for a few moments, then looked up suddenly.
“Dad… can you not divorce Mom?”
Carter’s dark eyes flickered. His thin lips curved into a faint, ambiguous smile.
“Did your mother tell you to say that?”
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