Chapter 49

“Stop crying,” I said, my face cold. “If I didn’t love you, how would you have grown up at all? I just want you to understand that if you want real love, you have to give it back. It’s not that I’m treating you badly. It’s that you never appreciate anything.”

Yvonne froze for a second and then went right back to sulking. “Anyway, you just don’t love me anymore. Grandma said if you don’t love me, Daddy will just find a bunch of other women to love me. I don’t need you.”

I was stunned. That was exactly the kind of thing Sally would say. It looked like she had been filling Yvonne’s head with this behind my back.

This was why Yvonne didn’t take me seriously. In the Holcomb family, I had no standing or voice. I was invisible. No wonder Yvonne didn’t respect me as her mom.

I understood what I had failed to realize in my previous life, and the thought was bitter and sad. It turned out that a woman had to fight for her place and her voice, no matter what. Otherwise, even my own family would look down on me and treat me like I didn’t matter.

“Wow, you’re really something now, huh? Already wishing for me and your dad to get divorced,” I said, crossing my legs and leaning back lazily in my chair. “If someone really can take my place as your mom, I’ll gladly hand over the spot.”

“No way would you,” Yvonne shot back, rolling her eyes. “You love Dad so much. If he dumped you, you’d cry your eyes out. Don’t think I don’t know you.”

“So that’s what you think of me, Yvonne? That your mom has no backbone?” I raised an eyebrow.

“Yeah, or else what? You think you’re some tough woman? Last time you said you were running away, you barely made it out the door before you remembered you had laundry drying upstairs and ran right back,” Yvonne mocked me, bringing up my past.

I had nothing to say because she was right.

“I used to be weak, but from now on, I’m going to be strong. Yvonne, if you still think of me as your mom, you’d better start respecting me. If not, you’ll lose me very soon,” I said, standing up.

Then I ordered her, “You have one minute to take your medicine. If you don’t, I won’t go easy on you.”

Yvonne’s eyes went wide, and tears welled up as she picked up the cup and forced the pills into her mouth one by one.

I didn’t want to see her all pitiful and upset, so I turned away and stood by the window, watching the city lights flicker in the dark.

The room was silent for a long time. Yvonne hugged her blanket, cried for a bit, and then drifted off to sleep.

I closed my eyes and sat down on the small sofa, feeling heavy and bitter inside. It looked like divorce was the only way out now.

I pulled out my phone. It was already half past ten, and Jared still hadn’t shown up. Honestly, I really wanted to call him, just to hear if he’d scramble for an excuse. But then I realized if I made that move, it would show he still had control over me. I was going to completely ignore him. If he spent the whole night with his side chick and didn’t come back, I’d just pretend he’d vanished.

At eleven, Jared finally came back, holding a box of steak. When he saw that Yvonne was already asleep, he set the steak in front of me and said softly, “Didn’t you always say steak was your favorite? Have some.”

As he sat next to me, I could smell a faint trace of rose perfume. So, he really was with her all this time.