I angrily laughed.
When my mom was still here, she treated Zion like her own child, yet he walked in with another woman dressed in a red dress, standing in front of my mom’s memorial, and he still dared to say I was narrow-minded.
I raised my head, looked at Zion, and my voice became steady.
“Zion, on my mom’s death anniversary, you brought your mistress home. Is that what you call being broad-hearted?”
My sudden reply made Zion’s face turn dark in an instant.
He stared at me for a few moments, then let out a cold, short laugh.
“Natalie, you’re unbelievable! You can’t recognize kindness when you see it!”
He reached over, pulled Maeve into his arms, and covered her as he turned to walk out, as if saying even one more word to me was pointless.
I drew in a deep breath.
Then I turned around, forced a proper smile onto my face, and offered apologies and farewells to every relative and friend.
After the last guest left, I slowly stepped toward my mom’s memorial tablet and let all my defenses fall.
“I’m sorry, Mom.”
“Today is your death anniversary, but I ended up upsetting you. Okay, let’s stop bringing up things that hurt… Mom, I set up a room for the baby. Will you come see it?”
I held the memorial tablet and slowly walked toward the small room.
But the moment the door opened, I froze on the spot.
The room was in chaos.
The baby clothes I had folded neatly were gone, and the little toys I had arranged on the shelf had vanished too.
My first thought was that a thief had broken in.
I quickly called security to ask what had happened.
The security guard’s voice sounded unsure.
“Ma’am… this… it wasn’t someone from outside.”
“It was Mr. Payne… he had people take everything away.”
I stood frozen, a loud ringing filling my ears.
After hanging up, I opened Maeve’s social media and scrolled through her posts one by one.
Soon, in a few photos that looked casual, I spotted something I knew too well.
The dog in Maeve’s house was wearing the tiny outfit I had bought for my baby.
The once soft fabric had been chewed out of shape, soaked with spit.
On the carpet, torn into pieces, were the toys I had gotten for my baby!
I clenched my teeth so hard that my chest was sore to the point I could hardly breathe.
If these were things I had bought at random, maybe it wouldn’t have hurt this much.
But they weren’t.
Those clothes were ones I received by asking favors, borrowed from the children of respected people in different fields, and they were hand-me-downs from their kids.
I fixed each piece bit by bit, washed, dried, pressed them, pouring into them my hopes and wishes for my baby’s days ahead.
The toys came from old friends and family, each one was a heartfelt gift they handed me when they learned I was pregnant.
And now, Zion had personally taken them away.
To hand them to his mistress’s dog!
I lost all calm, held my belly, and rushed straight to the company.
The front-desk assistant stopped short when he saw me, then quickly stood up in alarm. “Ma’am, Mr. Payne can’t see anyone right now—”
I ignored him and walked right inside.
The assistant rushed after me, stepping in front of me, lowering his voice with clear intent to stop me.
“You really can’t go in right now.”
Before I said anything, sounds came from the slightly open office door at the end of the hall.
A woman’s forced, shaky breaths, mixed with a man’s low, suggestive chuckles, and the faint thuds of furniture being bumped, all reached my ears at once.
A wave of heat rushed to my head, then drained in an instant, leaving my arms and legs cold.
I didn’t look at the assistant again.
I lifted my hand and pushed the door open.
The door hit the wall hard.
The scene inside the office appeared right in front of me with nothing hidden.
The messy desk, documents scattered, the chair pushed aside, and Zion leaning against the desk with his clothes in disarray, while Maeve was half leaning into his hold, her skirt wrinkled, her face flushed.
The air carried a sickening smell.
Maeve jumped in surprise; the next moment, her eyes watered instantly, and she curled into Zion’s arms by instinct.
I stood in the doorway, my fingers pressing into the frame, a tight pain spreading across my belly.
“Zion.” My voice shook.
“Why did you hand the clothes I got ready for my baby… to this woman’s dog?”
The moment she heard that, Maeve’s tears dropped right away.
“Sis… Sis…” Her tone was soft and hurt. “I just… just saw those outfits on Brother Zion’s phone a few days back, and I thought they looked so cute… so I casually said… it’d be nice if my dog could try them on…”
“And Zion gave me those clothes and toys the next day. I honestly didn’t know they were for your baby. If I knew, how could I take them?”
A sharp pain throbbed at my temples. I had barely opened my mouth when Zion let out a short laugh.
He lowered his head to look at Maeve, his tone gentle and doting.
“Why bother saying so much to her?”
“How could she not take them?” His tone was careless. “Those worn-out old outfits, letting a dog use them fits just fine.”
A loud buzzing rushed through my head.
Worn?
Good for a dog?
My voice scraped out of my throat with effort. “Zion, those were the clothes I begged—”
“Enough.” Zion impatiently interrupted me.
“Can you stop making such a big deal?”
He lightly touched Maeve’s back, sounding completely dismissive.
“What you did at your mom’s death anniversary upset Maeve. I took a few outfits and toys to compensate her. What’s the issue?”
He looked straight at me, his expression cold. “And now you run to the company to yell?”
Compensate?
Using our baby’s clothes and toys to make it up to his mistress?
