My mother-in-law stormed toward me, her fury unrestrained and yanked me by the hair before shoving me to the ground. The searing pain ripped through me and I couldn’t stop the scream that escaped my lips.
Towering over me, she jabbed a finger in my direction, her voice sharp and accusing.
"You worthless, barren woman! You’ve never been able to conceive, so how on earth are you suddenly pregnant?"
"Don’t tell me you’ve been sneaking around behind Maximilian’s back, finding some man to father a child and trick our family out of its wealth!"
Her laughter was bitter and cruel. "I knew it. You and your entire family are nothing but trouble!"
I glanced up at her and at Maximilian, whose face was twisted with unbridled fury. The pain coursing through my body was unbearable, but I still tried to explain, desperate to make them listen. My words, however, fell on deaf ears. Instead, their anger only grew, their insults raining down like blows.
"Margaret, you’re nothing but a wild chicken," my mother-in-law spat. "I told my son not to marry you! Like mother, like daughter. Your family must be just as disgraceful!"
Crumbled on the floor, I couldn’t muster the strength to rise. Her venomous words cut deeper than the physical pain. However, I still turned to Maximilian, silently begging him to help me.
His sneer was as cold as ice. "You didn’t die from the fall and now you want my help?"
Before I could respond, he grabbed a fistful of my hair, yanking it harshly. I winced in agony as his voice thundered above me.
"Whore! Tell me whose child you’re carrying, or I swear, I’ll kill you where you lie!"
His face twisted with rage, each word sharper than a dagger aimed at my heart.
Mother and son took turns tormenting me, their cruelty unwavering even as I was seven months pregnant. The agony was so intense it made the world spin around me.
Weakly, I tried to explain, my voice trembling. "Maximilian, we’ve been married for years. I've never been with anyone else but you."
Maximilian, gripping my hair, held me in place as my mother-in-law seized the opportunity to slap me again and again, each strike harder than the last.
"You filthy thing," she sneered. "Still making excuses? Since Maximilian is infertile, did you think the baby just appeared on its own?"
The slaps left my face burning and swollen and the pain in my chest made it hard to breathe.
"Please, stop!" I cried, my voice choked with tears, but my mother-in-law was merciless. With a cruel kick to my stomach, she spat, "You’ve brought shame to the Harrington name. What will the world think when they learn the truth?"
My abdomen throbbed with excruciating pain and my scream filled the room, echoing the agony that tore through me. Blood began to pour from me and with each drop, the weight of her mockery deepened.
Seeing my suffering, my mother-in-law's cruel laugh rang out, her earlier kindness long gone, replaced by bitter triumph.
Maximilian stood there, veins bulging on his forehead. The blood dripping from me didn’t seem to faze him. One hand pressed against my neck, choking me, while the other slammed my head into the wall.
I screamed in desperation as the world spun around me. The sharp pain in my stomach felt as if my insides were being ripped apart.
"Whore," he growled, his voice dripping with fury. "You knew all my life, I dreamed of having a child."
His hands tightened around my neck as his voice turned venomous. "How dare you betray me? How dare you sneak around and sleep with another man?"
"What did my family ever do to you?" he continued, his words venomous. "I love children, I cherish them, but I only love my own."
My vision blurred, my hair spilling over my face like a curtain. I summoned the last remnants of my strength, forcing the words out with hoarse determination.
"For two years, I couldn’t get pregnant and your mother encouraged you to find someone else," I whispered, barely able to get the words out.
"I knew it all along."
Maximilian’s eyes flashed with cold anger. "In your eyes, there’s only your child," I managed to say, the bitterness in my voice matching the anger in his.
