The following afternoon, after Mia had been cleared for discharge from the Royal Care Pavilion, we returned to the Kane mansion.

The grand living room of the Kane mansion felt colder than the storm outside had been.

Marcus sat on the Italian leather sectional, a piece of white medical gauze taped over the corner of his split lip. Across from him sat his family attorney, a briefcase open on the marble table between them.

The moment I walked in, Marcus let out a dry, venomous laugh.

He picked up a thick stack of documents and slammed them onto the glass coffee table with a sharp crack.

"Sign it," Marcus sneered, leaning forward with his elbows on his knees. "Every single clause is already drawn up. You leave this house with exactly what you brought into it—nothing."

I didn't answer. I looked at the bold title on the first page: *Marital Dissolution and Complete Asset Forfeiture Agreement.*

"Did you really think that slap in the hospital would give you leverage?" Marcus asked, his tone dripping with condescension. "Without my name and my bank accounts, you can't even afford a studio apartment in the slums. You have no job, no savings, and no family to take you in. If you think you're getting a single cent of alimony or child support from me, you're out of your mind."

Evelyn walked down the curved staircase, her arms folded across her chest as she joined her son's side.

"You should be grateful Marcus isn't having you arrested for domestic assault," Evelyn said, her voice grating. "Sign the papers, pack your cheap clothes into a trash bag, and get out of our sight."

I pulled out the chair opposite them and sat down.

My posture was straight, my hands resting calmly on the table. My attorney, Richard Wright, took the seat beside me, setting down a slim leather folder.

"I have no interest in your money, Marcus," I said, my voice smooth and level. "I'm not asking for this house, your cars, your company shares, or a single dime of your wealth."

Marcus raised an eyebrow, a mocking smirk tugging at the uninjured side of his mouth. "Playing the martyr now? Fine by me. That saves my legal team thirty minutes of paperwork."

"However," I continued, opening my folder and sliding two identical documents across the polished marble, "we need to settle the matter of the children."

The room went quiet for a second.

Marcus glanced at the title of my filing: *Proposed Parenting and Custody Stipulation.*

"What is this nonsense?" Marcus asked, frowning.

"Both Noah and Mia are six years old," I said clearly, looking at both attorneys. "They are old enough to understand basic choices. In front of both legal representatives, we let them state who they want to live with. Each of us will ask the family court for primary physical custody of the child who chooses us, and neither of us will seek support from the other for that child, subject to court approval."

Marcus scoffed, exchanging a glance with his lawyer. "You want them to choose? You really want to humiliate yourself like that?"

"Call them down," I said.

Evelyn smirked, looking entirely confident. She turned toward the hallway and called out, "Noah! Sweetheart, come to Grandma!"

From the playroom, Noah ran out into the living room. In his hands, he clutched the newest gold-plated handheld gaming console. His pockets were stuffed with imported sweets, and a heavy gold chain hung around his small neck.

Behind him, walking quietly along the edge of the hallway, was Mia.

Mia had changed into a clean, simple cotton shirt. On her back, she wore her favorite little pink backpack—the one with small, uneven hand stitches where I had repaired the zipper for her months ago.

Noah dashed straight over to Marcus, leaning against his father's designer jeans while staring intently at his glowing screen.

I looked at my son, softening my tone despite the chill in the room. "Noah, come here for a moment."

Noah didn't even look up from his game. "What do you want?"

"Noah, Mommy and Daddy are separating," I said gently. "You have a choice today. You can come with Mommy, or you can stay here with Daddy."

Noah stopped playing for a fraction of a second. He looked up at me, his young face twisting with the same arrogance I had seen on his father for six years.

He shoved my outstretched hand away with the corner of his console.

"I'm not going anywhere with you!" Noah shouted, stepping back toward Evelyn. "Grandma said you're poor! If I go with you, I won't get any new game consoles, and I won't get to drive the mini sports car Daddy ordered for my birthday!"

The words came out without a hint of hesitation.

"I want to stay in Daddy's big mansion!" Noah declared loudly, hugging the expensive toy to his chest. "Grandma told me everything here belongs to me because I'm the Kane family heir. You're just a broke loser, and I don't want to suffer with you!"

Evelyn burst into satisfied laughter, wrapping her manicured hands around Noah's shoulders. "That's my boy! You see that, Charlotte? Even a six-year-old knows trash when he sees it. My grandson has Kane blood—he belongs in high society, not in the gutter with you."

A sharp, hollow ache pressed against my chest. For six years, I had poured my heart into raising him, nursing him through every sickness, teaching him his first words, and shielding him from his grandmother's toxic vanity.

Yet in the end, Evelyn had bought his loyalty with sugar, plastic, and greed.

I closed my eyes for a brief second, letting that pain dissolve into nothingness. When I opened them, the last shred of maternal longing for the boy evaporated.

"Mommy..."

A soft, timid voice broke the heavy silence.

I turned around.

Mia was standing by the edge of the coffee table. She ignored the mountain of expensive toys piled on the floor and the plates of sweet treats on the counter. Her small fingers reached out, taking hold of my sleeve, gripping the fabric tightly.

She looked up at me with clear, dark eyes that held no doubt.

"Mommy, Mia only wants you," she whispered, her voice steady and sweet. "I don't need new toys. I don't need a big room. As long as I'm with Mommy, I'm not scared of anything."

A tear slipped down my cheek, but a genuine smile broke through the tension on my face.

I knelt down, wrapping my arms around her small shoulders, and pulled her tight against my heart. "Thank you, my brave girl."

Standing back up, I picked up the silver fountain pen from the table.

Without a second of hesitation, I turned to the final page of the custody agreement. In clean, sweeping strokes, I signed my name under the clause stating that I would not seek primary physical custody of Noah and would petition for primary physical custody of Mia, subject to the court's approval.

Marcus took the pen next, signing his name with an arrogant flourish.

"You're making the biggest mistake of your life, Charlotte," Marcus said, tossing the pen back onto the glass. "You're taking the worthless girl and leaving the future billionaire behind. In less than a month, you'll be on your knees in the rain outside these gates, begging me to take you back as a maid just to feed her."

"Don't flatter yourself, Marcus," I said calmly, taking the signed copy from my lawyer.

Evelyn stood with her hands on Noah's head, watching us with pure disgust. "Hurry up and get out! Take that little money-drain and go beg in the streets! Let's see how long your pride lasts when you're sleeping under a bridge!"

Noah laughed along with his grandmother, waving his console in the air. "Bye-bye, broke Mommy! Don't come back to my house!"

I didn't utter another word. I lifted Mia into my arms, holding her close to my chest, and walked toward the grand double doors of the mansion.

We stepped out onto the wide stone porch, and the heavy oak doors slammed shut behind us with a resounding thud.

The afternoon sky was gray, the storm clouds still hanging low over the city.

Mia buried her face against my neck, feeling the cold breeze. "Mommy, are we homeless now?"

"No, baby," I whispered softly into her hair. "We're going home."

At the bottom of the long driveway, beyond the ornate iron gates of the Kane estate, the quiet suburban avenue was entirely blocked.

Lined up in unbroken, flawless rows from one end of the street to the other were thirty pitch-black, armored Rolls-Royce Phantoms. Every single vehicle bore the crimson crest of the Vance family global command, their engines idling in a deep, rhythmic hum that made the pavement vibrate beneath our feet.