His eyes, his brows—they looked so much like mine. How could he possibly be someone else's child?

But once doubt took root, it lodged itself like a thorn.

I couldn't pretend I hadn't seen what I'd seen. I got up, grabbed a pair of scissors, and while Tommy was busy attacking his birthday cake, I carefully snipped a small lock of his hair.

I sealed it in a plastic bag and tucked it against my body.

Then I cut myself a slice of cake.

Two years ago today, I'd been lying on a hospital bed, being wheeled out of the operating room.

Nelson had been standing at the door holding an enormous bouquet of roses.

His eyes were rimmed red—this man who never showed weakness.

He'd grabbed my hand, his voice shaking. "Norma, you're the hero of this family. I swear I'll never let you down."

The memory turned the cake in my mouth bitter.

We'd spent two blissful years together. His devotion to Tommy put me to shame as a mother. Every evening, the first thing he did when he got home was scoop Tommy up. On weekends, he took us to the park. When Tommy fussed in the middle of the night, Nelson was the one who jumped out of bed to soothe him.

How had such a warm, happy life fallen apart like this?

Then something hit me.

Today was Tommy's second birthday.

After a child turned two, a father could legally contest the mother for custody.

That message in his chat with Eunice echoed in my mind:

She has no house, no car, no job. Custody will be mine.

He'd planned this from the start.

Had they been counting down to this day all along?

I contacted the most reputable testing lab in Southport.

When the technician came to collect the sample, the doorbell rang while Tommy was sprawled on the couch playing with his blocks. He had sharp ears. The second he heard the sound, he scrambled down and toddled toward the door, calling out, "Daddy! Daddy!"

I scooped him up. Something in my chest twisted so hard I couldn't breathe.

"It's not Daddy."

"Mommy ordered food, okay? Mommy's going to get it. You wait right here like a good boy."

He nodded, not quite understanding, and went back to his blocks.

I clenched my jaw and texted Nelson:

Remember to bring Tommy a present when you come home. He wouldn't blow out the candles without you. He cried the whole time.

A few minutes later, he replied:

I'm not coming home tonight. Honestly, I don't know what kind of mother you are. You can't even handle one kid. I'll have my mom come pick him up later.

My suspicion from earlier hit me like a fire alarm. My fingers flew across the screen:

No need. If you're not coming back, I'll just buy Tommy a present myself. Don't bother your mom.

He didn't respond.

Even though I'd guessed what they were planning, it didn't matter whether Tommy shared my blood or not. He'd grown inside me. He was a piece of me.

Nelson was right about one thing. The house, the car—all purchased before the marriage, all in his name. He had an Ivy League PhD and a vice presidency at the hospital.

Meanwhile, I'd been kicked out by my parents right after high school. I'd barely kept myself fed for years, and every cent I'd managed to save went toward my dowry. After Tommy was born, I'd quit my job entirely to take care of him full-time.

I had nothing. I didn't stand a chance against him in court.

All I could do was pretend I knew nothing and figure out a plan.

A sudden knock came at the door. Before I could react, it swung open.

Jean Sanchez stood in the doorway. The moment she spotted me sitting on the couch, the smile slid right off her face.

"Norma, I swear I don't know who raised you to be this lazy."

"You're living in my son's house, and you can't even be bothered to answer the door when I knock?"

I stared at the woman sneering in my doorway. Just yesterday, she'd sent me a text saying she'd made braised short ribs and invited me over for dinner.

So much could change in a single day.

I walked over and lowered my voice. "Mom, I just got Tommy down for his nap. He's sound asleep. Why don't you head home?"

"So what if he's asleep? Wake him up. I didn't come all this way for nothing."

I pressed my weight against the door, refusing to let her in.

"Mom, he's really sleeping. Please come back tomorrow."

Jean's face collapsed into something ugly. She whipped out her phone and dialed.

"Nelson, sweetheart, look at the wonderful wife you married. I came to celebrate Tommy's birthday, and she won't even let me see him!"

She shoved the phone in my face. I heard silence on the other end, a few seconds of nothing, then two words: "Wait there."

Jean let out a cold laugh. She didn't leave. She just planted herself in the doorway like a guard dog with something to prove.

About fifteen minutes later, Nelson came back.

He wasn't alone.

Behind him stood Eunice Summers, makeup flawless, poised and haughty as ever.

I genuinely hadn't expected him to be shameless enough to bring her to our home. My whole body trembled with rage.

"Nelson, what is this woman doing here? What the hell is going on?"

He didn't even look at me.

"What's going on? Mom comes to see the kid and you won't let her?"

I didn't answer. I stared at him, unblinking.

"When did you start seeing Eunice? We're still married!"

"I already gave you the divorce papers. Who I'm with has nothing to do with you anymore."

"Why?" My fists clenched so tight my nails bit into my palms. "You two broke up years ago. If you still loved her, why did you come after me?"

Nelson let out a mocking laugh.

"Come after you?"

"Norma, when I ran into you again, I thought you were a novelty. A few years out of high school, and sure, you'd gotten prettier."

"But you never even went to college. Every single day with you was torture."

"Do you know what it's like when two minds truly connect? I only feel that with Eunice."

Eunice tugged lightly at his sleeve. "Nelson, there's no need for this."

"No. I want her to know exactly what she is."

"Nagging, hovering, can't do a single thing right."

"Your parents made the right call back then. You couldn't even handle the SATs. Even with a whole extra year to study, you still would've bombed."

The shouting in the living room woke Tommy.

He came shuffling out, rubbing his eyes, bare feet padding across the floor.

He saw the people in the living room, froze for a second, then his eyes lit up.

"Daddy! Mama Eunice! Did you come to bring Tommy presents?"

That tiny voice hit me like thunder.

I swallowed my shock, crouched down in front of him.

"Tommy, what did you just call that woman?"

A flicker of unease crossed Nelson's face, but before he could say a word, Tommy chirped again:

"Daddy always takes me and Mama Eunice to the park! And Mama Eunice buys me lots and lots of toys!"

My mind went blank. A roar filled my ears.

"Nelson. What is this?"

He dropped the act entirely. He walked over to the couch and sat down.

"Well, since it's all come out anyway, I might as well tell you."

He reached over and pulled Eunice against him by the waist.

"Tommy's so smart, so adorable. You really think he could be yours and mine? He's mine and Eunice's."

A buzzing filled my head.

"That's impossible..."

"When we did the IVF, the embryo they implanted in you was fertilized with my sperm and Eunice's egg."

His tone was perfectly calm.

"The breakup was all an act for your benefit. Eunice is afraid of pain. I couldn't bear to put her through ten months of pregnancy."

"And then you came along. That's how you got the honor of marrying me."

The last time I'd seen Nelson before all this was at a hospital, years after high school.

Back then, he was only a department chief, and I was scraping by with a high school diploma, bouncing between manual labor jobs.

I could barely afford meals. I ended up at the hospital every other day.

That afternoon, I was crouched in a hallway with an IV drip in my arm when he walked over in his white coat and stood there, looking down at me for a long time.

"Norma?"

I looked up and recognized him instantly. The golden boy of our class, the one who'd been inseparable from Eunice Summers, the prettiest girl in school. The perfect couple everyone envied.

Then he started being kind to me.

He helped me register for appointments, brought me food, and on his night shifts, he'd come find me just to talk.

He told me Eunice had gone abroad to study. They'd broken up ages ago.

He said he thought about me sometimes over the years. Said he couldn't believe how much I'd changed since school.

Under that relentless pursuit, I said yes.

I thought God had finally looked my way, that all the suffering I'd endured was about to be repaid in full.

I never imagined it was just another wound, carefully planned long before it was inflicted.

Eunice nestled against his shoulder, her smile soft and poised.

"Norma, the baby's two years old now. We can give him a better life."

"You wouldn't want little Tommy growing up in hardship, would you?"

My legs buckled. I collapsed to the floor, too hollowed out to even cry.

Jean sidled over, eager to twist the knife. "Norma, dear, my son has a doctorate. Young, brilliant, a real catch. You didn't actually think he could fall for someone like you?"

She stared down at me from above.

"Every penny our Nelson earned after the wedding went to Tommy."

"There's forty thousand in savings. We'll split it with you. Twenty thousand. Consider it compensation for carrying the Sanchez heir."

Twenty thousand dollars. That was the price they put on three years of my life and the child I nearly died bringing into this world.

Nelson dusted off his pants and stood up.

"Mom, stop wasting your breath. Just take Tommy. I'll wire the money to her account."

I scrambled to my feet and threw myself in front of the bedroom door, arms spread wide, bracing against the frame.

"Nobody goes in there!"

But I was no match for three of them.

Jean let out a cold snort and grabbed at my hands, prying my fingers loose.

Nelson seized my wrist and hauled me aside like I weighed nothing, flinging me to the ground.

The back of my skull cracked against the corner of the wall. Stars exploded across my vision.

"Don't make this harder than it has to be," he said.

Jean shoved the door open. From inside came Tommy's wailing: "Mama! Mama!"

His tiny hands were clenched around the bedsheets, his face beet-red, his screams so raw they barely sounded human.

Eunice followed Jean in and bent down, reaching for his face. "Shh, Tommy, don't cry. Mama's here. Mama's right here."

Tommy recoiled from her touch, straining toward me with both arms outstretched, choking on sobs so violent they turned guttural.

He couldn't breathe.

I shoved Eunice aside, dropped to my knees, and scooped him into my arms.

His whole body trembled against me, his face buried in the crook of my neck. The screaming dissolved into hiccups, and it took a long time before he could catch his breath.

Nelson was a doctor. Even he couldn't stand to watch anymore. "That's enough. Not today."

Jean whipped around to glare at him. "Not today?"

"A child this young, reacting this violently, could have a medical episode."

"Once the divorce goes through, the court will give us custody anyway. One more day won't matter."

The three of them turned and left. The door shut behind them.

I sat on the floor holding Tommy, shaking from head to toe, drowning in the relief of having survived something I barely understood.

I knew I couldn't just sit there and wait for the next blow.

I didn't sleep that night. I packed our bags and gathered every document I could find.

When the sky was still gray with the first hint of dawn, I lifted Tommy from the bed, still fast asleep, and crept toward the front door, ready to slip out of Southport for good.

My hand had just touched the doorknob when the doorbell rang.

I flinched so hard my whole body seized, and I pulled Tommy tighter against my chest.