Chapter 5 - THE BREAKING POINTThe sudden wave of relief broke every defense I had built up over months of suffering. A ragged sob escaped my lips before I could press my hand over my mouth.
"I'm not a bad mother," I whispered brokenly, staring down at Sophie’s tiny, peaceful face as she drank.
Ethan didn't offer empty corporate pity. He didn't tell me that everything happens for a reason or that time heals all wounds. Instead, looking me straight in the eye, he said something that shattered what was left of my composure.
"I never thought you were a bad mother," Ethan said quietly. "Sometimes people can do everything right, work twice as hard as anyone else, and still become trapped by one terrible week."
He reached into his inner coat pocket, pulled out a sleek matte-black business card, and placed it quietly on the laminate kitchen table before turning toward the door.
I glanced down at the card.
The name printed in crisp silver lettering beneath his signature shocked me almost as much as his midnight arrival on my doorstep.
Ethan Cole
Chief Executive Officer, Cole Industries
My breath hitched. Cole Industries was a multi-billion-dollar conglomerate—and the exact corporation that had rejected my resume for an administrative position twice in the last four months.
Before I could process why the CEO of a massive corporation was standing in my cramped kitchen, his phone lit up on the table with an incoming call.
May you like
The bright screen flashed a name.
It belonged to the man who had abandoned me the moment he found out I was pregnant with Sophie.
