At the baby shower, my mother-in-law snatched my newborn from my arms in front of everyone.

Forty-eight hours after Brenda’s arrest, Ethan called my attorney.

He didn't call through Sterling. He called from a payphone near the county jail, his voice broken, raspy, and slurred. He begged for a private meeting with me at Claire’s office—no Brenda, no Sterling, no lawyers shouting across the table.

Claire advised against it, but I needed to close this chapter. I needed Ethan to see the woman he had tried to erase, and I needed him to understand that there was no going back.

On Monday afternoon, Ethan walked into Claire’s conference room.

He looked unrecognizable. The crisp, tailored suits he used to wear were gone, replaced by a rumpled button-down shirt and faded jeans. He had lost weight, dark bags hung beneath his bloodshot eyes, and his hands trembled as he pulled out a chair across from me.

I sat with my arms folded, wearing a cream sweater, looking at him with zero fear—only a deep, crystalline pity.

"Avery," Ethan whispered, his voice cracking. "Thank you for agreeing to see me."

"You have ten minutes, Ethan," I said flatly. "What do you want?"

Ethan buried his face in his hands, letting out a long, shuddering sob. "I ruined everything. God, Avery... I ruined my whole life."

I didn't offer a tissue. I didn't offer comforting words. I j

ust waited.

"Mom’s in jail," Ethan wept, looking up through red, swollen eyes. "Her bail was set at fifty thousand dollars, and none of her country club friends would post it for her. She's screaming at the guards, screaming at her lawyers... she's completely lost her mind."

"She lost her mind a long time ago, Ethan," I said quietly. "You were just too blind to notice."

"I was terrified of her," Ethan confessed, wiping his nose with his sleeve. "Ever since I was a kid, if I didn't do what she wanted, she’d turn cold. She’d ignore me for weeks, tell me I was useless, threaten to leave me with nothing. When you got pregnant, she told me that if we didn't give her the baby, she’d cut me out of the family business and take the house back."

He looked at me, pleading with his eyes. "I thought... I thought if I went along with it, if I let her have her nursery, she’d calm down. I thought we could just appease her until Theo got older."

"Appease her?" I leaned forward, my voice dropping into a register of cold fury. "You let her steal my milk. You let her erase me from my son's first family photo. You forged my signature on legal papers, Ethan! You tried to turn me into an incubator for your mother's ego!"

"I know!" Ethan cried out, slamming his fists weakly against the table. "I know I was a coward! I hate myself, Avery! Every night I wake up hearing Theo crying, and I remember how I stood there holding your wrist while she took him!"

Tears spilled down his cheeks as he slumped forward, his forehead resting against the wood. "I lost my son. I lost my wife. I lost everything because I couldn't stand up to my mother."

"You didn't just lose us, Ethan," I said, standing up from my chair. "You gave us away."

Ethan looked up, his eyes full of desperate, pathetic hope. "Is there... is there any chance? Can I see Theo? Can I be his father?"

I looked down at the man I had once promised to love forever.

"You can be a father when you grow up, Ethan," I said smoothly. "When you complete court-ordered therapy, when you sever all financial and emotional ties with your mother, and when you demonstrate six months of sober, independent living. Until then, you are a stranger to my son."

I picked up my purse and walked toward the conference room door.

"Avery, wait!" Ethan called out, his voice cracking.

I paused at the doorway, looking back over my shoulder one last time.

"The criminal forgery trial begins next month, Ethan," I informed him quietly. "My attorney will be presenting a full plea deal to the District Attorney: probation and community service for you, contingent upon your full testimony against Brenda."

Ethan blinked, tears streaming down his face. "Testify against my mother?"