Who's Crying Now, Ex-Husband?

Chapter 528

In a daze, Mila seemed to hear a thousand voices and flashes of memory

ricocheting through her mind, each one making her hand tremble harder around the knife.

-Mom, I'm sorry.

-Mom, I'll be good.

-Mom, you smell so nice. Did you make something delicious for me?

-I understand, Mom.

I love your spicy chicken the most, Mom!

Wow!

-Mila! Stay calm, be careful!

-Mila!

At the end of it all, she saw Jade's face, eyes fierce with authority, a sharp command slicing through the cold, endless dark-snapping her awake.

What had she done?

The knife slipped from her grasp and clattered away. Her hands, still shaking, reached for Sophia's damp, sticky neck. Maybe she'd been out of her mind, because the cut was shallow, just a thin line of blood seeping slowly out. Realizing Sophia's life wasn't in danger, Mila collapsed, drained, and sank to her knees on top of her, arms falling limp to her sides.

She gasped for breath, lungs burning.

Her thoughts were still muddled, children's voices echoing in her ears: laughter and tears-baby talk in a cradle, a soft bundle giggling, that first wailing cry at birth-each memory rattling her chest.

imperfect, stubborn, and difficult, but he would never be

voice hoarse and raw in the darkness. "It's not your word I care about. I want to hear it from

Lysander-and using their child as a pawn was exactly the kind of thing he'd do. So she couldn't be wholly sure Adrian

had to hear

part, then he should bear the responsibility, and she would stand beside him to face it. But whether he was involved or not, before any judgment was passed, she owed it to him-to herself as a mother-to be the last one to decide, even if the rest of the world had already condemned

needed to hear Adrian

aware of the violent coughing beneath her. Reality pressed in hard,

What had she done?

She'd nearly-

nearly made

ruined her

into Sophia's face. Her eyes, bright and clear after all the tears, seemed to glow in the dark, yet now there was only calm in

She spoke again.

he does-even if he drops dead-has nothing to do with me. If he really put our son up to this, I'll settle it with him myself. I don't

Sophia by the collar and yanked her up a

as guilty! He's your child. Even if you didn't want him or couldn't care for him, you had options-you could have given him to

thing you should never have done was help destroy

wasn't stable, and you knew

"How could you?"

...

Some time later.

now except for Sophia. She lay on the floor, her beautiful face

stayed that way for

fumbled in her pocket until she found a small metal

When she finally managed, she took one drag and immediately fell into a fit of coughing so violent it made her eyes water. She pushed herself up with

other clutched her burning throat. She didn't know if it was the smoke or