That was the cut that went deepest. I had loved him with every fiber of my being. I had endured his mother’s coldness, her dismissals, her silent judgments, all for him. And now, in the face of her baseless suspicion, he wavered.

My voice, when I found it, was steady. “You’re not seriously listening to this, are you?”

He didn’t answer.

“I just want to protect my son,” Vivien said, turning her icy gaze on me. “If you have nothing to hide, then you won’t have a problem with a paternity test.”

It was a challenge, not a request. I looked down at Luna, sleeping peacefully, oblivious to the storm raging around her tiny bassinet. And in that moment, something inside me solidified. The part of me that had spent years trying to please Vivien, to win her approval, simply died. It was replaced by a cold, clear resolve.