Chapter 4
"Did you hear that?" Eric stared at me coldly. "Hurry up and apologize to my mom."
"Apologize my ass." I shoved Eric aside, grabbed the suitcase I'd already packed, scooped Hannah into my arms, and stormed out.
Behind me, Nora was still yelling smugly, "If you've got the guts to leave, don't you dare come back."
Eric hadn't expected me to actually walk out. He tried to chase after me, but Nora grabbed him. "Let her go. I want to see how far she can get.
"If I'd known she didn't want to give you a son, I wouldn't have let her marry you—even if her parents had given 200 thousand dollars instead of 80."
Eric fell silent.
We had argued more than once about having a second child. He never understood why, when we could clearly afford it, I flat-out refused to have another baby.
The 200 thousand dollars my parents had given me was still sitting in a fixed deposit. With interest, it was more than enough to raise another child.
I sneered. So they wanted me to give the Young family a grandson and have my parents pay to raise him too?
What a perfectly calculated plan that mother and son had cooked up.
*****
"Mom," Hannah asked softly from the back seat of the taxi, her face full of confusion, "are Grandma and Dad trying to make you have a baby brother for me again?"
"And do you want a little brother?" I asked.
Hannah shook her head without hesitation. "No. Katie in my class got sent to live with her grandma after her mom had a baby brother. I don't want anyone taking you away from me."
I held Hannah tight, as if she might disappear again, my eyes burning as I made her a promise. "I don't want anyone else. From now on, it's just you and me, Hannah."
She looked up at me. "Mom, are you and Dad getting a divorce?"
"Yes," I said quietly. "I have to divorce your dad. Otherwise, your grandma and your dad would sell you to someone else just to get that baby brother.
"Hannah, listen to me. From now on, if anyone other than me tries to take you to the hospital or wants to draw your blood, you mustn't let them, okay? Promise me."
*****
The day after I returned to my parents' place, I hired a lawyer to draft a divorce agreement.
Then I opened my phone and edited together the recorded calls I'd had with Grace and Fiona, along with the kindergarten's health-check notices. I turned it all into a video and posted it across every major social media platform.
There was no way I was sending Hannah back to that kindergarten.
The best move now was to drag their carefully hidden scandal into the open and put it under a spotlight.
Once all the parents started pushing back against that so-called "genetic testing," the kindergarten wouldn't dare force children to have their blood drawn.
I wanted to protect my child. But I also didn't want some other innocent child to take Hannah's place as the next victim.
In a single night, I poured 30 thousand dollars into promotion, split across three time slots, all to boost that video.
Watching the views and likes skyrocket, I almost laughed out loud. This time, I wanted to see whether those rats hiding in the shadows would dare step into the light and answer me.
Their so-called free checkups and genetic tests—what were they really for?
After ten o'clock that night, the video shot straight to the top of the local trending list. My phone started ringing off the hook.
The first call came from an unfamiliar number. When I answered, it turned out to be Fiona—calling from a new number after I'd already blocked her.
"Mrs. Young, isn't it just a free health check?" she said quickly. "We already said it was voluntary. If you don't want it, Hannah doesn't have to take part. Please, delete the video. I'm begging you, okay?"
Right after that, Grace called.
No wonder she was the principal; Grace was on a whole different level from the teachers.
The moment I picked up, she gently hinted that I shouldn't do anything rash and that if I had concerns, we could sit down and talk face-to-face.
Grace said, "Mrs. Young, is it really worth making such a fuss online over something so minor? Think about it. The city isn't that big. If word gets around, even if Hannah tries to transfer, do you really think any other school would want to take her in?"
I said I'd think about it. The second I hung up on Grace, Eric's call came through.
"Linda, have you lost your mind?" he snapped. "How could you post something like that online? Take that stupid video down. Now. My boss already said that if you don't delete it, I will lose my job."
I hadn't expected the video to blow up this fast or that the people pulling the strings could even reach Eric's boss. But in a way, it handed me the perfect way out of the Young family.
I said, "Fine. You want me to delete the video? I can do that. Tomorrow morning meet me at the courthouse. You sign the divorce papers, and I'll delete the video immediately."