“Mia, please, don’t stoop to her level, okay?”
Mia pointed at me, her voice filled with anguish. “Linda, how could you be so shameless? Secretly having Owen’s son… do you have any self-respect at all?”
My son didn’t understand her words, only that she was yelling at me. He pointed a tiny finger at her nose and said fiercely,
“You’re a mean lady! Why are you yelling at my mommy? You’re so mean!”
Mia raised her hand to strike him. I immediately spun around, shielding my son with one arm while grabbing her wrist with my other hand.
“You lay one finger on my son. I dare you.”
Owen grabbed my hand. “Linda, let go of Mia. She didn’t mean it.”
“This is all your fault anyway. If you hadn’t hidden the kid from me, Mia wouldn’t be this upset.” I could take whatever Owen threw at me, but they were not touching my son.
I let go of Mia’s wrist and, with even more force, slapped Owen right across the face.
“Get your girl on a leash. If she dares to hurt my son, I’ll make her pay a thousand times over.”
“How dare you hit Owen!” Mia shrieked. “Owen is the general manager of the Moonbrook Group now! He could crush you with a snap of his fingers. Don’t think having his son means a thing—the Masons will never accept you!”
“Even if I’m out of the picture, the next Mrs. Mason won’t be you.”
I scoffed. Mia was the only one who cared about any of that.
“Hah! Who gives a damn about being Mrs. Mason? Only a dog would want that title.”
“You… Are you calling me a dog?”
Mia linked her arm through Owen’s, her gaze turning venomous as she looked at my son.
“Owen, just look at the state she’s in. What kind of values will a child learn from someone like that? You need to bring him back to the Mason estate and raise him properly.”
Owen frowned at me. “Mia’s right. Give me our son. I can give him the best life.”
“In your dreams!”
Seeing they were about to physically grab him, I clutched my son and bolted toward the preschool.
As I ran, I pulled out my phone and called Ethan Brooks. “Ethan! Someone’s trying to take our son! I’m at the preschool entrance—get here right now!”
Owen was right behind me. “Linda, he’s my son too! He has to come back to the Mason family with me!”
A crowd had gathered at the preschool gate, all of them staring.
Someone recognized Owen. “Isn’t that Mr. Mason?”
“The one from the Moonbrook Group? And that must be his wife next to him. I’ve seen her on the news.”
“No wonder we’ve never seen Tim’s dad. He’s illegitimate.”
“Mr. Mason is clearly married. This woman is so shameless, trying to be a homewrecker.”
“It’s so embarrassing to have someone like that at our kids’ school.”
“Yeah, what if she’s a bad influence? Teacher, kick them out! We can’t have our children going to school with people like that.”
As more and more people started yelling for us to be expelled, I shouted back at them,
“He is not Owen Mason’s son! I have nothing to do with him anymore!”
“He’s trying to kidnap my child! Please, someone help! If you don’t believe me, I can call 911 and let the police sort this out!”
“Hah, you’re just mad your plan to use the kid to latch onto Owen failed!” Mia sneered. “My Owen is just trying to get his own son back. Filing a false police report has consequences, you know.”
The people who had been about to call for help quietly put their phones away.
Seeing that, I had no choice but to call 911 myself, but Owen lunged forward to snatch my son.
In the chaos, my phone fell to the ground. I held onto my son for dear life.
Mia stomped on my phone, shattering it, then swung her purse and smashed it against my head.
A sharp pain exploded in my skull. As a last resort, I curled into a ball in the corner, holding my son tight. The pain was so blinding I couldn’t think, and for a long moment, I couldn’t move.
“Help…”
I called out weakly. Owen just frowned in disgust. “Mia just used an empty purse. How much could it hurt? Stop being so dramatic. There’s a crowd watching. Aren’t you embarrassed?”
My head was spinning. I wanted to argue but couldn’t get a single word out.
Mia’s purse definitely had something heavy and hard inside.
All I could do was grip the nearby railing, desperately protecting my son.
Through the dizzying haze, I finally heard a familiar voice.
“Linda! Tim! I’m here!”
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