Chapter 2

"I'm giving you one last chance. Apologize to my mother. Right now!"

"Gordon, let it go, really, let it go. Don't fight over me. It's no big deal if I have to suffer a little."

"Mom, stay out of it. I told you, no one gets to bully you. No one."

"Today, she is going to apologize to you."

"Gordon, what if I don't?"

I stared at him.

"Then we'll get a divorce. I'll have you out of this house tonight."

"Gordon, are you going to listen to me or not?" my mother-in-law,Kathleen, tugged at his arm. "Come outside with me first."

The two of them walked out, but a knot of anger remained lodged in my chest, refusing to go away.

I couldn't help thinking of the things Gordon had told me before I first met his mother.

His father had died young, and his mother had raised him alone. She'd had a hard life.

His greatest wish was to give his mother a good life, to make sure she never suffered again.

I was touched by how devoted he was to his mother, and I promised to take care of her with him.

I'd never lifted a finger for housework growing up, but before I first met his mother, I spent three months learning how to cook.

Every visit to her house, I was the one who handled the cooking.

I'd even suggested that Gordon hire someone to help take care of her.

Gordon said his mother would never agree to that, that she couldn't stand wasting money on unnecessary luxuries.

Just like this time, when I wanted to hire a postpartum caregiver, and he said the same thing.

And what came of it?

His mother did come.

But every little thing the baby needed still fell on me. The days were exhausting enough, and the nights left me utterly drained. I had to get up several times a night to feed the baby and change diapers.

By day I honestly had no energy to cook, and when the baby slept I only wanted to catch up on some sleep myself.

I said nothing about any of it. After all, I was the mother. Taking care of my own child was my responsibility.

I was trying to spare my mother-in-law's pride—and Gordon's too.

I swallowed it all and never told him, and I never brought up hiring a postpartum caregiver again.

But after a full week of nothing but dry bread, my body was starting to give out.

What I hadn't expected was that the moment his mother cried, Gordon wouldn't even bother finding out what had really happened.

There were security cameras in the house that he refused to check, and he used divorce to force an apology out of me.

Did he really think I'd just let him walk all over me?

I didn't know what the two of them were discussing out there, or what they intended to do next.

But I knew what I needed to do next.

I made a phone call. "Mr. Finch, arrange for someone to take over the projects Gordon's been running. Immediately."

"Now send legal and finance over here."

"And bring Mr. Jayden too. I'm hungry, I want some of his cooking for dinner tonight."

"Arrange three postpartum caregivers to work in shifts around the clock. They will only be responsible for the baby."

I'd barely hung up when Kathleen came in.

Her tears were gone. She held her chin high and looked at me defiantly.

"If I hadn't talked Gordon into going back to work today, you'd be out on the street this minute, with that baby in your arms."

"You married into a wealthy family. You'd best know your place."

"Don't start thinking you're some pampered heiress just because you married into this family."

"Give me a break."

She kicked at the trash can. "Now fish that piece of bread out of there and eat them."

"Otherwise, I'll call Gordon right now."

"And once he's back, the only thing left for you will be getting kicked out of this house."

The truth was, I really was a spoiled heiress, born with a silver spoon in my mouth.

It wasn't until my parents died when I was twenty that my life changed.

At twenty, I took over the family conglomerate, and by the time I graduated from college, I'd already built a business empire of my own.

At twenty-five, I met Gordon.