My husband came home and said, “I’m in love with another woman, but I still love you, so I’ll just live in both houses” — I thought he was joking until he began packing, so I taught him a lesson he never expected from me.

 

Kieran pushed his plate away.

 

“Is Daddy angry with me?”

 

I crouched beside him.

 

“Never with you.”

 

“Then why did Grandma Vivian say you made him leave?”

 

My hand slipped from the edge of the table.

 

“When did she say that?”

 

“On Daddy’s call.

 

She said you were punishing him.”

 

Graham’s voice came through the phone.

 

“Tessa, write down exactly what Kieran heard.”

 

At the hearing two days later, Callum sat beside his solicitor in a navy suit.

 

His mother, Vivian, waited behind him.

 

Callum spoke first.

 

“I made a mistake in my marriage, but Tessa is using our son to punish me.”

 

“That is not true,” I said.

 

His solicitor rose.

 

“Mrs.

 

Ward changed the locks and removed my client’s belongings.”

 

“The property was inherited by Mrs.