Chapter 1874
Patricia laughed scornfully while walking downhill. “Why? Because you’re my adopted child! You’re mine, no matter how bad you are. I won’t let anyone take what’s mine!”
Baber’s eyes were filled with helplessness and despair. “But…you don’t even like kids…or me. Why can’t I stay with Mommy and Daddy?”
Upon realizing that the ‘mommy’ Baber was referring to was not her, Patricia’s temper flared. She roughly threw the little boy onto the ground.
“What did you say? Who were you calling ‘mommy’?”
The rocky path was full of thorns. Baber’s tender skin was pierced by sharp plant stems as he hit the ground, causing him to grunt in pain and furrow his
brow.
Not satisfied, Patricia cruelly kicked him. “Who were you calling ‘mommy,’ you little brat? Speak up!”
Baber could only shed silent tears, unable to make a sound.
Patricia didn’t intend to leave him be, so she mercilessly stepped on his stomach. “You’re a traitor too! If I hadn’t adopted you from abroad, you’d still be in that poor orphanage, barely surviving on bread and water! You probably would have died from some disease! Would you even be here today?!
You ungrateful wretch! You disregard your benefactor and call that woman Ellinor ‘mommy’! What is she to you? Did she give birth to you or adopt you?! Huh?!”
Baber, feeling as though he was about to die, used the last of his strength to answer. “She…she’s kind to me…”
This only fueled Patricia’s anger. “Kind to you? Why would she be? It’s all an act! Ellinor is a manipulative woman. She’d do anything to secure her position. Do you really think she sees you as a son? She doesn’t need you; she has her own children. Why would she care for an outsider like you?!”
With red eyes, Baber defiantly defended the woman he saw as his true mother. “She is kind…even if she doesn’t consider me her son…at least…she respects me… She’s better than you…much better…”
He spoke as if they were his last words.
However, this completely incensed Patricia. She kicked the child beneath her foot with all her might. “Fine! You think she’s better, do you? Well, let me show you just how ‘not good’ I can be! If you don’t acknowledge me as your mother, then I might as well send you straight to hell!”
As she spoke, she continued to brutally kick the five-year-old child at her feet.
After what seemed like an eternity, the child beneath her foot finally stopped moying. Patricia stopped as she panted heavily.
“Enough of your act! Get up!” She snarled.
But the child lay motionless:
Frowning, Patricia crouched down to check his breathing.
But there was none.
He was dead? This boy was this fragile? She recalled that he’d taken beatings before without such consequence.
Patricia felt no remorse for the loss of a young life. She only felt disdain and disappointment. All she could think about was her own interests. Since her release from prison, she knew she was no longer the darling of the Howard family. Even if she returned, she’d only face scorn.
So, she didn’t go back. Instead, she found work and plotted her revenge on Ellinor, the woman who’d reduced her to this state.
She’d been observing the Blanchet family for a while. She was surprised to see the boy she’d once adopted being cared for by Ellinor. At first, it was a shock, but then she realized that Ellinor was simply using the boy to project an image of kindness and morality.
