I took out my own phone and photographed the glowing screen from every angle.
Standing in the quiet sunlight of my bedroom, I realized I hadn’t been betrayed by just one person.
I had been betrayed by three adults.
And one of them had forced my five-year-old son to carry the weight of an ugly, corrupt secret that never should have existed in the first place.
PART 2
I didn’t call Solomon. I didn’t scream, and I didn’t throw things.
Instead, I called Charlotte and asked to meet for tea at a quiet café across town. My mother-in-law arrived looking immaculate, wearing a pearl necklace, though she appeared noticeably uncomfortable.
“Is everything alright with Theo?” Charlotte asked, setting her leather purse on the chair.
“Theo asked me a question yesterday,” I said, my voice completely devoid of emotion. “He asked me if grown-ups are allowed to keep ugly secrets. Then he told me he saw Solomon kissing Jennifer in my bed.”
Charlotte blinked, her posture instantly stiffening. “He’s five years old, Natalie. Children have wild imaginations.”
I slid my phone across the small wooden table, revealing the crystal-clear photographs of Solomon’s secondary phone screen.
The older woman’s face drained of color.
“Did you go through my son’s private belongings?” Charlotte demanded.
“The messages flashed on his nightstand while he was at breakfast,” I replied flatly. “How long have you been helping him cover this up, Charlotte?”
Charlotte crossed her arms, adjusting her pearls defensively. “Don’t be dramatic.”
“Six months? A year?”
“About a year and a half,” Charlotte admitted softly.
The ambient noise of the coffee shop seemed to vanish completely from my ears. “And in your mind, ‘protecting your son’ involved taking your sick five-year-old grandson out of his own home so your son could bring another woman into my bed?”
“Solomon was feeling lonely, Natalie!” Charlotte snapped, lowering her voice to a harsh whisper. “You were always working late, focusing on your career!”
“And telling Theo that his father would leave forever if he spoke up? Was that part of your maternal wisdom too?”
Charlotte looked away. “I just didn’t want the boy to ruin his own family.”
“No,” I corrected her, leaning in close. “You nearly broke a little boy’s spirit to protect an adulterer.”
I set down one non-negotiable rule before standing up from the table: effective immediately, Charlotte was permanently barred from being left alone with Theo.
