“Liar,” Rob exploded, standing up. “You never loved me. You only wanted my inheritance. Like you did with the others.”
The officers handcuffed Chelsea. She kept screaming, trying to reach Rob.
“Rob! Please! Don’t let them take me! I’m your wife!”
But my son just turned away.
Gerald was handcuffed in silence, with the resignation of someone who knows the game is over.
As they were being led out of the apartment, Spencer approached me.
“Commander, I need you to come in tomorrow to give a formal statement. This is going to be long, but with this evidence, there’s no way they’re getting out.”
“I’ll be there,” I said.
When they left, only Linda, Rob, and I remained. The silence was deafening.
Rob looked at me, and for the first time in five years, he truly saw me.
“Mom,” he said, his voice breaking. “I’m sorry. I’m so, so sorry.”
I wanted to run to him. I wanted to hug him. But something stopped me. Years of pain. Years of abandonment. Years of tears.
“No, Rob,” I said softly. “Not yet. ‘I’m sorry’ doesn’t fix five years of forgetting me. It doesn’t fix you believing a stranger over your own mother. It doesn’t fix you letting that woman hit your son.”
He nodded, tears streaming down his face.
“I know. You’re right. I don’t deserve your forgiveness.”
“It’s not about deserving it,” I replied. “It’s about earning it. And that’s going to take time. A lot of time.”
I walked up to him. I placed my hand on his cheek.
“But you are my son. And even though you forgot me, I never forgot you. So, we are going to heal this together—slowly. But only if you are willing to do the real work.”
“Anything, Mom,” he said. “Anything.”
Linda discreetly gathered her things and said goodbye. When she was gone, Rob and I stayed in my living room—the same place where years ago he played when he was a child. The same place where we celebrated his birthdays. The same place he had stopped visiting.
“Where is Ethan?” he asked.
“Safe,” I said. “With Linda and her husband.”
“I need to see him. I need…” His voice broke. “I need to ask for his forgiveness.”
“You will. But first you need to understand something, Rob. Ethan suffered for months and you didn’t see it. Not because you couldn’t—but because you chose not to see it.”
