Chapter 5
After a long silence, she finally found her voice, asking in a choked. whisper, “Aren’t you afraid of losing Mommy?”
Since Winnie’s birth, Bianca had been the one to care for her, day and night–soothing her to sleep, feeding her, and always putting her needs.
first.
For the past four years, she hadn’t had a full night’s sleep.
All she wanted now was to know if Winnie still loved her.
But Bianca saw Winnie furrowing her brow. “Oh, I’m going to bed now,” she said, before quickly running off to her room and slamming the door shut.
Bianca stood at the top of the stairs, frozen, feeling like ice.
Soon, she heard Winnie’s excited voice from her room. “Diane, I can go to East Street Kindergarten now! After you finish work, you can pick me up. That way, you won’t have to work so hard anymore.
“Also, also, Diane, don’t get pregnant! I heard from Mom that having a baby is really dangerous. You lose a lot of blood, and it could even be life–threatening. Let Mom have the baby. She’s already had me, so she’s not scared.
“I miss you so much, Diane. I want to hear you tell stories, and I want to snuggle with you…”
Bianca stood outside the door, her heart aching as she remembered how Winnie had pulled away from her earlier. It felt as though her
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Chapter 5
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heart had shattered into a thousand pieces.
She had thought that if she divorced Blair, at least Winnie would still be hers. But she never imagined that Winnie would start to grow closer to outsiders, just like Blair had.
It turned out that all her sacrifices in her marriage had been for nothing. No one cared about what she had done or given up.
After what felt like an eternity, Bianca finally dragged herself downstairs, utterly exhausted.
When Katelyn saw her in a daze, she moved forward to ask if everything was alright, but Bianca waved her off, signaling that she didn’t want to talk.
As soon as she left Harmony Residence, Bianca dialed Blair’s number.
no one
She tried calling several times, but picked up. She didn’t give up, though–she kept calling
Normally, after one or two missed calls, she’d give up. But tonight, it felt like she had lost all control and just couldn’t stop dialing.
Finally, Blair answered. “I’m busy, what’s-”
Before he could finish, Bianca cut him off, “I need to see you. Right now. Immediately.”
On the other end of the line, Bianca was practically screaming, her voice desperate and frantic.
She didn’t care about how she sounded anymore. Her raw emotions. spilled out, causing Blair to frown in irritation.
Once she calmed down a little, Blair said, “We’ll talk about it next
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month, okay?”
Without waiting for her to respond, he hung up the phone.
As the dial tone beeped in her ear, Bianca felt too numb to even cry.
This was how it had always been with Blair–she was left with no place to release her anger.
The last five years had worn her down.
She was done with the marriage. She was getting the divorce, but she had to fight for custody of Winnie.
Even if Winnie was getting closer to Diane, Bianca had to try.
Winnie was her daughter–she had carried her for nine months and raised her through sleepless nights. She would not give up on her so easily.
With her decision made, Bianca saw Blair’s Rolls–Royce pull up outside Harmony Residence.
She turned her head toward the sound. Through the windshield, she saw Blair sitting in the driver’s seat, with Diane beside him, holding a bouquet of flowers.
Blair saw her too, and their eyes met across the distance, neither of them saying a word.
In the past, Bianca would have been too afraid to make a scene about Diane. But now, she just didn’t care.
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