“So what?”
Lily Blackwood tilted her head and offered an innocent little smile. To Ethan Blackwood and his son, that smile carried a quiet, almost cruel finality.
Every micro-expression on Julian Blackwood’s face froze.
He knew he had been wrong. Why wouldn’t anyone give him a chance to make it right? Why did it feel like the entire world was pushing him away?
He stood there, shoulders slumped, voice stubborn even in defeat. “I never really wanted anyone else to be my mother. I just… wanted Mom to change.”
Back then, Naomi Hart had been plain, always tired, always in simple clothes. The other kids had laughed. Aunt Chloe, who always looked polished and elegant, had seemed like the better choice.
Now Naomi was radiant. The children in his class whispered that she looked like a fai
