Mom, Don't Cry! Here comes a new Daddy! novel Chapter 7

s Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Claim

(Sabrina’s POV)

The box feels heavier with each step toward Sophia’s car, like it’s absorbing all the weight of my anger and humiliation. Seven years of work reduced to random items someone else deemed not important enough to save. I don’t even want to look inside.

“Get in,” Sophia says, already behind the wheel. “We’re going back to my place.”

I slide into the passenger seat, setting the box on my lap. My hands are still trembling-not from fear anymore, but from rage. The kind that starts in your bones and radiates outward until your entire body vibrates with it.

“I can’t believe she actually fired me,” I say as Sophia pulls into traffic. “Just like that. After all the years I put into this company.”

“She did you a favor.” Sophia’s jaw is set, her knuckles white on the steering wheel. “Now we have grounds for a wrongful termination suit on top of everything else. Richard’s going to have a field day with this.”

“But what if-”

“Stop.” She cuts me off sharply. “No more what-ifs, remember? You walked out of there with your head high. You didn’t beg. You didn’t break. You were magnificent.”

I don’t feel magnificent. I feel like I’m barely holding myself together with duct tape and spite.

My phone buzzes in my purse. Then again. And again. I pull it out and my stomach drops.

Twelve missed calls from Dustin. Fifteen text messages.

We need to talk.

Sabrina, please.

You’re making this worse than it needs to be.

Think about Jake.

That last one makes my blood boil. Think about Jake? I’ve done nothing but think about Jake since the moment I found out I was pregnant. Every decision, every sacrifice, every late night and early morning has been for him.

“Don’t respond,” Sophia warns, glancing at my phone. “Anything you say can be used against you in court. Let Richard handle all communication.”

14

Chapter 7

Claim

She’s right, but God, I want to respond. I want to tell Dustin exactly what I think of him, of his threats, of his audacity to play victim when he’s the one who destroyed our family.

Instead, I turn off my phone and shove it back in my purse.

We’re almost to Sophia’s building when my chest suddenly tightens. “Jake. We need to pick up Jake.”

“I called the school and arranged for them to keep him in after-care until five. We’ll get him together.” She reaches over and squeezes my hand. “Breathe, Sabrina. One crisis at a time.”

Back at the penthouse, Sophia pours wine while I finally open the box. My throat constricts as I sort through the contents. Someone-probably an indifferent IT tech-just swept everything into it without care. My favorite coffee mug is cracked. The photo of Jake on his first day of kindergarten is bent. My emergency snack stash is crushed at the bottom.

But what makes me pause is the stack of campaign proposals, the ones with my handwriting in the margins, my ideas that Dustin presented as his own. I rifle through them, years of work I never got credit for, and something inside me shifts.

I’m not just fighting for Jake anymore.

I’m fighting for myself. For every idea I gave away, every success I let him claim, every time I made myself smaller so he could feel bigger.

“That’s the look,” Sophia says, watching me from the kitchen. “That’s the ‘I’m about to ruin someone’s life’ look I like.”

“Soph…” I groan. Before I can finish what I want to say, her doorbell rings. We exchange glances.

“Expecting someone?” I ask.

“No.” She moves to the video intercom, then her expression darkens. “You’ve got to be

kidding me.”

“Who is it?”

“See for yourself.”

I look at the screen and my stomach drops. Dustin is standing in the lobby, looking up at the camera with what I’m sure he thinks is a contrite expression.

“Don’t let him up,” I say immediately.

“Wasn’t planning on it.” Sophia presses the intercom button. “This is private property. Leave

Chapter 7

or I’m calling security.”

“I need to talk to Sabrina.” Dustin’s voice crackles through the speaker. “Please. Just five

minutes.”

“You have a lawyer for that,” Sophia snaps.

Claim

“Sabrina!” He’s looking directly at the camera now, desperate. “I know you’re up there. Just

listen to me. We can work this out. You don’t have to make this so difficult.”

Something in me snaps. I push past Sophia and press the button.

“Difficult? I only resigned from my post, and you think I’m being difficult?” My voice is deadly calm. “You cheated on me in our bed, demanded custody of our son, and your mistress fired me from my job. But I’m the one making things difficult?”

“That’s not-Jessica didn’t mean-” He stumbles over his words, and I can almost see the

panic on his face. “Look, I know you’re upset-”

“Upset?” I laugh, the sound harsh and brittle. “Dustin, one gets upset when they care, or when they forget to pick up milk. This is something else entirely.”

“Then let me come up so we can talk like adults.”

“No. Anything you have to say goes through my lawyer. You wanted a divorce? You’re getting one. Only on my terms, not yours.”

“Sabrina, be reasonable-”

“I am being reasonable. I’m not throwing things at you or shouting manipulative cheater at you, even though you deserve both. Now leave before Sophia makes good on her threat.”

I release the button and step back, my hands shaking again. Sophia wraps an arm around my shoulders, whispering, “it’s okay. You’re still the same fiery Sabrina from back then. You’ll get through this.”

We watch on the screen as Dustin stands there for another minute, clearly warring with himself. Finally, he turns and walks away, but not before looking back at the camera one

more time.

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