The Best Revenge It Wasn't Even Your Child novel Chapter 647

"Sorry, did we wake you?" Catherine whispered. "He went down too early this evening, and now he absolutely refuses to sleep."

She sat up, just about to tell him she would turn off the light so he could go back to bed.

Instead, Lance walked right past her. He leaned over, scooped Lanny into his arms, and turned toward the door. "Get some sleep. I'll take him."

"Wait," Catherine tried to stop him, but it was too late.

She watched helplessly as Lance carried the baby out. A few seconds later, the light flipped on in his bedroom across the hall, the faint beam spilling through the gap in the curtains.

It had been her first day at work yesterday, and she had barely slept the night before.

Deep down, she knew it wasn't right to let Lance take over the night shift, but exhaustion ultimately overruled her guilt. She collapsed back into the pillows and fell asleep.

She plunged into a vivid dream. Lanny was older, crying hysterically and begging her for his father.

"Why do all the other kids have dads, but I don't?"

Dream-Lanny's tear-streaked face struck a painful chord in her chest, the ache so visceral she could feel it even as she slept.

"Be a good boy, Lanny. We don't need to look for him, okay? It's just been you and me since you were a baby, and we're doing just fine."

"But I was with him when I was little!" the boy sobbed. "He used to hold me every day and play with me at night! Mom, why didn't he want me anymore? Did I do something wrong? Was I not good enough?"

In the dream, Lanny actually remembered those fleeting months of infancy.

He remembered Lance, even though it had only been a few months.

Catherine's mind spun in chaos, completely unable to explain it to her heartbroken son.

Finally, dragged out of the nightmare by the sheer force of Lanny's agonizing wails, she jolted awake in a cold sweat.

The overwhelming reality of the dream kept her paralyzed for a long moment.

It wasn't until the wailing continued to echo through the quiet house that she realized the crying was real.

She threw off the covers and practically sprinted to Lance's room.

Lance was holding a fussy Lanny in one arm, using his free hand to pull a fresh bottle of warm formula from the baby brezza. He brought the nipple to Lanny's lips.

"You're awake."

He looked toward Catherine in the doorway.

Was he only helping out so he could hold it over her head?

"I didn't ask you to do this," she shot back. "Besides, that's what we have Alexa for."

"If you weren't living under my roof, would you really feel perfectly comfortable handing him over to a complete stranger?"

Lance looked her up and down. "Anyone with a shred of conscience wouldn't say that."

If Lance wasn't around, leaving Alexa entirely in charge of Lanny overnight.

Catherine definitely wouldn't feel at ease.

She had planned on doing exactly that before, but only out of sheer desperation.

She had even intended to install nanny cams in her new apartment so she could monitor them constantly.

It wasn't that she didn't trust the nanny, she just worried that one person could get overwhelmed or make a careless mistake.

She had only pushed back because of his smug comment about owing him a favor. She wasn't blind to how much he was helping.

Stung by his accusation that she was heartless, she bit her tongue. She turned and headed for her bathroom to wash up, knowing she would be late for work if she stayed.