Three Years Later, He Came Back Begging novel Chapter 126

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All that gentle comfort only made Hannah feel colder, like every drop of warmth was being drained out of her. She sat there, numb, trying to process the fact that Odette and Lawrence had lured her out just to see a psychologist.

Her hands curled into tight fists, nails biting into her skin. The sting grounded her, helped her hold herself together when everything else was falling apart. She kept her gaze down, eyes clouded with emotion she didn’t dare let slip.

“Mom, I’m not sick,” she said, her voice low. “Why do I need to see a psychologist?”

Odette tried to sound reassuring. “Sweetheart, it’s not that I think you’re sick. Your director just mentioned you haven’t wanted to get back on stage, and you keep turning down the little performances. I was worried maybe being away from dance for so long, with the baby and everything, made it hard for you to come back. This is just a short consultation, nothing more, I promise, okay?”

No matter how pretty the words, no matter how reasonable they tried to make it sound, Hannah knew these were just excuses. Maybe they even believed them. But that didn’t make it better.

She pressed her fingers harder into her palms, chasing pain because it at least made sense, unlike everything else. And now, after everything, she could finally see things for what they were.

Lawrence was done playing along. He didn’t want to fight anymore. The moment he got back and saw Bonnie, it was like a switch flipped, and suddenly, he came alive again.

So here they were, hoping some appointment would “fix” her. And after that? What then? Did they think this would make it easier for him to leave her? To call it quits on this stunted, miserable marriage, and then run off chasing some new love?

It felt so unfair. Why should she be the sacrifice, the one left behind, discarded when she’d given up years of her life and sanity?

Hannah fought back a scream. The car rolled to a halt in the parking lot, engine quietly cutting off. For a moment, there was just silence in the air, thick enough to choke on.

She looked at Odette—the woman she’d started calling “Mom” at barely nine years old—and what she felt most was disappointment. Odette had agreed to this plan, even pushed for it.

The mother who used to be her shield, her biggest fan, the “mom” who always picked her first, had chosen her real child after all. She chose Bonnie. Some truths felt sharp enough to bleed you dry.