Bitter Awakening

"Since that's the case," Brenda's voice echoed through the crack in the door, her tone dripping with calculation, "don't keep Daisy when you eventually break up with Hazel. She isn't of our blood."

Hazel stood frozen in the dim hallway. Her lips trembled as a chill swept through her veins. Thick, bloodshot lines spiderwebbed across her widened eyes. The painful truth finally clicked into place. Bryce’s refusal to physically touch her for the past four grueling years, his endless, convenient excuses to stay late in the school dormitory—it all made sickening sense now. He hadn't been overwhelmed with his studies. He had sold her out, and worse, he secretly considered her dirty and tainted from the very encounter he arranged.

Biting the inside of her cheek to suppress the boiling fury threatening to consume her, Hazel stepped back. She rattled her keys against the doorframe to announce her presence, then pushed the door open.

Inside the living room, Brenda scrambled to hit the end button on her phone. Her malicious demeanor shifted in a flash, instantly replaced by a demanding facade. "Why are you back so late?" she snapped. "Hurry up and make dinner!"

Ignoring the older woman's toxic attitude, Hazel marched straight past her. She stepped into the center of the living room and snatched the glowing tablet right out of her daughter's hands.

Daisy’s face crumpled. "Grandma!" she shrieked, bursting into piercing tears. "Mom took it!"

Brenda rushed over, her face twisting as she cursed at Hazel. "What is wrong with you? Daisy is bored at home! She should be allowed to play with the device!"

Hazel tightened her jaw. "The screen is bad for her eyes," she replied in a strict, tense voice. She stuffed the tablet into her leather bag, turned on her heel, and retreated to the cramped kitchen.

Behind her back, Brenda scooped up the crying toddler. "Your mom is just mean," she coddled, kissing Daisy's forehead. "Don't you worry. Grandma will scold her later and win your tablet back."

"Yeah! I love Grandma!" Daisy sniffled, her tears vanishing into a grin.

Standing alone in the kitchen, the sharp sting of unshed tears pricked the corners of Hazel's eyes. She had sacrificed her youth, her health, and every cent of her income to fund Bryce's Ph.D. She had run herself into the ground, leaving her exhausted with no time to properly parent Daisy, who had consequently been spoiled rotten under Brenda's toxic care.

Hazel dug her fingernails into her palms, forcing herself to calm down. Emotional breakdowns would not save her. Her immediate, critical priority was the house they lived in. She had purchased the apartment with a heavy bank loan, diligently paying every cent of the mortgage herself. Bryce hadn't contributed a penny, yet his name sat proudly on the property certificate. It was a naive concession she had made years ago when he falsely promised her a lifelong, happy marriage.

She needed a foolproof way to claw back her property rights before Bryce initiated his planned breakup.

After mechanically cooking and enduring a suffocating dinner, Hazel retreated to her bedroom and locked the door. She dialed Bryce's number.

He ignored her first attempt. Only after a considerable delay did the phone finally ring back.

"Didn't I tell you not to call at night?" Bryce's sharp complaint grated through the receiver. "It disrupts my doctoral thesis writing. My roommate is trying to work, too."

Hazel stared at the blank wall, her expression hardening. What the arrogant man didn't know was that she was no longer in the dark.

Her mind drifted back to a month ago. Fiona Bates had swaggered directly into Hazel's workplace, her pregnant belly protruding proudly. The mistress had demanded that Hazel pack up her fatherless daughter and leave Bryce immediately. If not for that swollen belly, Hazel would have slapped the woman on the spot.

For a whole agonizing month, Hazel had swallowed her pride. She had silently endured Fiona's foul-mouthed, hidden attacks, keeping Bryce out of the drama solely to protect Daisy's fragile world. Like countless other women trapped by cheating partners and young children, she had suffered in silence.

Yet, as she evaluated her crumbling life and the horrific truth she had just uncovered, the suffocating weight in her chest shifted into cold, calculated resolve. She possessed one massive, crucial stroke of luck.

She hadn't legally married Bryce yet.