Chapter 28 - What a Mother Is
The highway north on I-93 was a blur of gray asphalt, bare November trees, and driving rain. The Subaru's heater rattled, blowing tepid air that smelled of damp upholstery and Catherine’s coppery blood.
In the back, Nathan’s cries had softened into fitful whimpers. Khloe drove like a woman possessed, weaving through the morning commuter traffic at ninety miles an hour, her eyes fixed on the taillights ahead.
"Khloe," I said gently, reaching over to touch her knee. Her denim was cold. She flinched as if burned.
"Don't touch me, Mark," she whispered. Her voice sounded dead, stripped of all color. "Just... don't."
"Khloe, listen to me—"
"He's not mine," she said, and a tear traced a clean line through the grime on her cheek. "I fed him every two hours. I didn't sleep for three weeks when he had colic. I checked his breathing every twenty minutes because I was terrified of SIDS. And he’s not even my blood. He's *her* blood. And *Anthony's*."
From the floorboards behind us, a raspy, bitter laugh emerged. Catherine pulled herself up onto the backseat, her face smeared with sweat and road grime.
"Blood is just chemistry, Khloe," Catherine muttered, wincing as she leaned her head against the window. "You think having my DNA makes him mine? I felt nothing when I heard his heartbeat on the ultrasound monitor. I felt nothing when I forged the clinic records. I only saw a nine-figure trust fund that would free me from Anthony forever."
Khloe’s foot mashed the brake pedal for a terrifying second, sending the car sliding across the wet lane before she jerked the wheel straight.
"Shut up!" Khloe screamed into the rearview mirror. "Shut your filthy mouth, Catherine, or I will push you out into the median at eighty miles an hour!"
"I'm telling you the truth!" Catherine shouted back, tears finally cutting through her mascara. "I hated you because you had everything Anthony couldn't buy! You had peace! You had a husband who actually loved you! Anthony bought me diamond rings that choked me, beat me until I agreed to sign over my eggs, and then locked me in an estate in Nassau while you walked around Boston pregnant with his golden ticket!"
"You tried to kill him on the dock!" I turned around in my seat, glaring at Catherine with pure hatred. "You had a gun pointed at his head!"
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"The gun was empty, you idiot!" Catherine spat, collapsing back against the seat cushions, panting for breath. "Check the cylinder if you ever fish it out of the sewer! Anthony told me if I didn't bring the baby to Winnipesaukee myself, he’d execute Isabella and release video proof that I helped arrange the illegal surrogate operation. I would have spent thirty years in federal prison!"
I stared at her in the dim light of the car cabin. Her eyes held no triumph, only the desperate, hollow terror of an animal that knew it had reached the end of the trap.
