“Hands off the child!” the security chief said so calmly it was even more terrifying.
The mother-in-law froze for a second.
Leo cried in her arms.
I heard that scream as if through water.
After a cesarean section, your body still doesn’t completely belong to you.
The pain comes in waves.
The head is heavy.
My mouth is dry.
But there is one sound that any mother recognizes immediately.
When your child is held incorrectly.
When it is taken to the wrong place.
And when the problems had already entered the room.
I tried to get up.
The stitching felt like my stomach had been cut open again.
The nurse ran towards me.
– Don’t move.
But I could no longer stay still.
The mother-in-law, Galina Petrovna, pressed Leo against her fur coat as if he were not a baby, but an object she was about to take out.
Her lips did not tremble with horror.
Out of anger.
Because things didn’t go as planned.
“This woman is unstable,” he said loudly to the guards. “She needs to be isolated. The child is mine.”
He spoke with confidence.
As someone who has dedicated their entire life to breaking down barriers for others with their voice.
Like a man who was rarely refused a deal.
For many years, that’s exactly what I did.
She remained silent.
I gave in.
She looked away.
Not because I was afraid of her for being a woman.
I was afraid for the marriage.
I was afraid that the truth about my situation would make things even worse.
When I met Artyom, he had been living apart from his mother for a long time, but he was still morally dependent on her.
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