Jack Green held the phone, raised it to the hem of my wedding dress and said.

"Mom, Grandma told Benjamin Baker to save Melissa Jackson."

The phone was on speaker, Grandma's voice echoed through the wedding venue.

"Benjamin! Melissa got into a car accident to save me! If you dare not come to the hospital today, I'll die right in front of you!"

I looked at Benjamin in front of me, today, our wedding delayed for six years.

The diamond ring hovered in mid-air, then fell sharply to the ground.

I tightened my grip on Jack's hand and spoke.

"Benjamin, today, as soon as you step out of this door, I, and your son, will consider you dead."

He paused for a moment, then rushed out without hesitation.

At the wedding venue, my son looked up at me and asked.

"Mom, has Benjamin abandoned us?"

The host's microphone clatters to the floor, guests scatter.

My parents rush onstage to steady me.

"Elizabeth, what on earth is happening?"

Benjamin's parents aren't here—they're at the hospital with that Melissa.

My heart pounds as I grab Jack's hand, kick off my heels, and walk barefoot off the stage.

My assistant jogs after me, voice trembling.

"Ms Green, what do we do now?

The reporters..."

"All guests keep their meal vouchers. Give everyone a wedding favor. Just say the ceremony's canceled."

After speaking, I lead my son into the backstage dressing room.

He stays quiet, small fingers clutching my wedding gown.

I change out of the dress, remove the veil, packing each piece into boxes.

Jack watches me silently.

I ruffle his hair.

"Jack, we're going home."

"Which home?"

He asks.

"Our home."

Back at the Baker residence, I start packing.

Jack's belongings fit into one suitcase.

I own even less—just some clothes and years of design sketches I drew for him.

I place all bank cards on the table.

Taking only my personal one.

This card holds earnings from my own designs.

At dusk, Benjamin returns.

He carries the scent of antiseptic, exhaustion lining his face.

Spotting the suitcases in the foyer, he freezes.

"Elizabeth Green, what's this?"

I avoid his gaze, tucking Jack's bedtime storybook into a backpack.

"How's Melissa?"

I ask.

"Hairline fracture in her calf. Casted. No danger."

"Your mother sent her out to buy something for you, didn't she? That's why the accident happened?"

Benjamin stays silent.

So it's true.

My mother-in-law always despised me—a commoner unworthy of her research institute's golden boy.

She preferred Melissa, her comrade's daughter—the gentle, obedient dance teacher.

Six years ago, my unexpected pregnancy made her demand an abortion.

Benjamin shielded me, vowed responsibility.

We've lived these six years without any formal status.

Jack's five now. She's never truly looked at him.

This wedding resulted from half a year of Benjamin defying her in their hometown.

Yet she destroyed it with one deliberate accident.

"Elizabeth, Mom didn't mean to, she just—"

"—just wanted to humiliate me. Wanted everyone to know that bearing your son still makes me less than an outsider in her eyes."

I finish for him.

Benjamin steps forward, reaching to embrace me.

I retreat.

"Benjamin, I've followed you six years."

"From twenty-two till twenty-eight today."

"I asked for no status, no family money. Worked my jobs. Raised our child alone."

"All I wanted was legitimacy. So Jack wouldn't hesitate listing family ties at school."

"You failed."

Tears fall, each drop striking the floorboards.

Jack dashes from his room, wrapping arms around my legs.

"Don't cry, Mommy."

Benjamin watches us, eyes reddening.

"Elizabeth, I'm sorry. Just give me more time, I swear—"

"Unnecessary."

I cut him off.

"I'm exhausted. Done waiting."

I lifted the suitcase, took Jack's hand, and walked toward the door.

Benjamin stood blocking the doorway.

"Where are you going?"

"Back to my own home."

"I'll drive you."

"No need, Benjamin."

I looked up, straight into his eyes: "From the moment you walked out of the wedding, we were over."

He grabbed my wrist, hard.

"Elizabeth, don't be unreasonable. Jack can't be without his father."

"He has his mother. That's enough."

I forcefully shook off his hand. Jack, frightened, held onto me tightly.

I opened the door and didn't look back.

I heard Benjamin calling my name.

I didn't stop.

I took Jack back to my parents' place.

My parents didn't ask any questions. They cleaned up my room and made Mom some soup.

In the middle of the night, my phone rang.

It was Benjamin.

I hung up.

He called again, so I turned it off.

The doorbell woke me the next morning.

Mom answered it. Benjamin stood there.

He hadn't slept all night, stubble covering his face, eyes bloodshot.

"Mr. and Mrs. Green, I need to see Elizabeth."

Mom blocked his way. "She doesn't want to see you."

"Please, just let me talk to her for a minute."

Dad stepped outside.

"Benjamin, we trusted you to take care of our daughter. Now you've made her and our grandson the laughingstock of this whole city."

"Just leave."

Benjamin stood at the doorway, refusing to budge.

I came out of my room.

"What do you want?"

He saw me like I was his lifeline.

"Elizabeth, let's have another wedding! Tomorrow—no, today! I'll arrange everything!"

"What about your mom? What about Melissa? You've handled all that?"

He choked up.

"My mom's over there. I'll talk to her. Melissa... she's nobody."

"Nobody?" I laughed. "Some nobody made you abandon me and your son at our wedding? Who are you fooling, Benjamin?"

"I didn't!" he snapped. "I just... I couldn't let my mom die!"

"So you could let me die inside?"

We stared at each other, the air freezing around us.

Jack tugged my sleeve.

"Mommy, I'm hungry."

I scooped him up. "Let's get breakfast. Ignore him."

I walked past Benjamin.

He followed. "Elizabeth, let me explain."

"Elizabeth, I messed up."

"Elizabeth, for Jackie's sake, give me another chance."

I stopped and looked back.

"Another chance? Haven't I given you enough?"

"You were there when your mom first said I wasn't good enough for you."

"You were there when she threw soup at me, saying I'd use the baby to trap you."

"You were there when she pointed at Jack and called him a bastard."

"Every time, you said: 'Give me more time. She's my mom—what could I do?'"

"Benjamin, six years is enough. Your time's too precious. I can't wait anymore."

I walked away without looking back.

Benjamin stood outside my building all day.

Evening rain poured down. Still he stayed.

Mom softened. "Should I take him an umbrella?"

I stopped her. "Let him get soaked. That rain is my tears from these six years."

When the rain stopped, he finally left.

I thought he'd given up.

The next day, he came back with his mother.

My mother-in-law sat on the sofa at home looking at me, not a trace of shame in her eyes.

"Elizabeth, I know you've been wronged, but we must set priorities. Melissa got into that car accident because of me, and I asked to see her. That's only natural."

"You're making such a scene. The wedding's ruined, Benjamin's work is affected. Are you happy now?"

I stared at this woman, feeling absurd.

"So, was I wrong?"

"You're not wrong, but you lack generosity."

She lifted her teacup and blew on it. "Benjamin and I came today to give you an out. Our family is willing to take you and the child back."

"Pick a date to redo the wedding, and we'll drop this."

I laughed. "Karen Baker, you've got it backwards. It's not about whether you'll accept me—it's whether I'll still enter your Baker family."

Her face tightened.

"What do you mean?

Don't forget you've got a child with you!"

"I gave birth to him. Whether he's a Green or a Baker—that's my call."

"How dare you!"

She shot up from the sofa.

Benjamin grabbed her arm. "Mom, enough."

He turned to me, voice low. "Elizabeth, don't do this. Let's talk properly."

"Nothing to discuss."

I pointed at the door. "Leave. I'm tired."

"Elizabeth!"

My mother-in-law shrieked. "Don't throw away the respect we give you!

Without our Baker family, what are you worth!"

My parents rushed from the kitchen.

"Karen, that's uncalled for!"

"Our Elizabeth is our treasure too—not some toy for your family to break!"

Chaos erupted.

Jack burst into terrified sobs.

I scooped him up, walked into the bedroom, and shut the door.

The shouting outside faded slowly.

Much later, knocks rattled the door.

Benjamin.

"Elizabeth, open up."

I stayed silent.

"Mom's gone. Elizabeth, she always talks like that—don't take it personally."

"Elizabeth, we can handle this, but Jack can't. Think—he shouldn't grow up in a broken home."

"I swear this won't happen again. I'll protect you and Jack."

I opened the door.

Hope flashed in his eyes.

I thrust a document at him.

"Sign it."

He glanced down—a custody relinquishment agreement.

His face went white.

"What is this?"

"From today, Jack changes his surname to Green. He's Jack now. No ties to you or your Bakers."

"You're insane!"

He seized my shoulders. "Elizabeth, you can't do this!

He's my son too!"

"The moment you abandoned him at the altar, you stopped being his father."

My words cut sharp and clear.

He stared at me, the light in his eyes dying piece by piece.

Like a puppet with cut strings, he crumpled to the floor.

"Why... so cruel?"

I watched him, every shred of lingering affection grinding to dust.

"You made me."

I shut the door, locking him out.

Benjamin never came back after that day.

I thought he'd finally accepted it.

I started hunting for a new apartment and calling new kindergartens.

I changed Jack Baker's name to Jack Green .

I thought a new life was about to begin.

Until a week later, I received a stranger's call.

The call was from Melissa.

Her voice was weak, choked with tears.

"Elizabeth, can you... come see me?"

"I don't want to see you."

"Please, I have something to tell you about Benjamin."

I stayed silent.

In the end, I went.

In the hospital's VIP ward, I saw her.

She wore a hospital gown, one leg in a cast, face pale.

Seeing me, she struggled to sit up.

"Don't move."

I said.

She gave a bitter laugh.

"Elizabeth, I'm sorry."

"What happened at the wedding was my fault. I shouldn't have called your aunt, shouldn't have put Benjamin in that spot."

I watched her without speaking.

"I know you must hate me."

She lowered her head: "Truth is, I've always envied you."

"Envied me for what?"

"Envied how Benjamin loves you. For you, he'd fight his family just to stay together."

"You know what?

His study has a locked box. Inside—everything you ever gave him. The first movie ticket, that scarf you knitted, even Jack's baby footprint."

"He calls it his lifeline."

My heart twisted like something grabbed it.

"Telling me this to soften me up? Want me back with him?"

She shook her head, tears falling.

"No. I'm saying when he left the wedding, it wasn't about loving you less."

"Karen has severe heart disease. She threatened suicide to force him."

"He cried the whole way here. Said he failed you, failed Jack."

"Even told me... I even said if not for me, you'd still be together. He cut ties with me for good."

Melissa grabbed my hand: "Elizabeth, he loves you desperately. Give him another chance?"

I pulled free and stood.

"His love's a weight I can't carry."

"I'm leaving."

Outside the ward, I spotted Benjamin down the hall.

He carried a thermal lunchbox—here to deliver food.

He froze seeing me, then hurried over.

"Elizabeth, why are you here?"

"She asked me."

His expression tightened.

"She talked to you?"

"Said you love me."

I met his eyes: "Benjamin, love isn't just words."

"I know."

He looked down: "Elizabeth, can we start over?"

"I bought a house near your parents. We'll move there with Jack, cut off the family completely."

"Transferred jobs too. No more business trips—I'll be home every day."

"Gave you all my cards. PINs are your birthday."

He took my hand, pleading in his eyes.

"Elizabeth, I'm nothing without you and Jack."

I stared at him, thoughts churning.

Melissa's words, his plans—all screamed he's changing.

Should I believe him?

Right then, my phone rang.

Kindergarten teacher.

"Jack's mom?

Jack's gone!"

My mind started ringing and went completely blank.

I raced toward the kindergarten like a madwoman.

Benjamin drove me there at such speed my whole body trembled.

The teachers at the kindergarten were frantic too.

Surveillance footage showed Jack had walked out the gate alone.

Where could such a little boy have gone?

I collapsed on the floor, shaking uncontrollably, teeth chattering.

Benjamin lifted me up, his own voice trembling.

"Don't be scared, Elizabeth. Don't be scared. We'll find him."

We called the police, posted on social media, and Benjamin mobilized his entire network.

The sky darkened inch by inch.

Every passing second was agony.

My world shrank to the thudding of my own heart.

If anything happened to Jack, I couldn't go on living.

At ten that night, the police called.

They'd found the child outside Benjamin's former research institute.

When we arrived, Jack sat on the steps hugging his knees, his small frame curled into a tight ball.

I sprinted over and swept him into my arms.

"Jack! You scared Mommy half to death!"

Seeing me, he burst into loud sobs.

"Mommy, I couldn't find Daddy's box."

"What box?"

"Aunt Helen Jackson said there's a box with your scarf. I wanted to bring it home so we could go back."

Tears flooded my eyes again, my heart squeezed by an invisible fist until breathing hurt.

Benjamin stood nearby—a six-foot-tall man weeping like a child.

He crouched down, reaching for Jack.

But Jack buried himself deeper in my arms.

"You're a bad daddy," he cried. "You make Mommy cry. You let Grandma yell at Mommy. I don't want you anymore!"

Benjamin's hand froze midair, utterly still.

That night, we took Jack home.

He refused to speak to Benjamin, wouldn't even look at him.

Benjamin sat awake on the living room sofa all night.

When I woke the next morning, he was gone.

He'd left a bank card and a note on the table.

[Elizabeth, I'm sorry. I'll make everything right before seeing you both again.]

I picked up the note, tore it to shreds, and threw it in the trash.

I thought it was just another empty promise, another endless wait.

The very next day, Jack and I moved to a neighborhood he'd never find.

I changed my number, cut ties with everyone from my old life except my parents.

I needed air untouched by Benjamin's shadow—a place where my son and I could breathe again.