Chapter 7 Chapter 7: Open Hostility
Catherine’s P.O.V
I drew in a shaky breath, trying…begging myself to stay calm. She’s his mother, I repeated in my head like a prayer I didn’t believe in anymore. You have to be respectful. You have to try. But my cheek still burned from the slap she had already given me, the heat of it pulsing like humiliation under my skin. My pride was dented, my chest tight, and for a moment I wasn’t sure which stung more…the physical pain or the fact that I kept letting her treat me like I was something scraped off her shoe.
Six years. Six years of me bending over backwards for the Dalton family…and this was the hospitality I get?
Still, I forced myself to lift my chin and look at her, even though everything in me wanted to curl inward and disappear.
“Lydia,” I said softly, hating how shaky my voice sounded but pushing through it anyway, “I have tried to be nothing but respectful to you. I’ve tried to understand your disappointment, but I need to say this. I need you to hear me.”
She narrowed her eyes at me like my words were an insult in themselves. “Hear you?” she scoffed. “What more could you possibly have to say?”
My fingers curled tightly together, nails digging into my palm as I tried to steady my voice. “I’ve been the only one getting tested,” I said.
“Every time. And every single result has come back normal. The doctors… They've told me I’m healthy. That nothing is wrong with me. So maybe…” My throat tightened, but I pushed on, “Maybe it’s time we also test…”
“You fucking bitch!” Her voice was low, dangerous, vibrating with a rage that made the air feel heavier. I opened my mouth to explain, maybe to soften it, but she didn’t give me the chance. She moved so fast I barely saw her hand until it collided with my face again…this time harder, sharper, crueler.
The force sent me stumbling backward, the room tilting as my shoulder slammed into the opposite wall. I gasped, more from shock than pain, gripping the edge of a small console table just to steady myself. The world wavered for a second, dizziness sweeping through me, and I blinked rapidly to keep from falling.
“Lydia…” I whispered, my voice breaking around the edges.
She stepped toward me, fury twisting her features. “How dare you even imply that my son…my Xavier…could ever be the problem? Do you have any idea what you’re saying? Do you know who you’re talking about?”
I pressed my palm to the cold wall behind me, cheek throbbing viciously. “I wasn’t implying anything,” I said, even though my voice trembled. “I just thought it was fair that we both…”
“Fair?” she snapped. “Fair? You think marriage is fair? You think I will stand here and listen to you accuse my son because you are too weak to do the one thing a wife is supposed to do?”
“I’m not accusing him,” I said pleadingly. “I’m just trying to understand what’s happening to us. Xavier deserves to know the truth too, doesn’t he? Isn’t that fair to him?”
“Do not say his name,” she hissed, pointing at me like I was filth. “You don’t deserve to even speak it after what you just suggested.”
I swallowed hard, the back of my throat burning. “I love him,” I whispered. “And I want to give him everything he’s ever wanted. That’s why I’ve done every test, every appointment, every humiliating exam. I’ve done it all alone. I’m just asking for us to look at this together.”
Lydia stepped so close I could feel her breath on my already aching cheek. “You are a disgrace,” she said coldly. “And if you think I will let you blame my son for your failure, then you truly don’t understand your place in this family.”
I felt something twist painfully inside me, not just from her words but from how wrong and cruel…they were.
“I’m not blaming him,” I said quietly. “I just… I just want us to be honest. Both of us.”
She laughed…a sharp, ugly sound. “Honest? You want honesty?” Her hand twitched like she might raise it again.
“Here is honesty: if my son doesn’t have an heir yet, it is because you have failed him. Not because of him. Never because of him.”
I felt tears sting my eyes, not from weakness but from sheer frustration, the kind that builds when you’ve been silenced one time too many.
“Please,” I whispered. “Don’t hit me again. I’m just trying to talk.”
She took a step back not out of mercy, but out of disdain, folding her arms like the sight of me was offensive.
“Then choose your words wisely,” she spat. “Because one more insult to my son, and I won’t hold back next time.”
My jaw tightened, the ache of her slap still radiating through my face, but I forced myself to stand straighter…even if my legs trembled, even if my voice felt like it could break at any second.
“I’m not trying to insult him,” I said softly. “I’m trying to save my marriage.”
Lydia scoffed loudly. “Your marriage isn’t what needs saving. You just tried to blame my son for your mistakes! God, I can’t believe I have to tolerate a filth like you in my house!”
I watched Lydia’s hand slice through the air again, her fingers curved like claws aiming for my cheek, but this time…this time, I snapped my hand up and caught her wrist mid-swing. My pulse was thundering, my grip trembling, but I held her firmly, staring straight into those cold, furious eyes.
“If you don’t remember your boundaries,” I said, my voice low, steady, and nothing like the shaking mess I felt inside, “then I will have to forget mine as well.”
Lydia let out a sharp, animalistic screech, yanking her hand back as if my touch had burned her.
“How dare you?” she spat. “A barren whore like you has no right…no right…to raise your voice in this house!”
My breath stuttered. “Lydia…”
“If Xavier wasn’t fertile,” she cut in, stabbing a finger at me, “then what exactly are you trying to say about that surrogate’s baby? Are you calling that child fake? Are you accusing my son of lying? Is that what you meant?”
My heart plummeted. “I…I didn’t mean it that way,” I tried, my words stumbling out. “I was upset. I shouldn’t have said….”
“You shouldn’t have opened your mouth at all!” she snapped, closing the distance between us, her voice growing sharper with every word.
“Xavier made a huge mistake marrying you. He was too young, too naïve. He should’ve found someone who was his equal, someone with class, with breeding…someone who could actually give him a child.”
My throat tightened. “Lydia, please…”
But she wasn’t done. If anything, my pleading made her more vicious.
“Not only were you beneath us socially, you were a nobody! A little designer from nowhere, while my son is the CEO of Dalton Incorporated. A man with power, prestige, a legacy and he threw it all away to marry a girl who brought nothing…nothing to this family.”
Her words hit like stones, each one heavier than the last, and I felt them sinking into me even as I tried to stand my ground.
She leaned closer, her breath hot and sharp with rage. “He should’ve explored his options. Married someone worthy of him. But instead he picked you and looked where it got him. Six years of humiliation. Six years of empty cradles. Six years of…”
“That’s enough.”
The voice sliced through her rant like a blade.
Everything froze. Lydia’s mouth stayed open mid-insult, her eyes widening, the room suddenly too quiet…too still.
I turned slowly, my heart thudding, breath caught somewhere between fear and relief, because I knew that voice.
Whoever stood behind us… had just heard everything.