Chapter 165 The Storm

Chapter 165 The Storm
Zara's POV

The baby wouldn’t stop crying.

God.

The sound echoed in my ears over and over and over again like a punishment designed just for me.

I pressed my fingers harder against my temples, jaw clenched so tight it ached. “Please,” I muttered under my breath. “Just stop.”

But he only wailed louder, tiny lungs working overtime.

Of course he did.

He was their son. Sarah’s and Aaron’s. Living proof that they had destroyed me.

I glanced over at the crib shoved into the corner. He lay there wrapped in the soft blue blanket I’d taken him in, his small face flushed crimson, fists waving helplessly in the air.

So tiny.

For a fleeting second, something painful twisted deep in my chest. Because this should have been mine. My child. My family. My life.

Not hers.

Never hers.

I stood abruptly, arms wrapped tightly around my middle as if I could hold myself together. My bare feet whispered across the cold floorboards as I approached him.

“You don’t even know what she did,” I whispered, staring down at his tear-streaked face.

The baby blinked up at me through his cries, eyes wide and unfocused.

“She takes everything.” My throat tightened painfully. “Everything.”

Dad’s attention. Aaron’s love. The future I had planned so carefully.

And somehow, she still managed to make everyone feel sorry for her.

Even after she’d ruined me.

A bitter laugh scraped out of me.

Classic Sarah. Always the victim. The perfect daughter. The perfect sister. Now the perfect mother.

While I was the difficult one. The dramatic one. The unstable one.

No one ever asked why. No one wondered what it felt like to always come second. To beg for scraps of affection. To scream in a room full of people who still chose her.

My eyes burned with unshed tears

.

“You know what the funny thing is?” I said softly to the baby, as if he could understand. “I didn’t even want to hurt her at first.”

I lowered myself onto the edge of the m bed, the springs creaking beneath my weight.

“I just wanted her to stop.” My voice cracked. “To stop taking what belonged to me.”

The crying eased slightly, softening into exhausted hiccups.

I hesitated, then reached down and lifted him awkwardly into my arms. He felt impossibly light—fragile, warm, and heartbreakingly real against my chest.

A strange ache bloomed inside me.

God. He really did look like Aaron. The same nose. The same eyes.

The thought sent something ugly surging through me again.

“No,” I whispered fiercely, shaking my head. “No. Don’t you dare.”

I wouldn’t feel guilty. Not after everything they’d done.

This wasn’t kidnapping. This was justice. Balance restored.

Sarah needed to feel real pain—the kind that made every breath feel like drowning. The kind she had given me.

My phone buzzed sharply on the wooden table.

A message from one of the few staff members I still had under my thumb: Chaos at the house now, your plan worked. Sarah is too scared to involve the Police.

A slow, satisfied smile curved my lips.

Good. Let them panic. Let them suffer for once.

I adjusted the baby more comfortably against my chest, rocking him gently. “You hear that?” I whispered, my voice soft and almost tender. “Mommy finally wins.”

The word Mommy felt strange—foreign—on my tongue, but I laughed quietly to myself.

Maybe this was fate correcting its mistake. Maybe the universe had finally realized it had given the wrong sister everything.

My phone rang suddenly, slicing through the quiet.

I  answered quickly without checking the number. 

“Zara”

My smile vanished.

It wasn’t Mom or Mitchelle. It was Sarah.

Cold dread slithered up my spine.

“How did you get this number ?” I demanded.

Her breathing came uneven and ragged through the speaker. “Where is my son?”

My pulse spiked. So she knew. Interesting.

I leaned back in the chair, crossing my legs slowly, forcing calm into my voice. “You mean Aaron’s son?”

“Zara,” she whispered, voice trembling. “Please.”

There it was—the raw fear I’d craved.

“You don’t understand,” she continued, breaking. “He’s just a baby.”

I looked down at him, now dozing fitfully against me. “I know.”

“Please,” she begged, tears thickening her words. “Please don’t do this.”

Something dark and bitter twisted inside my chest.

Funny. When I had begged for Aaron. When I had begged for honesty. When I had begged not to lose my marriage—no one had listened to me either.

“You want him back?” I asked quietly.

Silence. Then a desperate, “Yes.”

I smiled. “Good.”

I stood and walked to the window, staring outside to the emptiness of the air in the surrounding. “Then listen carefully.”

Her breathing stopped.

“You’re going to leave Aaron.”

“What?”

“You heard me.” My voice sharpened like a blade. “Disappear from his life. Completely.”

“Zara—”

“No!” I snapped. The baby stirred in my arms. I lowered my voice again, deadly calm. “You took my husband. You slept with him. You had his child. And I’m supposed to just smile through it all?”

Her voice shattered. “I never meant for any of this to happen.”

I laughed, cold and hollow. “That’s always been your problem, Sarah. Things just happen to you, don’t they?”

Tears choked her words. “Please… don’t punish him for what happened between us.”

I closed my eyes for a brief moment, letting the silence stretch.

“You have twenty-four hours,” I said finally. “You leave Aaron. You disappear. No police. No hero act. No Aaron.”

I glanced down at the sleeping baby.

“If I even suspect you told him where you’re going… you’ll never see your son again.”

The silence on the other end felt suffocating.

Then, barely a whisper: “You wouldn’t.”

I opened my eyes, staring into the growing storm outside.

“You still don’t know me at all.”

I hung up.

The storm had finally arrived.

And this time, Sarah would lose everything.