But his gaze was cold. A stranger's gaze. When he heard my words, his small brow furrowed hard.
"Thelma!"
Hudson cut me off.
"We agreed on this. Aria is Colton's mother. What are you trying to do, embarrass her?"
"Looks like Aria was right. Every chance you get, you try to steal the children."
"Do you really want Colton to have a murderer for a mother?"
My heart felt like it was sinking through my chest.
"But—"
But he's my child.
I carried him for ten months. I gave birth to him. I never even got to see what he looked like as a newborn before Hudson took him away.
Then Colton spoke.
"You're a bad woman."
His voice was small, but every word reached me with perfect clarity. "Mommy told me. You're a bad woman. You tried to steal Daddy, so they locked you up."
I froze. My whole body trembled.
"Colton!"
Hudson's voice cracked like a whip. He crouched down to the boy's level. "That was very rude. You should call her Auntie Thelma."
Colton flinched, his eyes rimming red.
He pouted, then reached into his pocket and pulled out a folded drawing, pressing it flat against the glass.
Four people: Daddy, Mommy, Colton, Willa.
Colton pointed at the figures. "This is our family. You're not in it."
He folded the drawing back up and turned to leave.
Hudson picked up the receiver and offered a few careless words. "Behave yourself in here. I've already had a word with the right people. No one's going to give you trouble."
My eyes were locked on the small retreating figure. Without a word, I pulled open my prison uniform.
Pale skin covered in bruises. Layer upon layer of welts and wounds, mottled purple and black.
"This is what your word got me?"
Hudson's expression shifted the instant he saw the marks on my body.
"Thelma, you painted those on, didn't you?"
"Let me guess—next you'll say Aria ordered it?"
He pulled out his phone and held it up to the glass, showing me a string of messages from Aria.
"If Aria hadn't shown me the proof ahead of time, I might've actually believed you!"
"I've told you before—she's innocent in all of this. Stop trying to drag her name through the mud!"
"I'll come see you again tomorrow. Colton's upset now. He'll probably run straight to Aria crying."
I sat there, motionless, the dead tone of the phone still buzzing against my ear.
Ten years. I'd been with Hudson for ten years.
And he didn't believe a single word I said.