They Gave My Newborn to His First Love,My Ruthless Revenge

I opened my phone and, almost against my will, tapped into Renee's social media feed.

The most recent post had gone up ten minutes ago.

It was a video.

The caption dripped with fake sweetness: "First time being a mom, and I'm a little all over the place! Just helping my bestie carry some of the load with the baby. Don't get the wrong idea, everyone — I'm a committed childfree girl, totally selfless here."

I opened the video.

On the screen, Renee was wearing the nursing nightgown that should have been mine, cradling my daughter clumsily in her arms.

The baby must have been hungry, wailing her heart out against Renee's chest.

Nolan's voice came from off-camera, thick with tenderness and doting.

"Renee, don't panic, the baby's probably hungry. Try this…"

What came next turned my stomach.

Renee actually unbuttoned the nightgown and tried to get my newborn daughter to suckle at a breast that couldn't possibly have any milk.

At the end of the video, she smiled shamelessly into the camera.

"It really feels like there's a connection! Is this the soul-bond of a mother's love?"

A bitter laugh escaped me.

I, the real mother, was lying on a cold hospital bed, enduring searing pain.

And that thief was enjoying everything that should have been mine.

I refreshed the page, and Renee's feed had updated again.

One photo was of the pricey postpartum recovery meals Nolan had ordered for her.

Another was a solid gold longevity pendant charm he'd given her, engraved with the word "godmother."

And another showed the two of them standing together in front of a custom crib, laughing without a care in the world.

That crib, in materials and design, was far more expensive than the one I'd prepared for our child.

In the middle of the night, the baby must have gotten truly, unbearably hungry.

Nolan finally sent me a message.

"Prudence, pump some milk and bring it over. Renee's fed her all day and she's worn out, she needs to rest."

"Don't let your emotions get in the way. The baby's innocent."

"After you drop off the milk, clean up the VIP suite while you're at it. Consider it making it up to Renee for the fright. You scared her pretty badly today."

He didn't say a single word about coming to see me.

I didn't reply.

Instead, I took a screenshot of a corner from Renee's video and sent it over.

The image showed a baby garment cut to shreds.

I demanded an answer: "Why did you let Renee destroy the blessing gown I sewed for our child?"

I'd stayed up night after night making that patchwork blessing gown by hand, stitch by stitch, out of the softest cotton.

I'd embroidered a protection charm onto it, one I'd prayed for.

Nolan's reply came fast, and careless.

"It's a raggedy piece of clothing. What's the big deal."

"Renee said the fabric was too coarse, that it'd scratch the baby's delicate skin, so she used it as a floor mat. So what?"

I bit my lips until they went white.

"Nolan, do you have any idea how much that gown meant to me?"

I remembered how, when I'd first shown that gown to Nolan, he'd held me so tenderly.

My phone buzzed again.

It was Nolan.

"Prudence Fox, can you not be so petty? Making a scene over a raggedy piece of clothing?"

"Take a good look at how dirt-poor your family is. From the day the baby was born until now, not a single cash gift. If Renee hadn't been generous enough to buy the baby a solid gold bracelet to save face, you'd have humiliated me completely!"

I pressed on the screen so hard it crackled, nearly cracking.

"You know better than anyone why my parents won't come to the hospital, don't you?"

The message sent.

On the other end, a dead silence fell.