Chapter 10

After leaving the clinic, Sabrina drove to Nathan's house, trying to figure out how to handle her relationship with both him and his annoying child.

Yesterday’s events were a setback. After Sabrina played nursemaid and rushed in to take care of Andy—who really hadn’t been that hurt, he was just a big baby—Nathan pulled me aside and told her she wouldn’t be taking care of the child anymore.

“You won’t need to care for Andy anymore. I’m going to take care of him myself.”

“But Nathan, your campaign! You really must focus on it.”

“I’m fully capable of handling both, Sabrina. And after today’s incident, it’s obvious I need to see to my son’s well-being personally.”

She sat at a red light, gritting her teeth and gripping the steering wheel. He’d just…dismissed her, like she was the help or something.

It was all Claire’s fault. Her dramatic behavior was distracting Nathan from what really mattered: winning the Alpha President position, with Sabrina by his side.

Why couldn’t that stupid Omega just know her place, and stay there?

If Claire hadn’t run away like an idiot, Sabrina could have just focused on working her way into Nathan’s affections. They could have even been engaged by now.

But no, she had to help take care of the child, sometimes spending more time with him than his father! It was unacceptable.

Knowing she had some ground to make up, Sabrina parked her car and walked into the house, with her bag full of treats and little toys to bribe Andy’s affection.

She found him in the kitchen, complaining about the breakfast the servant made him.

“I hate waffles... I want pancakes. I want Claire’s pancakes! She makes them right.”

“Hello, Andy! Don’t you look handsome this morning?”

He didn’t, really. His hair was a mess, uncombed, and he’d fought the servants so hard when they tried to dress him that they eventually gave up.

He had on fresh pants, but still wore his pajama top, looking more like a stubborn child than someone ready to face the world.

Sabrina eyed the cut on his forehead, noting that it was already almost completely healed. Which just proved her suspicion that he hadn’t actually been that hurt.

It never occurred to her that Claire’s treatment may have accelerated his healing.

“How about instead of waffles or pancakes, we have some ice cream? Doesn’t ice cream for breakfast sound fun?”

Andy gazed up at Sabrina, his eyes wide. “I’ve never had ice cream for breakfast. But Claire says sweets in the morning would upset my stomach.”

She rolled her eyes. “Your nanny’s gone. She doesn’t care about you anymore, Andy. Why do you still care what she thinks? Come on, let’s have some ice cream. And look!”

Opening her bag, she pulled out a large coloring book and a fresh set of markers.

“We can color too. Come on, scoot over. I’ll color with you.”

But try as Sabrina might, not even the other toys in her bag could pull Andy out of his sullen mood. He remained silent and stubborn.

She couldn’t help but feel hurt. Declaring that Claire didn’t care about him anymore had hurt more than she knew how to say.

She watched Andy color half-heartedly, ignoring her attempts to talk with him. Her patience was growing thin.

When Nathan is mine and we have a child of our own, Sabrina decided, the first thing I’m doing is sending this brat off to private school.

But when Nathan walked in, she was careful to tuck such thoughts away. She smiled at him and asked him to join them at the table.

And spent the rest of the morning working hard to get back into his good graces.

Third-person's POV

The next day, Claire parked in the lot next to Andy’s exclusive private pre-school, ready to pick him up for his regular checkup.

But at the entrance gate, she saw Sabrina already waiting for him to be dismissed, smiling smugly at her.

Sabrina had learned from Nathan about Claire mindlinking him the day before, asking to take their son to his doctor’s appointment.

So she’d immediately decided to meet her at the school, to confront her—the troublesome Omega.

Now she looked Claire up and down, her smile turning into a sneer. “You’ve got a lot of nerve acting the way you have, wolfless. Just who do you think you are?”

For a moment, Claire almost reverted back to who she’d been before. Her instinct was to shrink beneath the Princess’s stare, to make herself small and remember her place as a lowly Omega.

But things were different now. She wasn’t wolfless, and she wasn’t going to accept the same kind of treatment.

“I’m not here to fight with you, Princess. I just want to pick up my son.”

“I don’t know why you’re even bothering, Claire,” Sabrina said. She wanted to scratch my eyes out, but willed herself to act cool and dismissive. “The child already likes me more than you. He won’t want to go with you.”

“I’m his mother, Princess. Of course, he’ll want to come with me.”

Sabrina raised an eyebrow, confident the things she’d said yesterday to Andy about me not caring about him anymore had firmly taken root. Andy had been quiet and withdrawn the whole day. He’d believed every word she said.

“But you’re not his mother, are you? Not to him. To him, you’re just some flaky nanny who ran away when he needed her most.”

Sabrina watched with satisfaction as her barb scored a direct hit.

Claire couldn’t help how much that statement hurt, but she did her best to ignore her, walking a short distance away from her while waiting for the children to be dismissed from school.

Andy spotted the women before they realized he was outside, and for a moment when he saw Claire, his face lit up bright.

He raced along the sidewalk, his backpack bouncing against his back.

But then he remembered how she’d left the house again while he slept, abandoning him all over again.

He deliberately changed direction, jumping into Sabrina’s arms instead.

“What are you doing here?” he said to her.

He looked and sounded so much like his father as he stared at Claire, his eyes cold and his expression regal and cool.

Sabrina’s satisfied smirk just added to the rejection. The image they made together, the royal princess and the Alpha’s son, was almost too much to bear.

Claire had always done her best to take care of Andy, giving him her time, energy, and every ounce of love her could give.

And still, he preferred the beautiful, higher-ranking princess to his lowly Omega of a mother.

Claire's heart sank, and she had no choice but to turn and walk away.

Leaving her son in the arms of another woman.