Chapter 1
My mother-in-law dumped an entire bottle of milk over my six-month-old son because he wouldn’t stop crying. I ran at her before I even realized what I was doing.
I heard Noah screaming from the hallway.
Not his normal hungry cry.
This was terrified.
I ran into the living room and froze.
My mother-in-law, Diane, was standing over his baby seat with an empty bottle in her hand.
Milk was dripping from Noah’s hair, face, and blanket.
“What did you do?” I screamed.
Diane looked at me without a trace of guilt.
“He wouldn’t shut up.”
I rushed forward, unbuckled my son, and pulled him against my chest.
Noah was shaking and gasping between cries.
“You poured that on my baby?”
“He needed to learn.”
“He is six months old!”
Diane reached toward him.
“Give him to me.”
I stepped back.
“Don’t touch my son.”
She grabbed my arm anyway.
I shoved her hand away.
Then she pushed me hard enough that I stumbled into the coffee table while still holding Noah.
Something inside me snapped.
I put Noah safely into his playpen and turned around.
Diane came at me again.
We grabbed each other’s arms, knocking a lamp onto the floor.
“You ungrateful little brat!” she screamed.
“You will never be alone with my child again!”
She tried to slap me, and I caught her wrist.
Then the front door opened.
My husband, Michael, walked in from work and stopped dead.
His mother was gripping my hair.
I was holding her wrist away from my face.
Noah was screaming behind us.
Milk was still dripping from his clothes.
Michael stared at his mother.
“Mom… what happened?”
Diane instantly let go of me.
“She attacked me.”
I pointed toward our son.
“Look at Noah.”
Michael walked to the playpen, touched the soaked blanket, and slowly turned back.
Then Noah’s baby monitor suddenly played a recorded voice from ten minutes earlier.
Diane’s voice filled the room.
May you like
“If you don’t stop crying, I’ll give you something to cry about.”
Michael’s face went white.
