PART 1

“It’s me or your mother.”

The words landed on the conference table harder than the divorce papers.

David Hayes sat in a leather chair inside Morrison & Reed Family Law, staring at the woman he had loved for twelve years. Claire stood across from him in her cream designer coat, one hand resting near the silver pen, her wedding ring glittering like a threat under the office light.

The lawyer cleared his throat, uncomfortable.

David didn’t move.

Outside, rain ran down the glass walls of the office, blurring the city lights into cold blue streaks. His phone lay faceup beside the documents. His mother’s name was still pinned at the top of his favorites.

Mom.

Claire saw him look at it and laughed once.

“Don’t you dare make this dramatic,” she said. “You’re thirty-nine, David. You’re not a little boy anymore. Your mother has ruined enough of this marriage.”

David’s jaw tightened.

His mother, Eleanor, had never raised her voice at Claire. Never asked for money. Never

demanded holidays. Never once reminded him that she had cleaned hotel rooms for sixteen years so he could go to college.

“She needs help,” David said quietly.

Claire leaned forward.

“No. She needs to stop using you.”

The lawyer slid the pen closer.

David looked at the papers.

Then at his wife.

Then at the phone.

Claire whispered, “Choose.”

David picked up the phone and called his mother.