Regret Came Too Late (Grace and Ethan)

Without a second thought, Gary grabbed the cup of hot water and barged into the next restaurant.

Jessica had told him over and over that once she locked Peter into marriage, the three of them would finally be a real family. She wouldn't have any more kids, so he'd always be her one and only.

"Mom!" Gary shouted, flinging the hot water straight at Peter's head. "Mom, are you planning to ditch me once you marry Peter?"

Jessica, who had been all dolled up and put together, started to get flustered.

Peter shot up from his seat, dripping wet and furious. "Whose kid is this? Why the hell is he calling you 'Mom'?"

Gary was no stranger to throwing fits. He clung to Jessica, refusing to let go.

"Mom, answer me! Are you really cutting me loose? I'll kill both of you if you do that!" he yelled.

Panicked, Jessica shoved him off. "Get off me! Who the hell is your mom?"

Right then, Peter's phone buzzed with a text. The second he read it, his expression darkened. Without hesitation, he smacked Jessica across the face.

"You've been lying to me, Jessica? Trying to con me into raising someone else's kid, huh? In your dreams!" he snapped.

Jessica had spent six months buttering him up. Peter's family had a net worth of a few million dollars. He was the best catch she had come across.

"Let me explain," she said.

But Gary wouldn't stop calling her "Mom". Everyone in the steakhouse turned to look. Humiliated, Peter walked off.

Jessica rushed after him. "He's not my kid, I swear!"

"Mom, so you really are cutting me loose? Good thing I came prepared." Gary pulled out a handful of photos of the two of them together.

Jessica's face twisted with rage, and she slapped him. "You little leech! Are you here to shake me down?"

All hell broke loose. The sounds of crying and the sharp crack of slaps filled the air. Someone pulled out their phone and started recording. The second Gary noticed, he flopped onto the floor and wailed even louder.

Jessica's palm kept landing across his face. She was losing it. She had almost locked in a wedding date, but this brat had just blown everything up.

She wished she had dumped him years ago, or better yet, never had him at all. Damn it! Why had she ever slept with that ex of hers? It was the biggest mistake of her life.

Jessica went at him for a full ten minutes. By the time Gary's cheeks were swollen and the crowd was buzzing in shock, her anger finally simmered down.noveldrama

She dragged Gary outside and spotted Grace standing off in the distance. But she was too drained to throw out any insults about Grace "being forced into bed". She shoved Gary into the car and took off in disgrace.

Jessica had seriously underestimated how bad the fallout would be. By the next morning, footage of her beating Gary had hit the internet and was already trending on social media.

In the video, she was clearly worked up, slapping him over and over while he bawled on the ground. The comment section exploded, especially with outrage from mothers.

"How could anyone hit a kid like that? She's downright evil. She's got to be a stepmom."

"She beat him until his face was swollen! Where were the people around them? Why didn't anyone stop her?"

"When I was a kid, my dad hit me once, and I lost hearing in one ear. People with short tempers have no business raising kids."

"Somebody needs to call the cops for child abuse."

It didn't take long for people to realize Jessica worked for Henderson Group. Soon after that, they were swarming the company's official Facebook page, demanding she be fired.

Jessica sat in her office, too antsy to sit still. She had seen the comments too. These days, the moment a person's face showed up online, someone was bound to dig up the rest of their story.

Now that this mess had blown up at Henderson Group, she would be the one taking the fall. No excuse would change that not even blaming Gary's XYY syndrome or saying her ex had fooled her into thinking they could raise him right. Jessica's face went as white as a sheet when someone from HR approached. "Ms. Hull, here's the severance package the company put together. We've gotten over 200 complaint calls today. HR can't handle it anymore."

The bigger the company, the more it cared about its reputation. Jessica stared at the termination papers in despair, then heard Grace chuckle.

That was when it hit her. Gary would usually sit quietly in the restaurant next door while waiting for her date to be over, so why had he lost it last night? Someone must've said something to set him off.

"It was you, wasn't it?" Jessica snapped. "Grace, you bitch! You ruined me! Do you have any idea how hard I worked to get here? I won't let you off!"