POV: Catherine
I never wanted children. That's the truth no one knows. Not Richard, not Jason, not the therapists I saw for years trying to convince myself that maternal instinct would eventually appear.
It never did.
I had Jason because Richard wanted an heir. Because that was what wives in our social circle did. Produce beautiful, perfect children who would carry on the family name and attend the right schools and marry the right people.
I did my duty. I had the baby. I hired the best nannies money could buy. And I waited to feel something. Love, connection, anything.
It never came. Oh, I protected Jason. Defended him. Made excuses when he hurt other children at school, when he tortured small animals, when he showed the same cold cruelty his father had.
But I didn't do it out of love. I did it because Jason was my legacy. My proof that I had fulfilled my role as Richard Hartley's wife.
