Andrea's cruelty reached its zenith with her threats. Every argument, every glimmer of rebellion from Bennett, she answered with the threat of taking the children away. "If you leave, they'll never know their father," she would hiss, her voice as cold as winter's breath. His love for Olivia and Owen became the chains that bound him, his desperation a leash she held with relish.
One night, she declared her intent to take them abroad, her voice trembling with righteous fury. "I'll find a place where they'll be safe from you," she spat, gathering their things, her movements swift and full of venom. But her plan unraveled at the airport; immigration halted her, their regulations demanding Bennett's consent.
When Bennett confronted her, she turned her rage inward, casting herself as the one wronged, the one trapped. She would not admit her actions were born of malice—no, she painted herself as a desperate mother, caught in a web of her own making. He watched her play her role, heart aching at the realization that the woman he had loved was a stranger, wearing only the skin of his former beloved.