Dumping The Ice King His Mini-Tyrant novel Chapter 441

The moment after she’d warned Harrison—

“Mommy!”

Damien’s voice burst from the phone speaker, a child’s innocent cry freezing Selene in place.

Harrison flipped the camera around, and suddenly Damien’s face filled her screen.

In just one night, Damien looked like he’d shrunk—his cheeks hollow, those big, dark eyes now shadowy pits. He wore only a thin, oversized hoodie, collar slipping low to reveal the sharp edge of his collarbone.

There’s no way, Selene thought, that the Vaughn family’s staff would ever let Damien outside dressed like that.

Red splotches from the cold stood out on his cheeks. He stared wide-eyed at Selene on the screen, longing and love swirling in his gaze.

Children are like this, she thought. Yesterday, he’d been furious with her, full of resentment. But now, seeing her face, all he wanted was to leap into her arms, soak up her warmth, and pour out every moment of misery he’d endured.

“Mommy, I’m here at Serenity Church with Daddy. Grandpa made us shave our heads.”

Damien ducked his head to show her his newly bald scalp.

On the right side, a thin scar about an inch long caught Selene’s eye. Her lower eyelid twitched.

That scar—she knew its story all too well. Damien had been in a car accident; his head split open, and even though the Vaughns had hired the best doctors for the stitches, even though they’d cared for him meticulously, that faint scar refused to grow hair.

Seeing it, Selene felt a pang in her own body, a dull ache where her own scar lay hidden beneath her clothes.

She remembered, clear as yesterday, the day she’d nearly died giving birth to him—lying on the operating table, her hands trembling as she scrawled her signature on the consent form. Every rainy night, that scar itched and ached like ants crawling under her skin.

Her eyes shimmered. She blinked, and Damien’s voice tumbled on:

“The food here is so gross, Mommy. I want your cooking! The beds are hard, it’s freezing in here—I couldn’t sleep at all last night. Mommy, I miss you. I know I was wrong—please, I’m sorry, I’m so sorry…”

He burst into sobs. “Mommy…”

Selene knew she was also speaking to Harrison. Even if Damien couldn’t understand yet, at least she’d spoken her truth.

No matter how many times she tried to cut out the piece of her heart that belonged to him, that maternal bond could never be severed.

A single, crystalline tear clung to her lashes, trembling like a bead of dew at dawn.

Just as it fell—

A warm, steady hand gently brushed her cheek, wiping away the tears.

He was sitting right in front of her; how could he possibly let her cry, even for a moment?

That hand flashed across the screen, caught by Harrison’s eye. In an instant, it felt as if a volcano erupted inside his mind—the heat, the fury, churning and unstoppable.