The Billionaire Ex-Wife and the Beggar He Became novel Chapter 147

Winona's voice was soft, almost distant—a sound that drifted through the room, yet carried a resolve that even little Tiana could hear loud and clear. It was a quiet, unwavering finality, and Tiana realized, with a pang sharper than anything she'd felt before, that her mother didn't want her anymore.

She understood now, in a way she never had before, that her mother might never again treat her as the most precious thing in her world. There'd be no more nights snuggled together, no more falling asleep in Winona's arms—even if it meant her mother's arm went numb, she'd never once complained. The endless bedtime stories, the gentle hands cooling her forehead during a fever, the patient way her mother would sit up all night, tending to her—those were gone too.

Her mother would never again cook her favorite meals, or pick out her clothes with loving care. She wouldn't be the one braving rain and wind to drop Tiana off at preschool, nor come fetch her at the end of the day—even when she herself was sick, shivering with fever, Winona had always insisted on being there.

Winona was never as beautiful as Miss Felicity, never as clever, never as charming or admired. But Tiana knew, with a certainty that hurt all the more, that her mother had loved her a thousand times more than Miss Felicity ever could.

Yet now, as she looked at Winona from across the room, Tiana realized something else—her mother wasn't any less beautiful than Miss Felicity. Maybe, without the weight of caring for Tiana dragging her down, Winona could be even more beautiful—radiant, in a way Tiana had never noticed before.

Miss Felicity, for all her easy conversation and affection, felt so far away now, so unreal. She only liked Tiana when she was quiet and easy, when she didn't demand anything, didn't make a mess or need looking after. Miss Felicity would never care for her with the same fierce devotion—never stay up all night, never hold her like she was the center of the universe, never give up everything for her.

The truth was, Miss Felicity only really loved herself.

In this world, the only person who truly loved Tiana was her mother. No one else came close. Not her grandparents, not her great-grandparents. Not even her father.

Certainly not Miss Felicity.

When the adults got busy, they pushed her aside, told her to behave, to listen to the housekeeper, to let the housekeeper drive her to school and pick her up. Only her mother had ever put her first.

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