Every pair of eyes in the room locked onto me, loaded with disgust and contempt, the kind of look people reserved for garbage.
The loudest voices from moments ago were the first to screech:
"Well, well. The mistress actually dared to show her face!"
"Do you have no shame? You know what you did, and you still have the gall to bring your little bastard to our doorstep?"
I was about to respond when I felt the small hand in mine tremble. Carly shrank behind me, pressing herself against my back.
I reached down immediately and covered her ears with my hands, then lifted my gaze to the crowd.
"Every single word you've said today, you'd better have chosen carefully. Because when the day comes that you're begging me for forgiveness, it'll be too late for regret."
The crowd burst out laughing, as if I'd lost my mind.
Maria stepped out from behind them, unhurried, chin lifted, eyes dripping with contempt. She looked at me the way someone looks at an insect beneath their shoe.