Chapter 487

"Well, well, if it isn't Lily's mother. Finally decided to show up, huh? I was starting to think you'd chickened out." Margaret Dawson twirled her oversized pearls around her fingers, smirking at Sophia Montgomery with undisguised mockery.

Sophia ignored the taunt, her focus solely on her daughter. She crouched down to Lily’s eye level, her voice soft. "Sweetheart, do you like playing with these children?"

Lily beamed, nodding eagerly. "Yes, Mommy! Emily, Grace, and all the others are so nice to me!"

Sophia smiled, brushing a stray curl from Lily’s face. "And you love this kindergarten, don’t you?"

Another enthusiastic nod. "It’s the best! But…" Her tiny voice faltered. "If you don’t like it here, Mommy, I can change schools."

Sophia’s heart clenched at the hesitation in her daughter’s tone. She pressed a kiss to Lily’s forehead. "No, baby. What matters is your happiness. If you love it here, we stay."

Sophia knew all too well the pain of isolation. From the moment she’d been taken in by the Thorntons at twelve, she’d been an outsider. Isabella’s friends had sneered at her, treating her like some charity case.

College had been a brief respite—until her wrongful imprisonment. After that, not a single "friend" had reached out.

She refused to let Lily suffer the same loneliness.

"Go play, sweetheart. Mommy will chat with the other grown-ups."

Lily skipped off, leaving Sophia to face the judgmental glares of the elite mothers. She straightened, meeting their eyes with quiet defiance. "Thank you for including us today. If the expenses exceed $50,000, I’ll cover the difference."

Margaret’s face twisted. "Oh, please. Don’t act like we forced you! That reluctant tone—like you’re doing us some grand favor!"

Sophia kept her voice steady. "No reluctance. Just gratitude."

Margaret scoffed. "Really? Then you want to be part of our group?"

A beat of silence. Sophia exhaled. "Yes."

Margaret’s laugh was razor-sharp. "Then enlighten us. How do we keep gold-digging social climbers from polluting our children’s environment? Hmm? Women who bleed themselves dry just to afford this school, all so they can snag a rich husband at pickup time?" She leaned in, venom dripping. "Speaking of—where is your husband? Or did you never have one? Is that why your brat has your last name?"

Sophia’s nails dug into her palms. "That’s private."

Margaret wasn’t done. "Oh, we all know the game. You shoved your kid into this school to hunt for a sugar daddy. Well, ladies—" She turned to the others, smirking. "Better keep your men on a tight leash!"

Before she could finish, Lily materialized beside her, grinning. "Auntie, I brought you a present!"

Margaret recoiled as something cold and coiled dropped into her hand.

A snake.

She shrieked, flinging it to the ground—where it landed perfectly atop her designer heels.

The other mothers gasped, paling.

Lily giggled, scooping it up. "Silly Auntie! It’s just a toy!"

The children erupted in laughter, Emily Wilson pointing at her mother. "Mom, you’re scared of a fake snake? Even I’m not scared!"

Margaret’s face purpled with rage.

Sophia bit back a laugh. Oh, Lily.

Grace Dawson, the group leader, recovered first. She fixed Lily with a glacial stare. "Emily. Did Lily give your mother that…thing?"

Emily nodded. "Yep! Lily said Mommy acts tough but she’s really a big scaredy-cat. So we tested it!" She beamed. "Lily’s so smart!"

Lily blinked up at Margaret, all innocence. "I like you, Auntie!"

The unspoken message was clear: Mess with my mom again, and next time, it won’t be fake.

Margaret trembled—whether from fear or fury, it was hard to tell. She jabbed a finger at Lily. "You little bastard! No wonder you’ve got no father—who’d want a feral brat like you?" She yanked Emily away. "You’re done playing with her!"

Grace folded her arms, glaring at Sophia. "Bringing snakes to a high-class event? Is this some backwater circus?" She snapped her fingers at her daughter. "Grace! You are never associating with that wild child again!"

Margaret wasn’t finished. "Grace, you saw that! This is exactly why we organized today—to purge the undesirables!" She spat at Sophia. "Apologize. Then withdraw your freak of a kid. Now."

Sophia’s smile was ice. "Or what?"

The air crackled.

Lily, still cradling her toy snake, grinned.

Game on.