Dumping The Ice King His Mini-Tyrant novel Chapter 276

Nadine’s heart raced, panic rising in her chest. “Master Jamie!”

“Mommy!” Jamie wailed, his cries barely intelligible through his sobs.

He scrambled forward on hands and knees, desperate to reach Selene. “Mommy, please, just look at me!”

Tears streamed down his flushed cheeks. Ignoring the pain from his scraped knees, Jamie summoned every ounce of strength and crawled toward her.

A light rain began to fall from the gray sky as Nadine hurried to scoop Jamie into her arms.

Selene and Daphne were waiting for the elevator. Nadine jogged over, Jamie clinging to her.

The elevator doors slid open, and Selene and Daphne stepped inside.

“Mommy!” Jamie screamed, his voice raw and ragged. He stretched out his arms, but all he could do was watch, helpless, as the elevator doors closed between them.

He beat his small fists against the metal doors, his anguished cries echoing through the empty hallway. “Mommy! I’ll never make you angry again! Please come back! I’m begging you—please come back!”

As the elevator ascended, Selene lifted her head. The harsh overhead light caught in her eyes, turning them glassy and bright. Tears threatened to spill.

The dinner Jamie had thrown away—she could cook again.

The torn-up homework and textbooks—she could replace and rewrite those, too.

But love, once cast aside, was almost impossible to piece back together.

He could fish the broken pieces out of the trash, try to glue them back into something whole, but the cracks and scars would always remain, impossible to erase.

This was the last lesson she could teach him as his mother.

After suffering so much hurt, sometimes even a mother must find the courage to walk away from a child who only knows how to wound.

*

“Mom,” Daphne whispered, her voice barely audible.

She could feel the weight of Selene’s heartbreak, wanted to offer some comfort, but the more she searched for the right words, the more she realized—nothing she said could ease her mother’s pain.

Selene bit her lower lip so hard it left a deep mark. She lowered her head, trying to muster a reassuring smile for Daphne, to show that she was okay.

But the moment she tried to move her lips, hot tears streamed down her face, impossible to control.

Daphne’s heart twisted, her own eyes burning with the threat of tears.

“Mom, do you regret having Jamie?” Daphne’s voice trembled.

Selene shook her head and crouched down. Daphne reached out and gently wiped the tears from her mother’s cheeks.

The elevator doors opened and Jamie cried, “Hurry!”

Nadine rushed inside with Jamie in her arms, jabbing the button for the sixteenth floor. But the button wouldn’t light up.

“Press it again!” Jamie shouted.

“I’m trying, but—” Nadine frowned in confusion.

The guard blocked the doors with his arm and glared at them. “Without a resident’s keycard, you can’t use this elevator.”

Jamie’s tears started flowing again. “Take the stairs!” he begged.

Nadine’s heart sank. She really didn’t want to.

“Come on, out you go,” the guard ordered.

Tears glittered in Jamie’s eyes. He looked up at Nadine, voice trembling. “Please, just take me outside.”

Nadine carried him out of the elevator, only to spot Matilda dancing in the pouring rain.

Nadine stared, speechless.

Somehow, Matilda had found a tripod and set her phone on it, twirling gracefully through puddles, lost in her own world as she filmed a dance right there in the downpour.