Ashes spilled all over the floor, filling the air with a choking cloud.
“I’m sorry, Mrs. Reed,” Lily said pitifully, plopping down on the ground.
“If hitting me will make you feel better, go ahead.
But your mom’s death really has nothing to do with me.”
“Sophia Reed, are you insane?”
Ethan’s eyes bulged in rage. He stepped forward and slapped me hard across the face.
“You crazy woman!” he snarled, pointing at me.
“Lily went out of her way to bring you the ashes, and you hit her? You’re completely unreasonable!”
Then he scooped Lily up and turned to leave.
“Ethan, we’re getting a divorce.”
I held my stinging cheek, my strength drained.
I no longer even had the energy to argue.
I pulled out the divorce papers I had prepared.
“You want to divorce me?”
Ethan froze, whipping his head around to glare at me.
His face twisted between shock and fury.
“Sophia, how long are you going to keep making trouble? If every family of a patient who dies at St. Mary’s Medical Center acted like you, how could we even keep the hospital running?
Put away the divorce papers. Out of respect for your mother’s passing, I’ll let this go.”
I stared at him coldly, expressionless.
“If you refuse to divorce me, I will press charges and take this to court.
Don’t think that just because you disposed of the body, I can’t file a lawsuit.”
Ethan’s face went pale.
Lily panicked too, clutching his sleeve.
“So that’s what this is about—you just want to force me to divorce you?”
Ethan gave a chilling laugh and signed his name with a flourish.
He slammed the papers onto the table.
“Tomorrow at nine a.m. See you at the County Courthouse.”
I gathered up the papers and said flatly,
“Fine.”
He took Lily’s hand, and as they left, he turned back with a sneer.
“Don’t come crawling back to me like a dog tomorrow.”
I went back to my parents’ house and told Mr. and Mrs. Reed about the divorce.
At first, they tried to talk me out of it.
But once I told them everything that had happened, they were furious.
Ethan had acted the way he did only because he thought it was my family member who was sick.
This proved that if something really did happen to my family, he would be just as heartless.
The next morning, I took the divorce papers and was about to head to the County Courthouse.
But then Chloe Walker appeared, wearing a bright red dress, reeking of alcohol, and carrying a funeral wreath.
When she saw me, she rolled her eyes dramatically.