“Don’t pity her—if anything, Ms. Carter isn’t being harsh enough.”
Emily kept her gaze on the door, disappointment flashing across her face when I didn’t arrive. She had the money picked up and forced into my mother’s mouth, bill after bill.
“Ethan, are you watching? If you don’t want her dead, you’d better come out.”
“If you don’t return the money by tomorrow afternoon, prepare to collect her body.”
My mother coughed blood, staining her clothes red. On the ground, barely alive, I sobbed and begged Emily to stop.
I never betrayed you. If you hate me, unleash it on my soul, not her!
But my hoarse cries never reached her.
Mom, get up, please! Don’t sleep! I’m sorry—it’s all my fault.
Curled on the ground, my mother’s eyes closed faintly, her breath barely there.
“My… son… Ethan… he wasn’t unfaithful to you.”
I fell to my knees, reaching to hold her, but Emily had her dragged away and locked up.
She wanted to use my mother’s life to force me to appear. Patience was never her strength.
“Ladies and gentlemen, the engagement party is canceled. I’ll choose another date.”
Emily left those words behind. Brandon Reed, face heavy with disappointment, caught her hand.
“Emily, don’t go. I know you still can’t let him go—you call his name every night in your sleep.”
“You’re wrong,” she sneered. “When I call his name, it’s because I want to kill him in my dreams.”
“Then why cancel the engagement party?”
“I told you—my knot of hate hasn’t been undone. I’ll never let it go.”
“Don’t worry. I won’t make you wait long.”
In the crowd, whispers spread.
“Feels like Ms. Carter isn’t really here to get engaged—she just wanted to use it as an excuse to force her ex to appear.”
“You think so too?”
“Of course. That bastard deserved death. No sympathy for his mother either.”
“Sigh, whether god or devil, no one escapes love. Same for us mortals.”
My soul followed the path where they carried my unconscious mother. Emily immediately called for her family doctor to resuscitate her.
“She can’t die yet—I haven’t forced him to come out. Save her.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Emily stood outside, lighting a cigarette, sadness leaking through her eyes before it hardened into bottomless hatred.
“Ethan Brooks, you’re truly cruel—even to your own mother. That’s why you kicked me away like trash when I was hurt.”