Chapter 3
Chloe's insane proposal sent a chill down my spine.
I hugged Lily's urn tighter, my knuckles turning white.
The burly men in black who'd dragged me here closed in, hammers in hand, their steps slow and menacing.
I was desperate, and all I could do was turn to the two men I'd once trusted most.
"Richard, you're my husband! Are you really going to stand there and let this happen?
"Charles! I'm your sister—your real sister!
"What did I ever do to deserve this? Why are you treating me like this?" I demanded, my voice cracking.
But all I got back were their cold, merciless taunts.
"Your husband? Weren't you demanding a divorce just the other day? Still refusing to admit you're wrong or apologize?" Richard smirked.
"Don't worry. You'll remember soon enough," he added.
"Sister? What sister? Ever since you killed our parents, I haven't had a sister!" Charles snapped.
A sharp crack of the whip cut across my back. "Stop standing around gawking!" he barked at his men. "Get moving!"
My body screamed in agony. I forced my eyes open to find the men with hammers already standing over me.
Despite my frantic resistance, they wrenched one arm out, stretching it straight and leaving it exposed.
The heavy hammer slammed down with a sickening thud.
For a moment, I lost consciousness, and the urn I'd been clutching tumbled from my arms, hitting the ground with a dull thud.
When I came to, I let out a desperate scream. "Lily!"
My scream made the thugs freeze.
I broke loose and crawled desperately toward the fallen urn.
Ignoring the searing pain in my shattered arm, I scrambled to scrape the ashes from the ground and shove them back into the urn.
The way I suddenly scrambled around finally caught the three onlookers' attention.
"Rich, Charlie, look at Emily. Is she really holding an urn?" Chloe exclaimed, covering her mouth with exaggerated surprise.
"Did she just call out Lily's name? Don't tell me those are actually Lily's ashes?"
At "Lily's ashes," a strange glint flickered in Richard and Charles' eyes, tinged with unease.
But a moment later, Chloe suddenly switched her tone, acting confused. "Wait, that can't be right. Charlie, didn't you say Lily's health was totally stable? How could anything have happened to her?
"Emily, are you seriously trying to get the spotlight back on you by bringing a fake urn here?"
She said it so casually.
But to me, it felt like a curse.
The unease in Richard's eyes disappeared—now he just looked pissed, like I'd made a fool of him.
He stormed over and sent the urn flying with a kick.
Richard clamped his hand around my throat and slammed my face into the ashes scattered across the ground.
He snarled, "Emily! I'm gonna make damn sure you get it—acting all pitiful and weak? That crap doesn't work on me!
"You love faking it, huh? Well, today I'll make sure you get your fill!"
Then he grabbed a fistful of ashes and dirt from the ground, shoving it toward my mouth.
My scalp buzzed like I'd stuck my head in a live wire.
My legs flailed, kicking out in a blind panic.
I screamed my lungs out, not giving a damn how pathetic I sounded.
I shrieked, "Richard! Just kill me! Do it—end it now!
"I just want to be with Lily! I don't need you anymore!
"I don't want any of you anymore!"
Richard's hand froze in mid-air.
Maybe he was thinking back to years ago, when he held my hand and swore he'd give me complete happiness.
But now, I was struggling under his grip, desperate for him to just finish me off.
"Wait, Richard!" Charles, who'd been on the phone, suddenly rushed over. "Something really might have happened to Lily.
"I just called the hospital—Emily took Lily out of there 36 hours ago."
Richard's hand, caked with dirt and ashes, slammed across my face.
"Emily! You vicious woman! Where did you hide my daughter? Are you really so desperate to steal Chloe's spotlight that you'd go this far?" he roared.
Richard kept shouting curses as he drove his heavy boots into my frail body.
My left arm, freshly broken and swollen, hurt so much I couldn't even huddle up to shield myself.
Through the blood in my mouth, I screamed the truth I never meant to tell.
"Lily's dead! She died long ago!
"While you two were off at Disneyland letting Chloe play pretend princess, Lily was already gone!
"Her own father, her own uncle—and you're just now finding out? Isn't it too late?"
Charles, Lily's attending doctor, refused to believe a word.
He brought the whip down hard on my body, already bruised and broken.
"Are you insane? You'd even hurt your own child? Tell me—where did you hide Lily? Where is she?" Charles roared.
"Lily is my daughter! That's none of your business!" I howled.
After some time, both men stopped, panting heavily.
The pain was gone, lost beneath the beating. All I knew was the crawl, inch by inch, toward Lily's ashes.
I felt death was near.
If I died, at least I'd get to see Lily.
Richard frowned and sighed in frustration. "Charles, now what? Emily's lost her mind—she won't tell us where Lily is! What if she... did something to her?"
"Honestly, I don't know. If I'd known it would come to this, I never would have set you up," sighed Charles, who had never cared for Lily.
Chloe, however, looked down at me as I crawled across the ground.
With a disturbingly sincere look, she made a vicious suggestion. "Rich, Charlie, I think Emily's just using Lily's whereabouts to keep you both on a leash.
"How about we drag her behind a car until she's too exhausted to lie? Then she'll talk."
Richard and Charles exchanged a look, then a brief nod.
Soon enough, those thugs tied me to the back of a car with a rope.
Richard crouched down, lifting a stray lock of hair off my face. "Emily, you'd better think carefully. Once this car starts, you could die right here."
I was deathly pale, locked in a stony silence.
Richard sighed, "Fine. Start driving. We'll stop when she finally talks."
Just as the engine was starting, a gentle yet aged voice echoed, drawing nearer.
"Stop! Don't you dare lay a finger on my granddaughter!"