Chapter 4

Another group pinned me to the ground, making sure I had no chance to escape.

They forced my eyes wide open, making me watch every second.

They just stood there, letting me pour out my pain in a hysterical confession.

"Stop! Please, stop! I'm Stefan's wife, legally! I have our marriage certificate photo on my phone," I screamed, desperate for them to believe me.

"This is really Stefan's child. Please, I'm begging you, stop!" I cried out, my voice breaking.

"Marriage certificate? Why not claim you have a wedding video, too? What a joke! Just a couple of fake screenshots, and who do you think you're fooling?" One of the fans sneered.

The skinny female fan slapped me hard across the face.

"Gotta admit, she's got the act down. Did this bitch even fake the ashes?" another one mocked.

Another person grabbed the pink urn from the memorial table, held it up to her ear, and shook it.

I stared in terror, frantically shaking my head. "No! Please, I'm begging you. Don't hurt my daughter!"

"Your daughter?" the woman scoffed, giving me a look full of disdain. "It's just some formula with charcoal in it. Who are you trying to fool?"

With a sneer, she lifted the urn high above her head and slammed it down onto the floor.

The ashes billowed up, blinding me.

It was pure motherly instinct.

It unleashed a strength in me I never knew I had.

I tore myself free from their hold.

Ignoring the blood running down my back, I crawled across the floor to where Emily's ashes lay scattered.

"Emily, it's okay, sweetheart. Mommy's here now. I'm taking you away. No one's going to hurt you anymore," I whispered, my voice shaking.

I murmured, "We're never coming back to this hellhole..."

The woman in the supervisor's uniform caught sight of me.

Her eyes glinted with a savage, blood-red fury, like a beast ready to pounce. "You filthy bitch! Still playing innocent? Fine, I'll make sure you keep up this act. Let's see how far you can go!"

With that, she grabbed a handful of the scattered ashes and tried to shove them into my mouth.

Chaos erupted around me.

I shut my eyes in utter despair.

But then, from outside the banquet hall, I heard Stefan's piercing, anguished shout, "Stop!"

Everyone froze.

An eerie silence fell over the room.

The woman in the supervisor's uniform whipped her head around, looking stunned.

She frantically wiped the ashes from her hands.

"Mr. Thornton, what brings you here? Did you need something? Another event, maybe?" she asked, trying to sound casual.

Stefan's face was grim and furious, thunderclouds practically rolling off him.

He stared at the wreckage all over the place, the smashed memorial portrait on the altar, the chaos that had torn through the room.

In the picture, Emily was smiling with a naive, clueless look on her face.

She was holding a tiny duck toy in her hand.

It was one of the rare gifts Stefan had ever given Emily.

It might be something in their blood, a natural father-daughter bond.

Emily's favorite thing in the world was that little duck toy.

She held it close every single day, never wanting to let it go.

When she was teething, she'd gnaw on it constantly, always keeping it by her side.

Stefan fixed his gaze on the photo, moving step by step toward it.

Suddenly, his legs buckled, and he nearly collapsed.

The supervisor and her followers hurried to steady him, looking nervous.

The supervisor quickly said, "Stefan, don't look at this. That pathetic fangirl is just trying to latch onto you again. We'll deal with her right away. We won't let her ruin things between you and Kelly..."

"Get out! All of you, get out..." Stefan was trembling, jaw clenched. "This is my daughter's funeral. What gives you the right..."

"Wait, what?" A few of the fangirls stared at him, totally stunned. "How could this be? Didn't you say it wasn't true?"

The perfect image those obsessed fans had of Stefan shattered right before their eyes.

Stefan lowered his head, muttering something into his phone, probably on WhatsApp.

His longtime security team burst into the room.

The security team dragged the girls who'd just gone after me out of the room, not caring how rough they were.

I lay there curled up on the floor, silent, just listening to the chaos around me.

I didn't fight it when Stefan scooped me up.

His tears fell, burning against my skin.

It felt like he was trying to say something.

He was probably trying to say stuff like, "I was wrong. I came too late."

I rested my head in his arms, gazing blankly up at the ceiling.

I just stared at the ceiling, empty inside.

Did it even matter that he finally saw my worth?

Nothing changed. What was meant to happen happened anyway.

Even things that were never supposed to happen happened anyway.

I lifted him and made him shine like a star in the sky.

And I ended up in hell, all because of him.

I could feel my life slipping away with the blood gushing from my back.

I never wanted to see Stefan again.

There was no way to really tell who was right or wrong in all this.

Maybe I loved him too much and gave everything without holding back, or he just got what he wanted and never bothered to treasure it.

None of it mattered anymore.

I'd chalk it up to a ten-year nightmare.

And I was finally waking up.

I could finally leave it all behind and start fresh.

Next thing I knew, I was lying in a comfortable private hospital room.