Chapter 2
When I got back to the hospital room, Zoe was already awake. She was curled up in the corner of the bed, hugging her doll to her chest.
When she saw me, her lips quivered, but she couldn't make a sound. Only heavy tears streamed down her face.
I walked over and wrapped her in my arms, catching the lingering metallic scent from the Ferris wheel in her hair.
"Mommy..." Zoe whispered, her tiny hands clinging to my collar. "Charlie..."
That was when I finally broke down.
I buried my face in her thin shoulder, biting down on my wrist as I sobbed silently.
I barely registered the pain of my teeth tearing into my flesh. Whatever Charlie endured in those moments with the gears was a thousand times worse than anything I felt now.
Suddenly, fireworks burst outside, lighting up the hospital room in bursts of shadow and brilliance.
A news notification popped up on my phone: [Jason Group's heir spends tens of millions to throw a lavish celebration for his fiancée.]
In the picture, Edward stood on a balcony with his arm around Lily, champagne glass in hand, gazing at her with tenderness as if nothing in the world could disturb their happiness.
I gently gathered Zoe into my arms, calmed her trembling, and softly sang Charlie's favorite lullaby into her ear.
The glass window reflected our silhouettes, two shattered ghosts drifting in the night.
My phone buzzed in my pocket. It was a voice message from Edward.
Edward: [Vivian, unbelievable. You even lied to my mother to drag me back? You can't even watch over an autistic child, and now you're so desperate for my attention you'd wish my son dead?
[Come on, how dangerous could a Ferris wheel be? That thing crawls slower than a turtle. If you're going to make up stories, at least try to make them believable.
[Wasn't having an autistic son miserable enough for you? Now you want to heap the tragedy of a dead child on me?
[If something happened, have the hospital cremate him and be done with it. Don't think you can use a child as a bargaining chip to keep me around?]
His words hit Susan hard. She'd come in with food, and the shock nearly knocked her off her feet.
Her face went deathly pale. She snatched the phone right out of my hand, her voice slicing through the air like a blade.
She hit record on my phone and spat into the voice message: [Edward, you heartless jerk. Even animals protect their young, but you're worse than any of them.
[Why couldn't that bitch Lily just die overseas when she took the money and disappeared? Now she's back, causing the death of my grandson. The two of you should burn in the deepest pit of hell.]
She was shaking with rage, spun around, and kicked the Jason Group logo in the hallway so hard it almost came off the wall.
Then she went on: [I'm calling an emergency board meeting right now to fire you. From this day forward, you won't see a single cent from family.]
With that, she slammed the phone down on the floor, and it shattered into pieces.
She staggered back over and pulled me into a fierce hug, her tears soaking my shoulder. She snapped, "Vivian, we've let you down.
"I'll make sure Zoe gets the best care there is, even if it costs us everything. That cold-blooded bastard isn't fit to be called a father, and he's not worthy of the Jason name."
I saw the new streaks of white in her hair. In just a matter of hours, this powerhouse who'd dominated the business world for over a decade looked like she'd aged decades. Her whole body looked frail and withered, like a husk left to rot.
Back then, my mother Emma Scott, desperate to secure a strong backing for me, proposed that her child and Susan's should marry. Susan didn't take offense and accepted the idea. Soon after, my mother took her own life by jumping into the ocean.
I moved in with the Jason family when I was ten. From then on, Susan treated me like her own daughter, and Harley Jason was always kind to me.
To repay their kindness, I married Edward without hesitation. Over the years, I devoted myself to running the household, and I believed I had repaid everything I owed them.