Chapter 4
Late at night, I climbed onto the slippery deck. The cartoon-themed pirate ship was rocking in the wind.
"Charlie, don't be scared," I whispered, cradling the bottle with a finger's worth of ashes inside. "I'm taking you on the pirate ship."
The wind wasn't strong, just enough to rock the pirate ship in a gentle arc like a swing.
Charlie and I both liked swings.
Edward was out of the country for most of the year. I knew he hated me. If I hadn't fought everyone to marry him, he'd be with Lily now.
That year, when Edward returned from studying abroad, he hardly looked at me without disdain.
After learning that my mother jumped into the sea over some sham engagement and forced the Jason family to take me in, his eyes were full of contempt. But with Lily, the woman he had met in college, it was clear she was his favorite.
Six years ago, Susan wanted nothing more than to treat me like her own daughter.
From the moment I stepped into their house, even though I was supposed to be her future daughter-in-law, it felt as if I had been adopted. Whatever I desired, she would find a way to give it to me.
She spoiled me and loved me with all her heart. She would become overprotective sometimes. She always said my mom had been her savior as a child, and even after life sent them down separate roads, she wished her nothing but happiness.
The day I first laid eyes on Edward, that was the moment I dared to ask Susan for something.
Edward lost it that day, trashing everything in sight until Susan smacked him across the face.
"If you don't marry Vivian, you're not my son," Susan snapped.
Edward walked out without a word, but after she cut him off financially for a few days, he caved.
Someone who grew up with a silver spoon, as Edward knew where to go when his money ran out.
Edward never seemed to understand that nothing he possessed was ever truly his.
At three in the morning, the hashtag "Edward Abandons Child For Mistress" exploded across social media.
Security footage caught Edward leaving his kids right after a phone call, and not long after, another hotel clip showed him carrying Lily in his arms as they disappeared into the elevator.
Before dawn, Susan froze all of Edward's assets.
"Mr. Jason, it's bad. Vivian is nowhere to be found," Sandy burst in and shouted, looking panicked.
The tracker showed my last location was at the hospital, and then I disappeared into thin air.
Edward sneered, "Her? Where could she possibly run off to? Zoe is still recovering. Next time, spare me the pathetic lies."
Sandy lowered his head and said softly, "Mr. Jason, Zoe is gone too."
Edward froze for a second and staggered back in shock.
His phone buzzed, and when he checked the screen, his expression turned even colder.
Lily looked up at him and asked, "Edward? What happened?"
"My mother froze all my assets," he gritted out, snatching up his things. "I have to go back home."
Lily grabbed his sleeve and insisted, "I'm coming with you. Susan must've got it all wrong."
"Shut up!" Edward barked, jerking his arm free. Seeing how hurt she looked, his voice gentled as he added, "Lily, you're pregnant. Don't push yourself."