Chapter 4

I had just knelt down to place a bouquet of white lilies at her headstone when I caught a glimpse of Edward. Sienna was with him, and a bodyguard followed behind, phone held high, filming the whole thing.

I immediately stood up and blocked their path, lunging forward to smack the phone out of the guard's hand.

The bodyguard dodged effortlessly, his voice flat.

"Ms. Murray, we are on camera. I suggest you watch your behavior."

Sienna stepped forward to explain, her voice trembling with manufactured sweetness.

"Edward posted a video online praising your medical skills. Since we were in the area, I wanted to come personally thank you in front of your mother. If it weren't for you, my mom would still be in so much pain..."

Her voice trailed off into a pathetic whimper, as though my glare were physically wounding her.

I didn't budge an inch.

"If either of you possessed a single shred of human decency, you'd turn around and walk away. Do not pollute my mother's resting place with your presence," I said.

Edward frowned and pulled Sienna behind him, glaring down at me.

"Sienna took a day off from a major movie set just to come pay her respects to your mother, Susan! Instead of saying thank you, you're throwing a hysterical fit!

"I deleted the video from the hospital. We're live-streaming right now to show the world how sincere our apology is.

"It's been days, Susan. Haven't you thrown enough of a tantrum? When are you going to drop this so we can go back to normal?"

I found myself laughing. Their shamelessness knew no bounds.

This livestream made zero sense. Was he here to apologize or just to exploit my mother's funeral for views?

"Edward," I said, my voice frighteningly calm. "I told you to sign the papers. We are getting a divorce. We owe each other nothing."

Edward was speechless, a flash of genuine guilt crossing his features.

The look on his face told me everything I needed to know. While I had spent the last week organizing a funeral and grieving my only family member, he hadn't even been home once. He hadn't even seen the papers.

But the guilt vanished as quickly as it appeared, replaced by his usual arrogant composure.

"Stop saying things you don't mean just to get a rise out of me. I brought Sienna here to clear the air. The whole ordeal with your mom is in the past now. Let it go."

My vision actually swam with rage. Standing in front of my mother's grave, I fought with everything I had not to scream.

Let it go? It was a human life!

If Sienna hadn't faked a fever, Edward wouldn't have abandoned my bleeding mother on the side of a highway like roadkill.

Then my mother wouldn't have missed the golden window for surgery.

She would still be alive. How the hell was I supposed to let it go?

I tilted my head back, blinking furiously against the burning tears.

"Let me make this perfectly clear to you," I yelled. "I will never get over this. Not in this lifetime, and not in the next. Now get the hell out of here before I call the police."

My chest heaved as my voice echoed across the headstones.

Edward looked annoyed, like he was dealing with a misbehaving toddler.

"I'm just trying to make things right," he said. "You've always talked about wanting to travel around the world, right? I'll book the first-class tickets tonight. We leave tomorrow."

He grabbed Sienna's wrist and tried to shoulder his way past me to approach the grave.

I blocked their path, not budging an inch.

"Save the vacation for you and your pathetic mistress!" I screamed. "My mother was just buried in the ground! I am begging you on my hands and knees. Let her rest in peace!"

Edward had never liked my mother. He viewed her as a classless, uneducated hillbilly who didn't fit into his billionaire aesthetic. Whenever I suggested moving her to the city so I could take care of her in her old age, he aggressively shut it down.

My mother, being the selfless woman she was, just smiled sadly and told me to focus on my marriage, claiming she preferred the village she had known her whole life.

So, I sent her every penny I earned, praying it would make her life in the rural mountains a bit easier.

I finally had a weekend off to bring her to the city for a mother-daughter trip, and now she was in a box in the dirt.

The dam broke. The tears poured down my face in relentless streams.

"If you felt even an ounce of real guilt, you wouldn't bring a camera crew to a graveyard to play the victim! You're a murderer, Edward! Both of you! You killed her, and now you won't even let her rest!"

Suddenly, I felt a heavy fog settle over my mind.

After nights without sleep, the world started to tilt. My words were now barely a weakened whisper.

"What will it take for you to just... let us go..." I whispered.

Before I could hear his response, I plunged into darkness.