That day, I was forced to give Violet blood transfusions, over and over, until even the doctors said it was too much.
Adrian finally let me go, saying I brought it on myself.
I hid in my father’s ward for days, never leaving.
“So this is where you’ve been hiding, Sophia! Thanks to that wake–up call. Adrian has been so good to me now.
“Is this your father? Why doesn’t he move?”
Violet was spoiled and walked around with her nose in the air.
She fiddled with my father’s oxygen tube, asking what it was.
“Don’t touch that!”
I pushed her away, and she stumbled back a few steps.
The next second, she lunged forward and yanked out my father’s tube, laughing as she played with it.
“Do you think Adrian will be mad at me for this?”
Then Adrian walked in.
Oxygen
He looked at the scene, paused, and his eyes darted back and forth across my face.
After a moment, he finally opened his mouth.
“Violet is young and doesn’t know better. Your father’s condition is
10:3603
hopeless anyway. Ending it sooner is a mercy.
“I’ll just give your mother some extra money to make up for it.”
The beeping sound continued in my ears, each one announcing my father’s death.
I stood frozen, feeling not just grief but also a strange relief.
Adrian didn’t bother with me anymore and left carrying Violet.
Collapsed on the floor, I kept apologizing to my father, wondering if anyone in this world had ever treated me right.
I took out the business card and made the call.
“Mr. Harrington, please come pick me up tonight.”
Another cremation, another service.
This time, I left my father’s ashes at the memorial hall.
When I returned to Kensington’s residence, Adrian wasn’t back yet.
“Those nine women kept telling me Adrian was furious and that I was in trouble.”
I ignored them, but they pestered me, asking if I really wanted a divorce.
I didn’t answer, just opened the door to my room.
“Take your pick. Everything in here is yours now.
With that, they all rushed in, emptying the room in seconds.
Only a few photos of Adrian and me from our younger days were left scattered on the floor, forgotten.
6.37%
Chapter 4
208 Vouchers
I locked myself in the room and didn’t come out until night.
During that time, Adrian sent Mrs. Parker to check on me, but I only gave her my divorce agreement to pass along.
“Divorce again?
“Must be the hundredth time. Sophia, aren’t you tired of this game?”
Adrian tore the divorce papers to shreds.
“Starve her! When she stops acting up, she can have food!”
Adrian thought my talk of divorce was fake and thought my saying I didn’t love him was fake.
ut love can truly run out.
Ten years had passed, and I simply couldn’t love him anymore.
Now that I had nothing left to lose, what was there to hold onto?
That night, I climbed out the window and got into Ethan’s car.
The next morning, Adrian didn’t see me bustling around the dining room when he woke up.
There were no ravioli he loved, no coffee I’d brewed for him, and no freshly ironed and coordinated clothes on the rack.
Adrian rushed upstairs and flung open my door, only to find it empty.
He picked up the photos from the floor and suddenly panicked.
“Mrs. Parker! Where is Sophia?!”
Mrs. Parker came running, still holding a spatula, and shook her head after seeing the empty room.
56.84%
Chapter 4
“I’ll call her mother.”
288 Vouchers
Mrs. Parker froze, instinctively asking, “Mr. Kensington, didn’t Sophia’s mother already die? She was cremated the next day.”
Adrian flashed back to the scene of me holding the urn, his breathing stopping for a moment.
He bent down to pick up the photos, his pupils dilated, as if all life had been drained from him, leaving only an empty shell.
Ry
For ten years, he never thought Sophia would actually leave him.
6.11%
