Chapter 4
I instinctively clutched the urn tighter. Tears streaming down my face.
Cyrus lit up at the sound of “Dad.”
“Elise, if your mother and I hadn’t met at the wrong time, you would’ve been my daughter. You should’ve been calling me Dad long ago.”
Beside him, Evelyn clung to his arm, resting her head against his chest.
“Come on, lie down. I’m going to get you some water. Take your medicine and the pneumonia will go away! Once you’re better, I’ll take you to the zoo to see the peacocks, okay?”
Hearing this, Mike stormed in, furious. He pointed at Cyrus and yelled, “Such a disgrace! You’re so desperate to claim someone else’s daughter- do you even know your own daughter is dead?”
Cyrus still refused to believe it.
“Dad, you must be getting senile to fall for Evelyn’s act. If Anna keeps staying with her, she’ll become a bad person. Might as well let Julia raise her!”
Hearing that, Mike exploded. He grabbed a bottle from the table and hurled it at Cyrus.
Cyrus quickly pulled Julia aside to dodge. Julia shrank behind him in panic–then spotted me placing Anna’s urn on the table and smiled smugly.
I couldn’t be bothered to listen to Cyrus’s cold remarks anymore. I headed
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straight to the room to pack up Anna’s clothes–but the moment I opened her closet, I broke down in tears.
Suddenly, a loud crash shattered the air.
Anna’s urn had fallen and smashed on the floor. I rushed over, dropped to my knees, and tried to scoop up the ashes with my hands.
“I’m sorry, Anna. I couldn’t protect you when you were alive, and now I can’t even keep your ashes safe.
‘Why are the ashes getting blown away? Anna, do you not want to stay with me? Please, don’t leave me…”
Seeing me like that, Cyrus quickly turned off the air conditioner–no one knew when it was turned on.
“Evelyn, what did you just say? These are Anna’s ashes? Impossible! I get it now–you must’ve gone to Father Eldridge and grabbed some ash to fake it, right?
“If you’re going to act, might as well go all in. I underestimated you. Faking ashes? What’s next–showing me a grave tomorrow?”
I stayed on my knees, crying as I carefully gathered the ashes into a teapot on the table. I didn’t bother explaining anymore–it was pointless.
Mike, furious, walked over and slapped Cyrus twice, and then pointed at him and shouted, “You monster! Open your eyes! That’s Anna’s ashes!
“I must’ve been confused back then. You never deserved a woman as good as Evelyn! And you sure as hell didn’t deserve such a sweet, thoughtful daughter! Anna is gone–how long are you going to keep this up?”
Cyrus’s eyes widened in shock.
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“What did you say? Anna’s… dead? That’s really her ashes?
“Anna… My daughter is really gone?”
Julia quickly tried to explain herself.
“I’m sorry, Cyrus. I didn’t know that was Anna’s urn. I–I broke it by accident.”
Cyrus staggered and dropped to his knees.
“Julia, you broke my daughter’s urn?
“N–no way. This can’t be real, right?”
I signed the divorce papers and threw them straight at his shocked, devastated face.
“Cyrus, we’re getting a divorce.”
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