7
Gabriel returned to the mansion. Lily greeted him with a smile, but was startled by the coldness in his eyes.
“Gabriel, what’s wrong? Did Aria make you angry again?”
“You’re divorced now. Don’t be angry with her anymore. Gabriel, when are we going to have our wedding? I was so happy last night thinking about officially becoming your wife, I couldn’t sleep.”
Gabriel said coldly: “Didn’t you say you didn’t need a title as long as you were with me?”
Lily’s expression faltered for a moment. She quickly put on a shy face and said: “With or without a title, I’m willing to be with you. But I know you must want to give me a proper status.”
Gabriel had always loved this act of hers, but this time he said word by word: “My wife will always be Aria Stone. And you killed Jack. You’ll pay for his life with yours!”
Lily was shocked, but before she could say anything more, Gabriel roughly dragged her to the rose garden.
He spoke with a voice that seemed to want to kill her:
“Lily Ross, why did you do this? Jack was only six years old. How could you be so cruel?”
Lily knew she had been exposed. She quickly said: “Gabriel, I can give you more children. I’ll give you as many as you want. They’ll be cuter
than Jack, more obedient. They’ll call us Mommy and Daddy..”
Gabriel grabbed her hair and smashed her head against the ground repeatedly. “That’s not Jack! There’s only one Jack. He was my child with Aria. He’s dead and can never come back. Lily Ross, how can you make up for this?!”
When Gabriel finally let go, Lily’s head was bloody and broken. She cried and begged him:
“Gabriel, how can you treat me like this? It’s because I love you. I was willing to be with you without a name or status. Didn’t you say you’d take care of me for your brother’s sake?”
Gabriel’s face twisted: “That was because you seduced me! I told Aria to get along with you peacefully, to give the Curtis inheritance to your child. Why weren’t you satisfied? Why did you have to kill Jack?!”
“I was so stupid. You being assaulted was also a show you put on. Aria is so pure and kind. She couldn’t even speak. How could she possibly find someone to hurt you? And I actually believed your words!”
Gabriel slapped himself hard twice, saying painfully: “I’m such a fool! I’m such a fool! It’s all because of you, you vicious woman. You ruined
me!”
“All the pain they suffered, I’ll make you pay back every bit of it.”
Gabriel’s murderous gaze made Lily fearfully back away, crying pitifully:
“Gabriel, I was wrong. Forgive me this once. I just had a miscarriage, my body hasn’t recovered. You used to care for me the most, don’t you
remember?”
But she received no mercy from Gabriel. The next moment, his fists and feet fell heavily on her body:
“It’s because of my indulgence that you forgot who you are, daring to lay hands on my son!”
Lily knew that nothing she said now would help. She also tore off her disguise:
“Gabriel Curtis, Jack was burned to ashes by your own hands. The child in Aria’s belly was stomped to death by you. You didn’t show her any mercy then. Now you’re pretending to be devoted?”
“If you really loved him that much, you should have controlled yourself better. You wanted to have it both ways. You deserve this!”
Gabriel was driven mad by her words. He picked up an iron shovel from the ground and smashed it hard on her head.
The shovel fell on Lily’s body again and again, venting his anger.
She went from crying out in pain and struggling to finally lying motionless.
Gabriel finally stopped.
He knelt in the rose garden, trembling all over, trying to find Jack’s ashes in the soil. But the ashes had mixed with the earth, impossible to
separate.
He held the soil to his chest and wailed.
