Chapter 5

Lila Hart POV

That sentence was like a match, precisely thrown into the powder keg of suspicion in Ethan's heart.

BOOM—

He shot to his feet, his expensive suit pants showing not a single wrinkle. In a few strides he stood before me, his towering figure creating an oppressive presence that engulfed me completely in his shadow.

"Hand it over."

He extended his hand, voice cold as ice, tone filled with the arrogance of someone accustomed to giving orders.

Like a startled hedgehog, I instinctively clutched the box even tighter to my chest, my body trembling uncontrollably from enormous fear and rage.

"There's nothing of yours in here." My voice was hoarse and dry.

"Nothing?" He acted like he'd heard the world's biggest joke, his patience evaporating instantly.

He grabbed my wrist, the force feeling like it would crush my bones.

"Lila, what game are you playing now? Playing hard to get? Hmm?"

"Let go! Ethan Foster, let go of me!" I struggled like a madwoman, my other hand beating wildly at his arm.

But my strength, weakened from long illness, was nothing against him—like a fluttering moth, laughable and powerless.

He easily pried my fingers open, snatched that small wooden box from my arms, and held it high above his head.

In that moment, I felt like half my soul had been ripped away.

"Lila, you'll stop at nothing to get attention, won't you?" He shook the box in his hand, looking at me with eyes full of contempt and bottomless disgust. "Tell me, what new prop for your little act is in here? Or are you trying to steal company secrets to force me to compromise?"

My legs gave out. I collapsed pathetically onto the cold floor.

I looked up at him, at the box in his hand that contained everything that was left of my daughter.

The tears I'd been holding back finally broke free, flooding down. Like a lunatic, I crawled forward on my knees, making dull thuds.

"Ethan, please, give it back to me... give it back..."

"That's Nina... that's Nina..."

My voice shattered, tasting of blood.

"Nina?"

The mockery on Ethan's face instantly froze, replaced by a kind of offended, violent malice.

"You're vicious enough to use a dead child in your act? Or are you trying to curse me with her name?"

In his eyes, I was exactly that kind of woman—snake-hearted, stopping at nothing to achieve my goals.

My pleas, my tears, my everything—all just a carefully orchestrated performance.

He let go.

"CRACK—"

That small wooden box traced a desperate arc before my eyes and smashed hard onto the floor.

Shattered into pieces.

White ash, fine as frost, mixed with black wooden fragments, scattered everywhere across the floor.

Time seemed to hit mute in that moment.

I couldn't hear Mandy's shocked cries, couldn't see Ethan's cold face. My world contained only that mess of pale powder.

That was my Nina.

The little girl who would act spoiled in my arms, call me "Mommy" in her sweet baby voice, secretly slip candy into my pocket.

This was all that remained after she'd been cremated for three days and nights.

Seconds later, an inhuman, piercing wail tore from my throat.

"AHHHHH—!"

I threw myself forward like a madwoman, trying to scoop it up, to gather those ashes now mixed with floor dust.

"My Nina... my daughter... Mommy's so sorry..."

My nails scraped across the hard floor, leaving bloody trails. Wooden splinters embedded in my fingertips. Blood quickly seeped out, staining a small patch of gray-white powder into dirty brown.

But I felt no pain.

All the pain in the world couldn't compare to one ten-thousandth of this.

"Ew! So disgusting!" Mandy shrieked, retreating two steps in revulsion, delicately hiding in Ethan's arms. "Ethan, look at Lila. Has she gone insane... she's making such a mess of the floor..."

Ethan frowned, watching me writhe on the ground like a maggot. The disgust on his face deepened.

He pulled out his phone and made an internal call, his voice utterly flat.

"Housekeeper Brown, bring the vacuum to the living room. Clean up this filth on the floor."

Vacuum...

He was going to treat my daughter's ashes like garbage and vacuum them away.