Chapter 6

Summer POV

Three days later was the third anniversary of Ryan's death.

The sky was overcast gray, drizzling cold winter rain. In New York's largest cemetery, the atmosphere was oppressively suffocating.

Ryan's parents stood before Ryan's headstone, faces full of grief. Evelyn held a black umbrella, standing obediently beside Nathan.

When I dragged my extremely weak body close, Ryan's mother's eyes instantly turned red. She rushed at me like a madwoman, raised her hand, and slapped me hard across the face.

"You cursed woman! How dare you show your face to see my son?!" she screamed shrilly. She swung her other hand for another slap, hitting me so hard I swayed and fell heavily into a muddy puddle.

"If it weren't for you, how would my son have been burned alive! Why didn't you die? Why wasn't it you who died!" Ryan's mother cried and screamed while picking up the flowers in her hand and throwing them frantically at my head and face.

I didn't dodge. I knelt on the ground, letting mud and petals fall all over me.

My cheeks were swollen and aching. My eardrums rang. My vision had blurred so much I couldn't see Ryan's photo on the headstone clearly. I could only bow my head deeply toward that direction.

"I'm sorry..." My voice was hoarse, repeating over and over.

Nathan watched all this coldly, like a lofty judge.

"Nathan, Summer looks so pitiful. Why don't we just let it go?" Evelyn pleaded falsely from the side, but her eyes were full of satisfaction.

"She's pitiful? When Ryan was burned to death in the ruins, who pitied him?" Nathan's voice held not a trace of warmth.

He walked to stand before me, looking down at my utterly wretched appearance from above, and coldly ordered, "Since you came to atone, show some sincerity. Kneel here for twenty-four hours. One minute less, and I'll make Mason go down to keep Ryan company."

I stiffly lifted my head. Rain slid down my pale face.

"Fine." I answered calmly and straightened my back, kneeling properly before the headstone.

They turned and left with their umbrellas. Soon, the vast cemetery held only me.

The winter rain was bone-piercing, cutting like blade edges into my skin.

The severe pain from the brain tumor compressing my nerves made every second a living hell. But I didn't dare fall, because Mason was still waiting for me in the ICU.

From day to night, then to the next morning.

Twenty-four hours. I endured it all.

When Nathan's bodyguard came to check, what he saw was a body that seemed already frozen to death.

I mechanically stood up. My legs, after prolonged lack of blood circulation, gave out and I collapsed to the ground.

I spat out a mouthful of dark red blood. The blood sprayed onto the stone slab in front of Ryan's headstone.

I carelessly wiped the blood from the corner of my mouth with the back of my hand. I looked at the headstone and murmured in a low voice.

"Ryan, the life I owed you. I've repaid it with three years of endless torment. The rest, I'll soon come to the other world to return to you personally."

After leaving the cemetery, I didn't return to the villa. Instead, I went to the hospital.

I found Hayes and handed him a signed transfer consent form.

"Hayes, do me a favor. I've already contacted brain neurology specialists abroad. Take Mason overseas for treatment. I've transferred that overseas trust fund under my name entirely to your account. The password is Mason's birthday. This money will be enough for him to live comfortably for the rest of his life."

Hayes looked at the documents in his hands. His eyes suddenly reddened. He grabbed my wrist. "Summer, what about you? Are you coming with us?"

I gently withdrew my hand, a weak smile forming on my lips. "I'm not going. I can't walk anymore, Hayes."

"No, modern medicine is so advanced. As long as you're willing to go abroad, there's definitely still hope!"

"There's no hope." I calmly pointed to my own eyes. "Since yesterday, I can't see anything anymore."My time left is only three days."

Hayes stood there as if struck by lightning. Desperate tears spilled from his eyes.

I turned around, groped along the wall, and slowly walked out of the hospital.

In this world, my only concern had been properly arranged. Next, I only needed to quietly wait for death to come.