Chapter 4

With a loud crash that I couldn't stop in time, Rachel knocked over the basket in front of my mom.

"What are you doing!" My mom grabbed Rachel's hand.

"Rachel, why are you here?" A male voice came from behind her. Rachel's expression changed, and she rushed into Zachary's arms.

"Zachary, I just missed Lily a bit. But when I mentioned her, Mrs. White tried to hit me," Rachel said, raising her wrist with a red mark, her eyes brimming with tears.

Zachary looked at the mark, then raised his eyes to stare at my mom, his gaze cold and terrifying.

"Mrs. White, it seems you didn't take my words to heart last time," Zachary said coldly to the men in black behind him,

"Since Lily still won't come out, smash everything in Lily's room."

My mom shouted at Zachary,

"No! You can't smash anything!"

But Zachary's men moved quickly, rushing into my room. The first thing they smashed was the photo frame on the bedside table.

The glass frame made a crisp sound as it shattered on the floor.

My mom ran over, disregarding the glass shards, picked up the photo inside, and held it to her chest.

"Take her away!" Zachary ordered.

I watched helplessly as two burly men dragged my mom away. She clutched my photo, sobbing, her hands bloodied and mixed with glass shards, staining the person in the photo red.

"Lily... my Lily, I've dirtied Lily's photo."

The dull pain in my chest turned into a sharp knife twisting inside, making it hard to breathe.

I never liked taking photos before, and even less so after I got sick and looked sickly.

The only photo was placed by my mom on the bedside table, wiped clean over and over again.

"Is this Lily? Let me see," Rachel said, seeing my mom crying heartbrokenly while hugging the photo, she snatched it from her arms.

"Give me back Lily's photo!" My usually gentle mom lunged at Rachel, trying to grab the photo back, but was pushed to the ground by a large hand.

My mom fell onto the glass-covered floor, her arms becoming a bloody mess.

But she paid no attention to this, crying loudly, trying to pick up the photo that Rachel was now stepping on.

"The crying is so annoying. Even after all this, Lily still won't show up?" Zachary said, his face full of hatred and disgust as he grabbed the photo my mom had just picked up, tearing it into pieces in a matter of seconds.

My mom's cries stopped. She watched the photo pieces flutter down, trying to grab them but failing.

"Lily's photo is gone, the only photo of Lily is gone..."

I crouched powerlessly beside my mom, not knowing whether to regret falling in love with someone like Zachary,

Or to hate myself for not leaving more photos for my mom when I was alive.

Zachary frowned, kicking the pieces on the ground further away, saying:

"It's just a photo, what's the big deal? Is Lily dead and can't take any more photos? Why are you crying like it's a funeral?"

My mom looked up with bloodshot eyes, screaming hysterically at Zachary:

"This was the only photo of Lily!"

Zachary lit a cigarette, snorting lightly,

"I forgot, you're Lily's mother. Her gold-digging must be inherited from you."

"Tell me, how much money do you want for a photo?"

He blew a smoke ring in my mom's face, making her cough.

"Tell Lily to come out now and kneel before me. I'll compensate double for whatever damage was done to your house."

Zachary said, then seemed to think of something else. He took a drag of his cigarette and smirked.

"Money is the least of my concerns now. If Lily performs well, I might even consider keeping her as my mistress."

I stood by, my fingers digging into my palms in anger. I never imagined Zachary would become so obsessed.

Three years ago, I used his lack of money as an excuse. Three years later, he wants to buy my dignity with money in front of my mom.

But I'm already dead, Zachary.

"Zachary! How can you do this to Lily?!" My mom's voice was hoarse from crying, her face filled with grief and anger.

"How am I wronging her?! She wronged me three years ago when she left me at my most desperate moment!"

"If it wasn't for a kind-hearted person donating bone marrow to me, I would have died!"

"She went off to enjoy life with rich men, all of this is a debt Lily owes me!"

Zachary's expression was almost distorted as he spat out his hatred for me through gritted teeth.

"Lily is gone, she's gone..." my mom said, her voice barely a whisper.