Chapter 2

I worked through the night, baking my in-laws cookies one could buy anywhere else.

My tears trickled down my cheeks onto my ring, and I promptly wiped them away—it was a ring that Nana had made for me, and I couldn't let it get dirty.

The second confessor was Josh, bursting into tears as soon as he started. "I really regret snapping at Nana the day she died because I was stressed from work, and for not hugging her before I left the house. Just thinking about it now leaves my heart in pieces."

With his tears and his dutiful father image, everyone else was sniffling.

May even hugged him as she comforted him softly, "As a breadwinner, it's impossible for you to balance work and family at the same time. And Nana loves you really much, so she'd definitely forgive her daddy."

Everyone tried to get there first with their tissues.

"Yeah, Nana would definitely forgive you."

"Don't be so hard on yourself, Josh."

I quietly listened to them, my knuckles turning pale as I clenched them.

Josh must have forgotten that he didn't just snap at Nana.

She asked him if he was coming home for dinner or would be late and want supper, but Josh forcefully pushed her away.

She had just recovered, and she hit her head on the corner of a table, bleeding all over.

May was there too, and she gasped dramatically as if she was really sympathetic. "What's gotten into you this time, Nana? You know it's bad to disturb Daddy when he's working."

I was horrified as I scooped Nana up in my arms, ready to rush to the hospital.

However, May promptly stopped me. "If she goes there in this condition, they'd find out about her sociopathic tendencies.

"You know how difficult it was for Josh to get his company off the ground. If some journalist were to find out that his daughter is a sociopath…"

Josh's face darkened when he heard that. "May's right. It's just a small bleed—she won't die, and people would talk if she were taken to the hospital. So don't you dare!"

Nana leaned into my arms, struggling to open my eyes as she gasped, "Mommy… We don't have to go… Don't upset Daddy…"

I could still feel the stickiness and smell the scent of her blood from that moment, and I stared at hands as my nails dug into my palms.

I smiled.

Nana… you must have been hurting that day, weren't you?

However, that was when May jumped to her feet, pointing at me with one hand while tugging on Josh's hand with the other. "Look! Holly is smiling! She's finally smiling! My therapy worked, Josh! It finally worked!"

Josh handily squeezed her hand and pulled her so that she sat, smiling tenderly. "That's Dr. Lowe for you—a real miracle worker. Now sit down—what if you had sprained your leg with the way you jumped up?"

"Oh, you…"

May shoved him, but she then leaned sideways and into his arms.

Still, her tone soon turned somber. "Now, it's my turn… What I regret most about Nana is being overconfident in my professional judgment. She was having an episode and showing self-harm tendencies, and as her therapist, I had to administer substantial sedatives."

I remembered that Josh wasn't home that day, and he forbade Nana from leaving the mansion since she was diagnosed with mental issues, keeping her completely confined within.

When I came home from work, I saw her learning over the window upstairs, watching the children playing outside the gates.

"Nana?" I called out.

She heard me and told me softly, "If only I wasn't sick…"

I froze stiff, unable to speak as if my throat was stuffed with concrete.

Still, Nana quickly realized that she had misspoken and grinned at me. "It's okay, Mommy. I didn't mean it… I'm happy staying inside. Don't tell Daddy, okay?"

The poor girl was worried that her Daddy would be sad.

I nodded and rushed downstairs to call Josh, intent on taking her outside even if it was just for a few minutes.

However, the dialing tone had just started ringing and Josh had yet to answer when a shrill scream rang from upstairs.

I dashed upstairs again at top speed, only to see Nana, who was just smiling at me a second ago, sitting in a daze in a pool of blood.

Her white dress was soon dyed red, and a small knife lay just beside her hand.

May soon arrived with the nurses, and seeing the bird corpse on the floor, she screamed, "She's suffering from another episode! Quick, tie her up!"