Chapter 6

“Where’s Nathan? I need to speak to him. It’s urgent.”

Vivian’s voice was tight.

“Mr. Hayes?”

Serena drew out the words, sounding almost amused.

“He drank too much at a business dinner. I just helped him into bed. He’s exhausted and sleeping pretty deeply.”

Something slammed into Vivian’s chest.

She gritted her teeth.

“Where is he? I need to see him right now.”

“Ms. Grant.”

Serena cut her off, her tone calm and almost helpless.

“Mr. Hayes has to accompany me to a partner’s launch event tomorrow. He really can’t get away.”

“But he specifically said you should handle your own problems. He doesn’t have the energy to deal with them.”

The call ended.

Vivian bit down hard on her lip and dialed again.

His phone was off.

She tried once more.

Still off.

Her hand began to tremble around the phone until the name on the screen blurred before her eyes.

But she didn’t have time to fall apart.

She started calling everyone she knew, asking to borrow money.

She swallowed her pride and begged, scraping together the money bit by bit.

At last, she had enough for the surgery.

Vivian turned and was about to rush to the billing desk when the emergency room doors suddenly opened.

The doctor stepped out and removed his mask.

He looked at her and shook his head.

“I’m sorry. We did everything we could.”

Vivian’s knees gave out beneath her.

A nurse caught her, but Vivian stumbled past her and rushed into the emergency room.

Her mother lay motionless on the bed, a white sheet covering her face.

Vivian grabbed her mother’s already cold hand.

Tears fell onto the sheet one after another.

Then she broke down sobbing.

At that exact moment, her father’s assistant rushed through the door.

His face was deathly pale, his lips trembling.

“Ms. Grant…

“Your father was threatened while he was cooperating with the investigation. He suffered a massive heart attack.

“He died before anyone could save him.”

Vivian’s sobs stopped.

She couldn’t hold herself up anymore.

Her body collapsed onto the cold tile floor.

Her father’s assistant hurried toward her.

“Ms. Grant!”

Vivian couldn’t hear him.

Her ears were ringing.

Only one thought kept repeating in her mind.

She had been reborn.

She had known what was coming.

She had prepared for it.

So why had she still failed to save her parents?

All the precautions she had believed were foolproof had turned out to be paper-thin against Serena’s schemes and Nathan’s determination to protect her.

“It’s my fault.”

Her voice began to shake.

“It’s all my fault. Why didn’t I prepare better?”

The words came faster and faster.

Her breathing turned rapid and uneven.

Her father’s assistant crouched down and tried to help her up, but Vivian shoved him away.

She braced both hands against the floor and pressed her forehead to the freezing tile, her shoulders shaking violently.

“Mom. Dad. I’m sorry.

“I’m so sorry.”

She sobbed until her entire body trembled.

Until she could barely breathe.

Her father’s assistant stood beside her with red-rimmed eyes, unable to say a word.

After what felt like forever, her cries gradually faded into broken sobs.

Then even those stopped.

Vivian swayed.

A second later, she collapsed onto her side, unconscious.

Her father’s assistant panicked and immediately called for a nurse.

Several people rushed over and carried her to a chair in the hallway, trying desperately to rouse her.

After a long while, Vivian’s eyelashes finally fluttered.

She slowly opened her eyes.

They were empty.

Completely hollow.

She didn’t speak.

She simply sat up and leaned back against the chair, staring at the ceiling for so long that her father’s assistant began to wonder if she would ever speak again.

Then, finally, she did.

Her voice was so hoarse it was barely audible.

“Contact a funeral home for me.

“Have my parents cremated. I’m taking their ashes with me.

“And book me a flight to Ashburn tonight. The earliest one you can find.”

Just then, a message from her attorney came through.

'Ms. Grant, all your shares have been sold. The funds have been deposited into your account.'

Before dawn, Vivian collected her parents’ urns.

She held them tightly against her chest, their cold surfaces chilling her to the bone.

Then she went straight to the airport.

The terminal was brightly lit.

When the boarding announcement sounded, Vivian walked toward the gate.

Before the plane took off, her phone vibrated.

She looked down.

It was a message from Nathan.

'Your father’s company already had financial problems. None of this was Serena’s fault. She just happened to handle the documents, so don’t blame her.'

'Today’s launch event is very important to Serena. As long as you don’t come over and cause trouble, I’ll pay for your mother’s surgery. I’ll also find a way to help your father avoid prison.'

'Be good. Wait for me to come home.'

Vivian stared at the screen and read every word.

Suddenly, she wanted to laugh.

In her previous life, Nathan had been willing to die for her.

In this life, he was willing to abandon her completely for Serena.

She wouldn’t be waiting for him to come home.

Vivian didn’t reply.

She deactivated the number, removed the SIM card from her phone, snapped it in half, and dropped the pieces into the trash bag beside her seat.

As the plane lifted into the sky, Vivian looked down through the window.

The lights of Riverton stretched beneath her like a golden sea.

She had spent two lifetimes struggling in that sea.

All the love.

All the hatred.

All the pain she had once believed she would never overcome.

Now, the darkness swallowed it all.