Chapter 4

GRAVEYARD~~ EVENING

Olivia buried her daughter with the same hands that once held her the first time she entered the world.

Nobody came with her to the graveyard, but she did not want anyone there anyway. At that moment, all she wanted was silence.

She sat beside the freshly covered grave and slowly placed her trembling hand on it while tears rolled endlessly down her cheeks.

All these years, she had only dreamed about Lily receiving a new heart and finally leaving the hospital healthy.

Never once had she imagined burying her instead.

Olivia hugged Lily’s favorite teddy bear tightly against her chest while the child’s drawing book rested quietly beside the grave.

With shaking hands and swollen red eyes, she picked up the book and slowly flipped through the pages one after another.

At first the drawings looked normal, childish scribbles mixed with colorful sketches.

Then Olivia noticed the hidden sentences Lily had written carefully across different pages.

She slowly pieced the words together. "Maybe if Lily wasn’t with mummy, daddy would love her like he used to before I was born"

Olivia’s breathing shattered instantly as another wave of tears rolled down her face.

Her daughter had blamed herself all this time. She quickly turned to another page and froze again.

It was a drawing of three people standing together while another woman stood behind them. The picture was messy and uneven, but Olivia could still understand it clearly.

Above the drawing, Lily had written.

Daddy, mummy, Lily and the lady that keeps daddy away from us.

A painful laugh escaped Olivia’s lips through her tears. She never imagined Lily had understood so much.

Lily had always been smart. Even during her worst days, her daughter somehow still found ways to brighten the world around her.

Olivia carefully placed the teddy bear beside the grave before standing up slowly.

She held the drawing book tightly against her chest and turned to leave because staying any longer would only make her want to dig open the grave just to see Lily’s face one last time.

ROAD

Olivia walked alone without taking a cab.

She simply kept walking endlessly like the distance no longer mattered to her.

Her mind was so consumed by grief that she failed to notice the black car moving slowly behind her.

They had been following her since she left the hospital with her dead daughter.

Inside the vehicle, the guards exchanged glances. “I think it really her, we have been following her for hours already” one of them said quietly.

“Are you sure? I barely remember her face,” another replied.

“It’s definitely her. I gave her the card that night.” The first guard immediately dialed Alexander’s number.

“Boss, we found her.” He said and Alexander’s voice came through almost instantly.

“Keep following her. Don’t lose sight of her.” He said but the guard hesitated briefly before speaking again.

“Sir…something is wrong.” He said suddenly and Alexander’s expression darkened immediately.

“What happened?” He asked.

“She just buried her daughter.” Silence followed on the other side of the line.

Then Alexander spoke again, his voice much colder than before. “Connect me to your location.”

VAUGHN MANSION

Olivia walked back into the mansion that no longer felt like home.

She had left this house with her daughter. Now she was returning alone.The silence inside the mansion felt unbearable.

Her eyes slowly moved around the familiar surroundings as memories of Lily running around the house flashed painfully through her mind.

She looked toward Lily’s favorite hiding spot and immediately felt tears burn her eyes again.

Olivia eventually walked into Lily’s nursery. The room felt cold now, too cold.

The storybooks still rested beside the bed exactly where Lily left them. Her painting pencils were scattered across the small table while tiny dresses remained neatly folded inside the closet.

Everything was still there except Lily.

Olivia slowly lay down on the bed and shut her eyes tightly as tears slipped down her cheeks again.

“Mummy, can we go to the beach?” Lily’s voice echoed painfully inside her head.

Her daughter never even got to see the beach she loved drawing so much.

Suddenly Olivia’s phone beeped beside her. She picked it up absentmindedly before freezing when she saw the headline displayed on the screen.

📰 Ethan Vaughn celebrates Vanessa Hale’s birthday in the most glamorous way possible. Social media users gush over the billionaire’s grand romantic gesture.

Olivia stared at the screen blankly before tossing the phone away.

Her daughter had just been buried while Ethan celebrated another woman publicly.

With trembling hands, Olivia picked up Lily’s framed picture and stared quietly at the bright smile frozen on her daughter’s face forever.

Then slowly, she opened her bag and brought out the divorce papers Ethan had given her.

Her hands shook violently as she signed them. If someone had once told her her daughter would die because of Ethan, she would have fought them for saying something so horrible.

But now the truth was impossible to deny. Ethan had chosen another woman over his own child until the very end.

Olivia quietly placed the signed papers on the desk before walking out of the room.

She looked around the mansion one final time. A place she once believed would save her.

A place that ultimately destroyed everything she loved.

Outside the mansion, Alexander’s guards still remained nearby inside their vehicle watching the building she walked into.

Meanwhile, Olivia walked away from the mansion without looking back again.

The guards followed carefully from a distance.

BEACH~~~Night

By the time Olivia arrived at the beach, night had already fallen.

She stepped out of the cab slowly before walking toward the endless stretch of water ahead of her.

This was the place Lily had always dreamed of visiting.

A place Olivia once imagined laughing together with her daughter beneath the waves.

The ocean breeze brushed softly against her face as she stood silently at the edge of the water.

After a while, she slowly bent down and brought out a small cloth from her bag.

Carefully, she opened it and poured the sand she had collected from Lily’s grave into the ocean.

“I’m sorry, Lily…” Her voice broke completely.

“If I had returned earlier that day… maybe you would still be alive.”

Tears rolled endlessly down her cheeks.

“If I had never left the hospital room…I wouldn’t have let you see him again.” Her breathing trembled violently.

“My little girl would still be alive waiting for her new heart…” Olivia slowly stepped deeper into the water.

“Mummy is coming to you now, Lily,” she whispered brokenly. “I don’t know how to live without you anymore.”

From a distance, the guards couldn't see her properly but they knew she was up to something, they got out of their car and walked closer to the beach. They looked at her for a while and finally realized what she was doing. “Wait… is she trying to kill herself?”

They ran toward the water immediately but Olivia was already too far inside.

The waves swallowed her body while she made no effort to fight back. She only wanted to be with her daughter again.

“Ma’am! Stop!” one of the guards shouted before diving into the water alongside the others.

They finally grabbed hold of her but Olivia fought against them desperately. “Let me go!” she screamed through tears. “Please let me go!”

She struggled violently until her body finally gave out and she lost consciousness completely.

A few minutes later, another car arrived at the shoreline.

Alexander stepped out immediately, the sound of urgency still in his movements.

One of the guards met him quickly. “Sir, we pulled her out. She tried to drown herself.”

Alexander did not respond immediately.

He walked straight toward where Olivia lay unconscious in the sand.

Without hesitation, he removed his coat and wrapped it carefully around her cold body.

He lifted her into his arms gently, as though she was something fragile that could break at any moment.

“Get the car ready,” he said quietly and the guards rushed to obey.

Alexander carried her toward the vehicle and placed her carefully in the backseat.

He got in after her, adjusting the coat around her shoulders to keep her warm.

For a long moment, he just looked at her face in silence.

Then, barely above a whisper, he spoke.

“I’m sorry.” His eyes stayed on her as the car door closed “If I had found you sooner… maybe your daughter would still be alive.”