Chapter 2

Outside the courthouse, reporters and furious protesters packed the plaza shoulder to shoulder.

Nicholas had barely stepped outside when a cup of scalding coffee went straight into his face.

"Murderer!"

"The law may say you're innocent, but we know you're guilty!"

Several enraged young men broke through the barricade, kicked Nicholas to the ground, and started punching him over and over.

Still in my heels, I strode into the crowd and threw myself over Nicholas to shield him.

A sharp stone struck the corner of my forehead and blood ran into my eye.

Alex pushed through the crowd and stared at me in disbelief.

"Olivia, are you really willing to risk your life for a murderer?"

I wiped the blood from my eyes and hauled Nicholas to his feet.

"Yes. From today on, Nicholas is under my protection. Anyone who lays a finger on him will answer to my security team."

I forced Nicholas into the back of the Maybach and locked the doors as cameras flashed all around us.

Outside, Alex clutched Eric's photograph and begged me hoarsely to turn back.

I didn't lower the window. I told the driver coldly, "Drive."

In the car, Nicholas shook all over in fear.

I tossed him a clean towel.

"Clean yourself up. Come home with me. From now on, I'll keep you safe."

Eric's funeral was set for three days later.

Nicholas shut himself in his room, refused to eat for two days, and would not come out no matter what.

"Mrs. Thomas, I can't go. Whenever I close my eyes, I see him struggling. I killed him. I have no right to face him."

I summoned security and had them kick the door open.

I flung a brand-new, custom-tailored black suit at his face.

"Put it on. You're coming to the cemetery with me."

"I said I'm not going!"

I gave a cold laugh, pulled out a fruit knife and held it to my throat.

"If you won't go today, I'll die here. You'll spend the rest of your life carrying two deaths on your conscience."

Terror flashed across Nicholas's face. In the end, he had no choice but to change into the suit with trembling hands and follow me.

At the memorial, Alex was receiving guests with red eyes.

The moment Alex saw Nicholas walk in behind me, something in him snapped.

He snatched a vase from the memorial table and hurled it at Nicholas.

"You animal! You'll pay for my son's life!"

I stepped forward and knocked the vase aside with my bare hand.

The heavy vase struck my wrist, making it swell immediately.

I backhanded Alex hard across the face, the slap echoing through the room.

"I brought him here. Anyone who touches him today makes an enemy of me."

Every guest in the room gasped.

Emma shook with rage. "He was your child!"

Nicholas walked to the crystal casket. His knees buckled and he began to sink to the floor.

I caught him by the collar and hauled him upright before his knees touched the floor.

"Stand up straight!"

Tears streamed down his face as he struggled against me. "I wronged him. I have to apologize. I have to atone."

"You were held for half a month and beaten black and blue. You owe him nothing! He doesn't deserve this!"

Emma threw herself at me, screaming as she clawed my face.

"How could Eric have had a mother this vicious?"

She turned, dragged over a huge cardboard box, and dumped its contents onto the floor.

They were all gifts my son had given me over the years.

There was a plastic hair clip bought with his allowance when he was eight, a clay figure he made at twelve, and a cashmere scarf bought with his first scholarship at eighteen.

"You loved him so much once. When he had a fever, you stayed awake beside him for three days and nights. Why won't you leave him even a shred of dignity now that he's dead?"

The relatives around us shook their heads and whispered that grief might have driven me out of my mind.

I crouched down, my expression unchanged.

I picked up the clay figure and smashed it on the floor.

I ground the cashmere scarf under my heel, snapped the plastic clip in two, and set them on fire with a lighter.

The flames swallowed the keepsakes.

"He's dead. What use is any of this junk? I carried him and raised him for more than twenty years, and he couldn't even protect the family legacy. Then he got himself kidnapped and killed. He was worthless."

On the memorial screen, a video from my son's birthday was playing.

He held the cake and smiled gently into the camera. "My biggest wish is for Mom to stay young and happy forever."

The women in the room began to cry.

I walked over and yanked out the projector's power cord.

The screen went black.

"He's already dead. Who are you putting on this fake show of grief for?"

Alex knelt on the floor and reached for the severed cable with trembling hands. The exposed copper cut into his fingers, and blood streamed down them.

He didn't look up. His voice was choked with tears.

"Olivia, you don't want to look, but I do. Just let me look at him a little longer."