Chapter 1

As soon as Cara Lavigne finished speaking, she angrily gritted her teeth and hung up.

I stopped walking. Slowly, I put away my phone and looked toward the entrance of the funeral home.

After straightening the white flower in my chest pocket that had become crooked, I lifted my foot and walked inside.

The next second, my phone vibrated with a social media update notification—Warren had just posted something.

It was a long post saying he meant nothing by his earlier post and that he was only sharing the joy of having someone celebrate his birthday with him. He also apologized to me.

And just like the previous post, he had specifically tagged me at the end.

Less than a minute after it was posted, it already had many likes and comments.

It was such an elementary provocation, yet Cara couldn't see through it.

She was usually so meticulous and thoughtful. How could she not realize Warren's intentions?

It was more likely that she simply didn't want to expose him.

"Why would he need to apologize just for sharing a little about his life? Is he really that sensitive?"

"Exactly. He just had someone celebrate his birthday with him. I feel so bad for Warren that he has to put up with such a passive-aggressive remark. I've never seen someone so petty."

The comment section was filled with sarcastic remarks defending Warren and criticizing me. Most of these coworkers had been hired by Warren himself, so it was only natural that they spoke up for him.

If Cara hadn't made an exception and overstepped her authority to support him, how could he have been put in charge of recruitment, which led to him roping in a group of followers for himself?

Those who had spoken up for me had all been dismissed.

Not long afterward, Cara replied beneath the post, "The company is everyone's home. I encourage everyone to treat the company like their home. There's no need to take baseless and malicious speculations to heart."

She didn't name anyone directly, but everyone in the comments knew who she was referring to. Warren even pinned her comment to the top.

I couldn't be bothered to keep reading.

After I took out my identification documents and handed them to the staff for verification, they led me inside.

In the storage room, my father's face was ashen and bloodless as he lay motionless in the freezer. Just the day before yesterday, he had said he would take a bus to come over and stay with me for a few days, but now he was lying here, cold and unmoving.

Tears instantly blurred my vision.

The moment I received the terrible news, I had immediately called Cara, who told me that she needed to go on an urgent business trip.

She had said, "The police won't release the body until they're done handling the accident. Let's wait until I get back. Don't worry."

With that, she had left without hesitation despite my objections. It wasn't until five hours later, when I saw Warren's status update, that I realized the truth.

Business trip, my foot. It had clearly been an excuse to celebrate Warren's birthday.

"The weather is extremely hot. Since the remains are incomplete, preservation will be difficult. We recommend cremation as soon as possible."

A staff member handed me a release form and offered the suggestion.