Chapter 4

"No!" I screamed, trying to force my way into the autopsy room. However, Brian told his bodyguards to grab me and pin me down again.

I kneeled on the ground and pleaded with him desperately.

"Brian! Joy is already dead! Please, please don't let her body be mutilated as well!"

Brian hesitated when he saw me in this state. He reached out to grab my hand, wanting to comfort me, but when he saw my empty ring finger, he exclaimed in shock, "Where's your wedding ring?"

"I sold it for—"

I hadn't even managed to tell him that I'd sold the ring to pay for Joy's medical bill when he suddenly raised his hand and slapped me across the face.

"You went and spent it all on Joy again, didn't you? How dare you keep indulging her like that! I deliberately withheld all the money from you so you'd never spend it on frivolous things like this, and you still found a way to do it?

"How dare you sell our wedding ring just to take Joy out for fun! This is outrageous!"

He continued slapping me hard across the face, one after another. I couldn't even get another word in, but I didn't bother. He wouldn't believe what I said anyway, so no amount of explanation would matter.

I didn't resist and just let him beat me and hurl abuse at me. But even then, I struggled to crawl toward the autopsy room, desperate to get my dead child back.

But after he was done, I forcefully pulled myself up and struggled to crawl toward the autopsy room, desperate to protect my poor dead daughter's body.

The bodyguards saw my persistence and felt a pang of sympathy, loosening their grip on me for a bit. Brian thought that they weren't able to pin me down because I was struggling so hard, so he delivered a sharp kick to my leg, snapping my fibula clean in half.

However, I was completely oblivious to the pain. I continued crawling forward with tears streaming down my face. I was determined to keep moving and go in.

Brian finally felt some pity for me and was about to help me up when the door opened just then, and Aurora stepped out of the room, completely covered in blood splatters. He immediately ignored me and rushed over to her instead.

"Charis went crazy and insisted that the child inside was Joy. Aurora, you're the one who did the autopsy yourself. Tell her if the child was Joy or not."

Aurora let out a light chuckle and shook her head, saying, "Of course it wasn't Ms. Harrell. Ms. Harrell is blessed with great fortune and is destined for a long life. How could she possibly be dead?"

Then, she suddenly turned to Brian, who was standing next to her, and pretended as though a realization had only just dawned on her.

"Brian! It must be because she realized that your legs have healed, so she lied about Ms. Harrell's health just to try and get your attention!"

Only then did Brian remember that, in his hurry, he'd forgotten about the wheelchair and his pretense. He hurriedly explained himself to me.

"My legs only got better the day before yesterday. I kept it a secret from you all this time just to teach you and Joy a proper lesson.

"Also, Aurora, our resident genius, said that people could only strive for success after enduring plenty of hardship.

"Joy's grades had improved a lot while I was ill. Although she might be enduring some hardship right now with the punishments, she will finally realize that everything I've done for her was always for her own good when she succeeds later in life. I only have her best interests in mind."

But Joy had worked hard at school only to try to make Brian favor her and love her a little more. It had nothing to do with his nonsense about "learning through hardship".

I wanted to refute him, but then, in a daze, I suddenly remembered that Joy was already dead. She had no future anymore.

Brian found my lack of reaction rather strange. Just as he was about to explain himself further, Aurora suddenly clutched her face and screamed in pain.

"Brian! I think my wound just split open. I'm sorry… I think I pushed myself too hard earlier…"

Brian panicked at once. He ignored me and quickly shouted for a doctor.

"I won't let anything happen to that face of yours! Where's the doctor? I need a doctor now!"

Once again, he abandoned me and left with Aurora.

I couldn't care less about them. I just crawled to my feet and limped slowly into the autopsy room, staring at the little body lying on the table.

Tears streamed down my face uncontrollably.

It wasn't an autopsy at all. It had been literal corpse abuse!

Joy's face had been so terribly bludgeoned and mutilated that her face was completely unrecognizable now. I could only tell that it was her by the birthmark on her arm. It was the only thing that screamed to me that this dismembered mass of flesh before me was my daughter.

I wailed in agony and nearly blacked out again, but I forced myself to stay awake. I had to continue keeping an eye on her. I couldn't let anything else happen to her again.

With the money refunded by the hospital, I had Joy cremated and returned home, cradling the tiny urn in my arms.

I didn't have any money to buy a burial plot for her in the city, so I had no choice but to go back to the villa to retrieve the necessary documents and bring Joy back to my hometown for burial.