Chapter 3

My resistance only infuriated Serena further. Looking into my hollow, lifeless eyes, she felt inexplicably irritated.

Just as she was about to lash out, Adrian, hiding behind her, suddenly spoke up. "Serena, this is terrifying!"

He pretended to be frightened, clutching Serena's arm tightly as he pointed at the porcelain urn in my arms with a terrified expression.

"Serena, that jar he's holding looks so creepy! Do you think he learned some kind of curse or dark magic in the mental institution? I've heard that some lunatics use dead people's ashes to put hexes on others! Oh, my leg hurts so bad suddenly!"

The moment Serena heard that his leg hurt, her protective instincts flared up, and her disgust for me reached its peak. She snapped, "Damian, you're just playing crazy and still as twisted as ever! Get rid of that cursed thing right now!"

Before I could even react, she suddenly reached out and forcibly snatched the white porcelain urn from my arms.

"No! Give it back! Serena, give it back!"

I lunged at her like a madman, desperately trying to take it back. But she cruelly kicked me away, strode to the entrance, and without the slightest hesitation, hurled the urn with all her might into the garden outside.

The porcelain urn shattered into pieces against the hard stone pavement with a sharp crack.

It had poured heavily the night before, leaving the garden lawn muddy and full of puddles. Thus, when the urn shattered, the gray-white ashes inside spilled out at once, scattering into the filthy black mud and mixing with the rainwater.

"No!" I scrambled into the rain-soaked garden and dropped heavily to my knees in the muddy water.

I scooped and clawed at the mud with my bare hands desperately. Sharp shards of porcelain sliced into my palms, and blood immediately gushed out, dripping down into the muddy water and ashes.

"Lila... My Lila..." I felt no pain and just kept trying, over and over, to gather those ashes from the muck.

But the mud was too deep, and the ashes were too light. They had already become one with the filthy earth. No matter how desperately I dug, all I came up with were fistfuls of black mud stained with my own blood.

Serena stood beneath the dry shelter of the porch, looking down at me as I scrabbled through the muddy water. A cold, mocking smile curled at the corner of her lips.

"You're putting on this whole act over a broken urn? Damian, you are absolutely repulsive. Do you really think shedding a little blood and feigning madness will get you out of apologizing?"

Behind her, a cold smile flashed in Adrian's eyes. He knew exactly what that urn was, because he had been right there at the scene of the accident a month ago.

That day, Delilah had run after the ambulance crying, trying so hard to catch up with me that she even lost one of her shoes.

Adrian had stood in the shadows by the roadside, watching the poor child. Then, deliberately, he lifted his foot and kicked the pink bunny plushie Delilah had dropped into the middle of the traffic-filled road.

He had watched coldly as Delilah ran into the road to retrieve it, and had watched without lifting a finger as the heavy truck crushed her tiny body.

And now, he was once again watching with his own eyes as Delilah's her ashes were hurled into the mud by her own mother’s hands.