Chapter 4

By the time I frantically rushed to Ivy's grave, all that remained was an empty plot.

Even her headstone had been broken in half, and the framed photo of Ivy I'd left at her grave had been scratched until her face was completely disfigured.

I collapsed onto the ground, my entire body trembling and my mind going blank. It took me a long time to regain my senses. When I did, I finally called William.

"William, where did you take my daughter?"

"You scared Andy so badly that he almost choked. This is your punishment," he said coldly. "Besides, Ivy was just a kid. She doesn't need to be buried in such a lavish cemetery. She'll do just fine in the old cemetery in the suburbs."

Once he finished saying his piece, he dropped the call.

I hurried toward the suburbs, only to find a headstone bearing Ivy's name beside a bunch of dumpsters in the most remote corner of the cemetery.

As anguish and grief racked through me, I slowly dug out Ivy's urn with my bare hands. I dug so hard that blood seeped from beneath my fingernails, but I didn't care.

Once I was done, I cradled the urn against my chest and said comfortingly, "Everything's fine now, Ivy. I'm sorry I came too late. Let's get you out of here."

Just then, my phone started ringing. The caller was Bernard Stewart, one of William's uncles who was still living with the rest of the extended family back in their hometown.

"Holly, William said something about wanting the family back home to prepare for a celebration dinner to welcome a new family member? He didn't tell me what arrangements to make, though. Since he's always so busy, I didn't want to disturb him, so I had to call you about it instead," Bernard explained.

The corners of my lips twitched.

Over the years, William had been too busy with work to deal with his relatives, so I had always handled the Stewart family's matters for him. As a result, his relatives back home had grown accustomed to coming to me for everything.

I was going to tell Bernard everything and cut ties with the Stewarts on the spot. Then a thought came to me, and I decided to go down a different route.

"Don't worry about it, Uncle Bernard. I'll have someone go over there and make all the arrangements."

After ending the call, I went back to the house and grabbed my luggage. Then I smashed every piece of furniture and appliance in the house.

Over the years, I'd poured my heart into maintaining the house, choosing everything in it myself. I'd even paid for everything out of my own pocket, so I wasn't going to let anyone else enjoy the fruits of my labor.

Before leaving, I also gave the one housekeeper we hired a large severance payout before informing her, "I'll find you another employer. You won't need to come here anymore."

The housekeeper happily left with the money.

An hour later, William called. This time, his voice was no longer calm. If anything, he sounded furious.

"Holly, get back here right now and clean up the house! Otherwise, I won't hesitate to move Ivy somewhere else again!"

I simply ended the call and blocked his number for good measure. Once that was done, I gave my lawyer an invoice and a USB drive.

"Next Monday, serve the divorce papers at this address."