Chapter 3

Simone took off the blood-stained coat and slowly scooped the ashes into the fabric.

She wrapped the ashes up and turned her gaze to Jack's face. "This is your sister. How could you do this?"

Jack looked indifferent. "She made Ms. McRae ill. She wasn't likable even when she was alive, and she's still causing harm after death. She deserves it!"

Simone slapped him across the face.

"I said nothing wrong!" Jack covered his face. "Why did you come back? If you hadn't, Ms. McRae would be my mother!"

Simone raised her hand again but dropped it helplessly.

How could she forget? Jack was as cold-blooded as his father.

Back then, she helped Martin start a business from scratch.

She worked five jobs during the day and slept only four hours a night to gather his business capital.

She also stayed awake for days and nights to help him secure the project.

Years of exhaustion led to hypertrophic obstructive cardiomyopathy after she gave birth to Dorothy.

She would get unbearable waves of pain that felt like her heart was being repeatedly squeezed and torn.

The doctor said that medication could only control it, and a heart transplant was performed for a full recovery. Martin claimed he would do anything to find her a suitable heart.

Three years later, he heard that there was a matching donor in a small town. He dropped a multi-million-dollar contract and went over himself.

Half a month later, he brought Lily back. "Simone, Lily rescued me from danger in that small town."

When Lily mentioned her dream of becoming a doctor, he arranged for her to intern at one of the hospitals he owned and put her under the supervision of his father-in-law, Fred Sander.

Six months later, fireworks lit up the entire city all night on Dorothy's third birthday. However, the celebration was for Lily securing a permanent position after her medical internship.

He told Simone that the donor had died, but Lily had just secured a permanent position and needed a high-profile, successful case to establish herself at the hospital.

"You've lived with your heart condition for years. Surely you're used to the pain by now. We'll get you another heart later."

Just like that, he took the heart she had waited three and a half years to fabricate a fake heart transplant surgery for Lily.

Thanks to this ‘success’, Lily became the hospital's ‘genius’ attending physician, with a cushy position that required her to show up for work but never see patients.

The day Simone's heart condition flared up again was the same day her father was killed by a patient's family.

The entire internet claimed her father deserved it, fueled by a hospital statement alleging that he had been drinking, which led to a mistake in the surgery and the patient's death.

However, Simone's father never touched alcohol.

She went to confront Martin, only to overhear him telling his executive assistant, Andrew Frizter, "Lily only performed that surgery to prove herself.

“Besides, since she interned under Fred, he was considered her mentor. The patient's family didn't exactly target the wrong person.

“Anyway, why did Fred have to go and report Lily? Get a few more topics trending and make sure all traces of Lily's surgery are wiped clean."

In that instant, a bone-chilling cold washed over Simone.

She burst in, demanding that Martin reveal the truth and get her father justice.

He claimed her father was already dead—a convenient turn of events that allowed Fred to take the blame for Lily. Martin said his death would at least serve a purpose.

She vowed to make Lily pay, but he confiscated Simone’s phone and locked her in the house.

It was then she realized that the boy who once had eyes only for her had long since ceased to exist.

Days later, she begged him to take Dorothy to the hospital when Dorothy developed a high fever.

He dismissed it as a lie. "It's normal for a child to have a fever. Just give her some medicine. Today is Lily's birthday, and I won't allow anything to ruin it."

Driven by desperation, she grabbed a knife, clutched Dorothy to her chest, and forced her way out of the house.

Just as she reached the main road, a searing, explosive pain tore through her chest. Summoning her final reserves of strength to hold Dorothy tight, she collapsed to the ground.

Just like that, Dorothy took her last breath in Simone's arms due to an airway obstruction.

On the day of Dorothy's funeral, Lily was kidnapped and nearly drowned. She insisted that Simone was the one behind it.

When Simone denied it, Martin flew into a rage, dragged her onto a boat, and threatened to toss her into the sea to feed the fish.

That night, six-year-old Jack came to see her. "Mom, Dad says he won't toss you into the sea if you apologize to Ms. McRae."

She looked at him. "What do you want me to do?"

He tilted his head and asked, "Mom, would you have come back if you were the one in the sea?"

She told him she would not.

He smiled, his eyes bright with anticipation. "Then I want you to go! That way, Ms. McRae can be my mom. She's 100 times better than you!"

The final thread holding her together snapped. "Fine."

Then, she plunged into the ocean, ending her life and returning to her original world.

...

"Jack did it for me! Don't lay a hand on him. If you have to hit someone, hit me instead!" Lily stepped in front of Jack, pulling Simone back from her memories.

Martin immediately pulled Lily into his arms to shield her. "It was her fault to begin with."

Jack chimed in, "Exactly! Ms. McRae is the best. I wish you were my mom!"

As he spoke, he took out an amulet and shoved it into Lily's hand.

"This is for you. It'll keep you safe."

Simone's gaze fell upon the amulet.

She had gotten it when Jack fell seriously ill at three by praying at the church.

Watching the three of them look like a real family, she smiled. "Since you like her so much, she can be your mom from now on."