Chapter 4 Mommy's Taking You Away

I called Jenna immediately.

The second she answered, I asked, "Where are Sadie's ashes?"

There was a smile in her voice when she replied, and it was anything but kind. "If you want them, come to the hospital. Take too long, and your precious little girl might end up getting flushed down the toilet."

I hung up and rushed straight to the hospital.

The moment I pushed open the door to Jenna's room, every head turned toward me.

No one looked surprised to see me. They only stared at me with disgust and hostility, as though I were some criminal who had finally shown up to face judgment.

Jenna lay propped against the pillows, her face pale and her eyes swollen from crying. She looked completely devastated.

Waylon was the first to stand. He strode toward me and threw his phone at my feet, where it hit the floor with a sharp crack.

Jenna's old private photos were on the screen—the same ones I had leaked three years ago.

Waylon looked at me with pure disgust. "Sydney, you really haven't changed. You're still using the same filthy tricks to destroy people."

"It wasn't me," I replied hoarsely. "I deleted those pictures years ago."

No one believed me.

Reuben stared at me in disappointment. "Sydney, being obsessive is one thing. Have you really lost every ounce of empathy too?"

Meanwhile, my mom's face twisted with fury. "You ruin everything you touch! We finally had some peace, and you just had to destroy it again. Why?"

At the same time, my dad looked at me as though I were a stranger. "From this day forward, you are no longer part of this family."

Their accusations came at me one after another until Waylon finally stepped forward and brought them to an end.

He said, "Jenna is pregnant. She can't handle this kind of stress, so you're going live and setting the record straight.

"You'll tell everyone that what you said three years ago was a lie. You were jealous of Jenna, so you made up the affair and destroyed her reputation. You'll make it clear that she was never my mistress."

My head snapped up, and I refused, "No!"

Waylon grabbed my wrist, his fingers tightening painfully around it as he lowered his voice. "Then, you'll never see Sadie's ashes again."

My entire body went still.

Whatever resistance I had left disappeared in an instant. For Sadie, I had no choice.

The livestream began.

I sat stiffly in front of the camera and read the statement Waylon had prepared for me, word for word. Comments flooded the screen almost immediately.

"Poor Jenna. She went through all that because of a jealous psycho?"

"How did someone this unstable ever marry into the Ratliff family?"

"Give her a good beating, Jenna! Make her pay!"

Jenna read through the comments, then turned to me with a look of false hesitation. "Sydney, everyone says you should slap yourself and get on your knees. Otherwise, they won't believe you're really sorry."

I closed my eyes and slowly raised my hand.

My palm struck my own face with a sharp smack. Then, I dropped to my knees in front of Jenna and bowed until my forehead hit the tile.

I stood, slapped myself again, and dropped back down.

Again and again, I repeated the same motions until blood began running down the bridge of my nose and into my eyes, burning so badly that my vision blurred.

Still, I kept going.

Only after the final apology was over did I slowly lift my head and look at Waylon.

"I apologized," I murmured, my voice numb. "Now, give me her ashes."

Waylon studied me for a moment, as though he were trying to figure out just how far my obedience would go.

"Jenna was badly shaken today," he said at last. "I'm going to stay with her for a while, at least until the baby is born."

I gave a small nod. "Okay."

He kept his eyes on me. "There's something else. I won't let my child be born out of wedlock, so I'm going to give Jenna a proper wedding.

"You'll remain my legal wife. Once the baby is born, we'll have you listed as the mother. That way, the child can officially be part of the Ratliff family without any scandal attached."

I nodded again. "Okay."

No matter what Waylon said, I remained calm and compliant, like a beautifully painted doll with nothing left inside.

Once he was finally satisfied, he nodded toward Jenna. She reached beside the bed, picked up a small urn, and held it out to me.

The moment it was in my hands, I pulled it tightly against my chest.

Then, as I adjusted my grip, my fingers brushed against the seam of the lid. Something wet and sticky coated my fingertips.

At once, my heart sank.

Before I could make sense of it, Jenna leaned close to my ear and whispered, "I mixed your daughter's ashes with my dog's urine. Maybe in the next life, my dog can come back as a human, and your daughter can reincarnate as an animal."

A freezing numbness spread through my entire body.

I gazed at the urn in my arms, then gently lowered it onto the floor. I softly said, "Sadie, don't be afraid. Mommy's taking you away."

With that, I lunged at Jenna.

My hands closed around her throat, and I squeezed with everything I had. She screamed, and Waylon immediately rushed forward to grab me from behind.

Something inside me snapped.

I reached into my pocket, pulled out the small knife and drove it into his abdomen.

Waylon froze, his eyes widening in disbelief.

I tore myself free, grabbed Sadie's urn, and ran toward the window.

Before I climbed through, I looked back at them one last time. For the first time in years, I felt a strange sense of relief.

I smiled faintly. "Meeting all of you was the most disgusting thing that ever happened to me."

Then, I closed my eyes and stepped into the open air.