Semua Bab The Day Love Died: Bab 1 - Bab 10

I dragged myself forward with my broken leg while gathering the children's belongings, speaking softly to them. "Nate, make sure you look after Cece when you're up there. Have fun with all the superhero figures and teddy bears over there." That day, Lionel Brooks was about to leave with Fiona Smith and her child. In the rubble, my son, Nate Brooks, lay with a steel beam piercing his small chest, blood dripping. He looked at me and asked, "Mommy, will Daddy come back soon?" Cece Brooks chimed in confidently, "Of course, he will! He's our daddy after all." It was heartbreaking to hear them say that. I yelled, "Lionel, are you blind? Fiona and her kid only have scratches while our children are…" Before I could finish, Lionel turned to me with reddened eyes and snapped. "Aster, don't be ridiculous! I'm the manager of this museum, and during this earthquake, I have to treat everyone equally. I can't prioritize Nate and Cece just because they're my children, and I certainly ca

The children's funeral was scheduled for the following week. For five days and nights, I sat silently in Nate and Cece's room, clutching their photos and refusing to cry or speak. I could almost feel their warmth lingering in the room, and I swore I could still hear them sweetly calling me Mommy. The memories felt so fresh… so real. My childhood friend, Luke Armstrong, rushed back from overseas, dropping a major business deal. The moment he walked in and saw my state, he embraced me tightly. "Let it out, Aster… Keeping it all inside is only going to hurt you," he whispered. I looked at him and asked, "Nate and Cece… are never coming back, are they? Do you think they regret having me as their mother? Why was I so useless?" Before my parents passed away, I married Lionel. Back then, Lionel wanted to be my father's graduate student, and despite the college having their preferred candidate, Dad fought to give Lionel a spot because he saw him as a hardworking man from a struggling

Fiona and Eva rushed in behind Lionel. "Oh my… Aster, are Nate and Cece… really gone?" Fiona gasped. "Are you happy now, Fiona?" I hissed, grabbing the vase nearby and smashing it against her head. Fiona screamed and instinctively hid behind Lionel. This time, Lionel did not shield her. He just stood there in shock, muttering, "No, this can't be true…" Blood began trickling down Fiona's forehead where the vase had struck her. "T-They only had minor injuries, and they couldn't have died," Lionel stammered. "Aster, you're just angry with me, right? Is this just a cruel prank? Call them out… Please don't joke like this." "A joke? When Nate and Cece were trapped under rubble begging for help, you chose to save Fiona. When they needed blood transfusions, you were busy comforting this homewrecker! They died alone on that cold operating table because of you!" "No, that's not true!" "Today was their funeral, and you weren't there. You lost your last chance to say goodbye

I shared my theory with Luke. He had spent the last four years building his network overseas since my wedding, and his connections quickly uncovered the whole scheme. It was a classic debt transfer scam, a method by which con artists would shift their debts onto unsuspecting victims through elaborate schemes. They essentially used other people's assets to fill their own financial holes. While Lionel came from a poor background, my parents were renowned college professors who had left me substantial assets, including real estate, valuable artwork, and several retail properties. Fiona must have gotten her hands on this information early on, but she had underestimated me. Perhaps she thought that after my children's deaths, I would become too depressed to care about anything else. While she had severely underestimated a mother's determination for revenge, poor, foolish Lionel remained completely in the dark. I wondered how he would feel when he discovered his precious first love

After getting my evidence, I knew someone else would handle the rest. I held my children's photos, lying in the sun on my balcony. "Nate, Cece, I brought you out to enjoy the sunshine…" The next day, I saw videos of Lionel confronting Fiona. In the footage, he grabbed her hair, demanding to know why she had deceived him. Fiona's response was even more unhinged. "Because you're so easy to fool! I rejected you for being poor years ago, yet you still believed I loved you. You're like a dog—even after getting hurt, you'll come back crawling if shown a little affection!" "I never imagined I meant so much to you that you'd actually abandon your own children. Those twins had steel beams through their chests, while I only had scratches!" Fiona laughed maniacally, her face twisted with cruel delight. "So, you only came back to me for money?" Lionel asked weakly. "Why ask when you already know?" Fiona sneered. Lionel released her and slumped to his knees. The next day, new