Just as my fingers were about to touch the urn, Tara suddenly shrieked,
“What are you waiting for? Grab her! Don’t let her take that thing!”
The two bodyguards lunged at me instantly, dragging me off the ground with brute force.
“Let go of me!”
I struggled until my whole body trembled, until it felt like I was being torn apart.
This land—
this tiny plot of earth—
was the last warmth I guarded for my child.
And they wanted to take even this away.
Erick’s face darkened, thick and heavy like a stormy night.
He stepped toward me, each footfall filled with blame.
“You’re being ridiculous! Apologize to Tara right now. People outside are spreading rumors about my child’s death—Tara was only trying to help me clarify. And bring our daughter back! Leaving her alone in the countryside—what kind of mother are you?”
He looked down at me like a judge delivering a sentence, as if I were the one who had committed an unforgivable crime.
He wanted me to apologize
to the woman who had ordered my child’s grave to be dug up.
A sharp pain shot through my chest, twisting like a blade from the inside.
I lifted my head and stared straight at Erick, my voice cold enough to freeze bone.
“Dream on.”
Tara immediately put on a frightened act, nestling weakly into Erick’s arms, though triumph flickered unmistakably in her eyes.
“Erick, didn’t you always say she was gentle and obedient? Look at her now… If people saw this, they’d think you married a lunatic.”
Erick’s brows knitted tighter and tighter.
The look he gave me carried only impatience and disgust.
“Did you hear her? Don’t embarrass me.”
His tone hardened.
“Go back to your hometown and take care of our daughter. How could you leave Tara alone at home? Where is your sense of responsibility?”
I stared at him, biting down on each word until it almost shattered between my teeth.
“You still dare say the words ‘care about our daughter’?”
Erick didn’t show a shred of guilt.
He replied as if everything were perfectly reasonable:
“Of course I care. I don’t have time to stay with her because I’m busy making money to give her a better future. She’s my only daughter—my entire estate will be hers someday. When she grows up and starts her own family, I’ll throw her the grandest wedding in the whole city. She’ll be proud to have a father like me.”
Each word was like a dull knife slowly slicing through my heart.
I roared,
“Stop lying to yourself! If you had even a shred of conscience, you wouldn’t have abandoned her on the highway just because Tara asked! She was six! Do you know how terrified she was? You didn’t even look back once!”
Cornered, Erick’s temper snapped. His patience went up in flames.
“Can you stop being so annoying? You harp on every little thing! I told you—she’s at your mother’s house! What are you trying to do, drive me insane?!”
And then, anger twisting his face, he lifted his leg and kicked violently at the urn.
“Move!”
Bang!
The urn flew, hitting the stone ground hard, rolling several times before—
Crack.
It shattered.
White ashes exploded onto the ground, scattering like torn clouds in the wind.
In that moment, the world turned black and white.
I couldn’t even hear myself breathe.
My child—
all that remained of her—
was blown apart with a single kick from her own father.
As the urn broke, something inside me collapsed.
A buzzing filled my skull, and the world fell completely silent.
The first time, it was a truck that hurled her tiny body into the air.
This time, it was her biological father who destroyed what was left of her form.
So it turns out—
a person can die twice.
Once in the body.
Once in the soul.
