By the time I stepped back into the house, night had already swallowed the sky. Only a few weak lights glowed along the hallway. I had just crossed the middle of the foyer when I saw him standing there.
I didn’t even get the chance to speak.
His hand came out of nowhere. The impact was sharp and violent, snapping my head sideways before I could flinch. My shoulder slammed into the edge of the doorway, and a flash of white exploded behind my eyes. A heavy ringing filled my ears.
But my arms didn’t loosen.
I don’t know how they didn’t. Maybe muscle memory. Maybe instinct. All I knew was that I couldn’t let go. That fragile ceramic urn carried the last pieces of what I still was.
“Have you completely lost your mind?” Adrian shouted. His voice was so loud it made the glass by the staircase tremble. “How dare you disgrace my parents like that?”
I looked at him, stunned and silent.
“They told me every ugly detail,” he went on. “Said you spat in their tea. Said you threatened their lives under this roof. What kind of twisted woman does something like that?”
I didn’t even manage to shake my head before his palm struck me again. This time it landed harder. My neck jerked sharply to the side, and warm iron flooded my mouth. Blood. Still, I didn’t cry.
My skin burned.
My heart barely reacted.
“Adrian…” Elise called softly, her tone coated in false concern. “Please stop. She’s not worth hurting yourself over. Let her cool off. She’s probably just exhausted or emotional.”
He turned to her instantly, his expression shifting as if someone had flipped a switch. “Baby, don’t bother. She’s always been like this. Playing the victim. Twisting every situation so she looks innocent.”
Then, with a nod like he’d proven a point, he added, “You’ve always been too gentle with her. That’s why she thinks she can keep crossing lines.”
Elise shrank back like a delicate porcelain doll, pressing against the wall. But her eyes kept darting toward me with quiet satisfaction, like I was something stuck to the sole of her shoe.
Noah sat sprawled on the couch, his headphones hanging loosely around his neck, one side slipping off. His music still played faintly in the background. He didn’t mute it. He didn’t ask a single question. He just grinned, like this scene was free entertainment.
None of the servants moved.
They lingered near the dining room entrance, whispering behind their hands.
“She’s still clutching the urn…”
“She didn’t even fight back…”
“Look at her… she’s barely alive anymore.”
“I heard she went to the ocean today. Alone. With the boy’s ashes.”
I didn’t respond.
I didn’t have the strength left.
Then Adrian’s gaze dropped to my arms. To the pale urn cradled like a newborn.
“What is that?” he asked flatly, as if it were nothing more than a grocery bag. Before I could step away, he yanked it from my grasp.
“No,” I said, too slow to matter.
He examined it with open disgust. “You seriously carried this around in public?” he scoffed. “What is wrong with you? Another one of your pathetic little stunts for attention?”
He gave it a small shake.
My stomach twisted violently. My fingers curled tight at my sides.
“An urn?” he mocked. “Who died this time? Your pride?”
Behind him, Elise let out a soft, hidden laugh, turning her face as if she were trying to conceal it. Noah snorted quietly, still watching like a bored spectator.
My lip throbbed. Blood had dried there. My face burned. But my voice came out steady.
“Give it back to me.”
He lifted it higher. “Why?” he taunted. “Who is it supposed to be? You collecting ashes now?”
I met his stare without blinking.
“It’s Milo,” I said.
The air vanished.
The room fell dead silent.
Adrian’s cruel grin vanished.
Elise froze.
Noah blinked once and turned his eyes away.
Nobody spoke.
Adrian stared down at the urn in his hands again. His grip loosened slightly—but no apology followed. No word came out.
I just stood there.
Hollow.
Shattered.
Waiting to see whether he would return my son to me…
or destroy the last thing I had left.
Then the urn hit the floor.
I didn’t even get time to move.
I heard the crack first—that sick, sharp snap of breaking ceramic. Then came the burst. Ash exploded outward like dust caught in sudden wind. But it wasn’t dust.
It was Milo.
My child.
What was left of him scattered across the marble as if he had never been loved, never been cradled, never been mine.
I screamed.
The sound tore out of someplace deep inside me, from a part I thought had already died. My knees buckled. I collapsed to the floor. My hands moved on their own, desperately gathering what they could—ashes, fragments of bone, broken pieces of the urn—all mixed beyond separation.
My fingers shook so violently they didn’t feel like mine anymore. My nails scraped against the tile, cut into the sharp shards. I didn’t feel the pain yet.
Only the void.
I heard him behind me—Adrian—breathing calmly. Watching me like I was something broken he regretted stepping near.
“Stop screaming like someone just murdered you,” he said coldly. “You’re not the victim here.”
I couldn’t lift my head. My hands kept scooping blindly. Tears drowned my vision. Something inside me fractured again.
He kept talking, loud and merciless.
“The hospital sent an update this morning,” he said. “Milo’s fine. Awake. Sitting up. Smiling in his bed. The doctor even sent pictures.”
I stared down at my palms. Ash clung beneath my nails, smeared across my skin, packed into the cracks of the floor.
“You lied,” Adrian accused as he stepped closer. “You actually pretended he was dead just to get sympathy? You’re more twisted than I ever imagined.”
“H-he’s gone,” I whispered. “I was holding him… I felt him stop breathing.”
It was like speaking into stone.
Elise drifted around from behind him, soft and gentle like a dying flower that had learned how to poison. She crouched beside Adrian and rested her hand on his arm, her voice low and trembling with fake sorrow.
“Maybe she hates me, Adrian,” she said quietly. “Maybe she wanted me to hurt. Maybe that’s why she said he died—just to frighten me.” Her eyes slid toward the ashes. Her lips tightened in a practiced shiver. “Maybe someday that’ll be me,” she whispered. “Dust on the floor. Forgotten. Thrown away.”
Then she began to cry.
Loud, dramatic sobs that felt more like a performance than grief. She clutched her chest and leaned against the couch as if her heart were breaking. Noah watched in silence—until she reached for him.
