“Emily, don’t make things difficult for me today!” Daniel’s face darkened the moment he saw me.
The anger and hatred I’d been holding back finally burst out. “Your idea of ‘difficult’ is having an affair with the aunt of the person who murdered our daughter, right in front of Lily’s grave?”
Vanessa stood nearby, completely indifferent, a cruel smirk playing at the corner of her lips.
Daniel’s voice snapped like a whip. “It’s all your fault. If it weren’t for you, my daughter wouldn’t have died!”
His words hit me like knives. “Because of your selfishness, you killed your own daughter. Are you satisfied now?”
He pushed me down hard, knocking my wheelchair over onto my broken legs. I struggled to lift my head, fists clenched in defiance.
“Who exactly killed Lily, Atty. Harvey? Are you really sure?” I challenged him.
Daniel froze for a moment, a flicker of guilt passing through his eyes. “You are the murderer. It’s because you tried to scam people and were exposed online that my daughter fell into depression and jumped off that building.”
His blind defense of Vanessa’s niece—the true culprit who pushed Lily down the stairs—felt like a punch to my gut. He’d slandered me and my grandfather, extorted money from the Blake family, and refused to see the truth.
“Why am I being cyberbullied? Where’s the proof that my daughter was bullied or depressed? If something happened, there must be evidence—I will find the truth,” I vowed through clenched teeth.
Daniel glared at his daughter’s tombstone and spat venomously, “You destroyed yourself and killed your own daughter. Now you want to pin it all on me?”
Watching him deny reality so completely, I vomited a mouthful of blood.
He instinctively tried to help me up, but Vanessa’s cold voice stopped him.
“Ms. Carter, you’re worthy of being an entertainment reporter with your acting skills,” she sneered.
Daniel’s tone turned icy. “What are you pretending for? You indirectly killed my two children! I haven’t even cried yet.”
“Open your eyes, Daniel, and look!” I shouted, pulling up a video on my phone. I held it in front of them.
“This was sent to me by Lily’s classmates. Watch what she went through before she died.”
He snatched the phone and watched helplessly as the video showed Lily being forced to drink toilet water, beaten on the rooftop until bruised, and tormented in every possible way.
His face went pale, and he staggered back in disbelief.
But Vanessa stepped forward, snatched the phone, and deleted the video without hesitation.
“Don’t fool yourself with AI-generated images. You’re just angry at Daniel for loving me, so you want to blame me and my family,” she taunted.
Daniel, regaining composure, said coldly, “I’ve watched all the school surveillance footage. How could I be fooled so easily?”
I smiled bitterly, tears blurring my vision. He chose to believe only what fit his narrative.
Vanessa’s eyes glittered with devilish delight. “Daniel, I gave you time to deal with her, but you failed. Given your ex-wife’s stubbornness, she’ll cause trouble sooner or later.”
“It’s nearly time for the company to go public. You don’t want all your efforts to go to waste.”
She pulled a small pill from her bag and handed it to Daniel.
“Are you sure this medicine has no side effects?” he asked hesitantly.
“Don’t worry.”
He took the pill with a decisive nod and pinched my chin sharply.
“Take it obediently. We’re divorced, but I’ll still be responsible for you and Grandpa. I’ll make sure you have food and clothing for the rest of your life.”
I stared at him, searching for any shred of humanity left.
“No, Daniel, please don’t do this,” I begged.
“You must take it,” he insisted, forcing my mouth open and trying to shove the pill down my throat.
Years of love and memories were shattered in that moment.
Without hesitation, I bit down hard on his hand. Blood mixed with my tears as it trickled down his wrist.
Vanessa panicked and pulled him away quickly, inspecting his hand.
“You’re a mad dog biting randomly—how dare you hurt him!” she scolded.
Despite his protests, Vanessa unleashed a frenzy on me, punching and kicking like a maniac.
“Happy now? You’re about to become a real lunatic! No matter what you say, no one will believe you anymore.”
“You’re all talk. Let’s see how you prove you’re sane in a mental hospital!”
After exhausting herself, Vanessa grabbed Daniel.
“Let’s go to the hospital. The wound’s too deep.”
I turned my head, scratched my throat, and spat out the medicine.
I hadn’t taken revenge yet—I wouldn’t end up locked away in a mental hospital.
“Send him there, then,” Vanessa ordered the bodyguards. “Let the doctors take care of him.”
Daniel didn’t even glance at me as he followed her.
I was dragged to a car, my hands bound, and thrown into the back seat.
“You two stay with the young lady,” the driver said to the bodyguards. “I’ll handle this one.”
Then, the driver knocked me unconscious with a swift elbow.
In my fading dream, my parents wore military uniforms, waving goodbye as they marched off.
In the blink of an eye, I saw my grandfather on his hospital bed, tears streaming down his face.
“Your parents died for the country, and your grandfather fought on the battlefield, killed enemies. You shouldn’t be treated like this.”
The next moment, I saw my daughter again.
“Mom, it hurts so much!”
Pain ripped through me as I woke.
The car was pulling into my house.
The driver, seeing my shock, explained everything.
He used to be a lumberjack exploited by a cruel boss. Thanks to my report, he finally earned a fair wage.
Recognizing me, he decided to help.
“Go home, get money, and run away,” he said. “I’ll pretend you attacked me and buy you an hour.”
“I’m sorry, the Blake family is too powerful. This is all I can do.”
“One hour is enough,” I whispered, too tired to say more.
He helped me into the house.
Clinging to my last hope, I dug under Grandpa’s bed and pulled out a dusty box.
Wiping off the dust, I opened it and found medals and old military keepsakes.
Putting them on, I took a taxi and left quickly.
An hour later, I reached the military gate.
I crawled to the entrance on my knees.
Holding the medals high, I cried out:
“My parents were martyrs who died for our country. My grandfather was a soldier awarded for his bravery—yet he was paralyzed after a car accident and falsely accused of fraud.”
“My daughter was bullied to death at school. I was disabled and sent to a mental hospital against my will. Vanessa and Daniel colluded to destroy my family.”
“Now I ask: if the soldiers who defend our country are treated this way, is there any justice left in this world?”
As I knelt there, the driver calmly pulled out his phone and dialed Daniel.
“Atty. Harvey,” he said quietly, “Emily is at the army gate. She’s not crazy at all.”
