Meridel’s POV
The scene descended into chaos.
Milton, still vigorous for his age, kicked me hard and sent me sprawling.
Emerson held her blood-smeared aunt steady while glaring at me.
“Are you out of your mind?! Aunt Schandra came here with good intentions, and you treat her like this instead of thanking her!” he barked.
‘Thank her?’ I thought, stunned.
The murderer inflicted a secondary harm on her victim, and I, the only family member present, was supposed to be fucking grateful?!
Enid clapped a hand to her aunt’s chest, her eyes rimmed red.
“Mom, you’re being absolutely ridiculous! If anything happens to Aunt Schandra, we definitely won’t let you off!” she snarled.
The murderer only suffered an injury. And yet, my husband and my children had lost all composure over her and even lashed out at me.
Was that what they called being reasonable?
I coughed up a mouthful of blood and fixed my gaze on Schandra.
That murderer should be the one to thank me. I’d been exhausted and off my aim these past two days. If not for that, that shard of glass would’ve found her carotid.
The farewell ceremony ended hastily. Afterwards, I forced myself to the hospital.
The doctor flipped through the scans. “Two broken ribs. They’ll need to be stabilized for healing. Do you have any family with you?”
When I thought of Milton and our two children, my heart went cold.
“No, I don’t have any family,” I answered flatly.
I managed my wounds alone and collected my own prescriptions.
As I was leaving, Milton’s voice reached me like an accusation.
“Meridel?! You actually followed Schandra to the hospital?! Perfect timing! She nearly didn’t make it because of you. Go to her now and apologize!” he ordered.
With that, he grabbed my arm and dragged me straight into Schandra’s hospital room.
Emerson and Enid were there, attending her with solicitous concern.
A stranger would have thought Schandra was their real mother.
Emerson frowned. “Dad, why did you bring her here? She stabbed Aunt Schandra deep enough!”
Enid put up both of her hands in a protective gesture. “If you lay a finger on Aunt Schandra, I’ll disown you as my mother!” she threatened.
These were the children I had carried for ten months and raised despite the challenges.
Seeing them turn against me, I felt nothing but a coldness that reached my bones.
‘Thank goodness,’ I thought, ‘I’ll leave them soon and start a new life.’
“Had I known you couldn’t tell right from wrong, I should’ve left you to die in the desert!” I snapped.
That remark set the twins off into furious shouting.
“How dare you say that! If you hadn’t insisted on suing Aunt Schandra, would we have had to suffer there, huh?” one of them spat.
“You were the one making trouble for no reason and dragging us into this! You should count yourself lucky we haven’t come for you!” the other snapped.
Making trouble for no reason? I couldn’t believe my ears.
“She killed your cousin, the only blood left of your uncle! Carolee’s the one you treated as a sister when you were young!” I cried.
But my son’s expression only grew more contemptuous. “That kind of woman slept around with men. Good riddance! If you want to stir up trouble for her, go ahead, but don’t drag us down with you!”
My daughter echoed him. “Exactly. She wasn’t married yet and got pregnant—was that a decent woman? Aunt Schaundra was just trying to introduce Carolee to some suitable men so her baby would have a father. That niece of yours was the one who wanted attention and seduced those men! She got what she deserved!”
Carolee’s husband’s identity had been kept secret; they had to marry in private.
Who would have thought my own family would use that to slander Carolee?
The fact that Schandra could speak such clumsy lies and that they would believe them was unbearable.
I snapped. One hard slap landed on my daughter’s face.
“You’re a woman yourself! How can you speak of Carolee like that?!”
Enid pressed her trembling fingers to her cheek and retorted, “If she was that bold, why would she be scared about what people say? There are worse things online than what I say!”
It hit me then—Schandra’s posts were still spreading; the whole internet was condemning my niece.
I snapped my head to Schandra.
“Delete those posts now, Schandra, or I’ll kill you!” I warned.
She just smiled faintly. “I can delete them. Sure. But you put me in this state, Meridel. Don’t you think you owe me something?”
“What do you want?” I asked.
She answered coldly, “Kneel, apologize, and beg me.”
Her demand was absurd, but no one objected.
Milton even said, “Schandra’s too kind. She didn’t make you pay tenfold.”
My children egged me on. “What are you waiting for? Hurry up! Apologize and get out! Do you want us to make you do it?”
My brother had entrusted his daughter to my care before he died.
While she was alive, I couldn’t protect her; after she died, I couldn’t even preserve her reputation.
Overcome by humiliation and guilt, I burst into tears.
Under their cruel stares, I slowly sank to my knees.
With a dull thud, my knees hit the floor. In an instant, pain lanced through them.
“Please… delete the posts,” I begged.
Schandra’s expression brightened with satisfaction. “What did you say? I can’t hear you. Besides, I told you—get down on your knees and beg.”
Pride mattered, but I had already failed my brother and my niece.
If begging could recover a shred of decency for them, I would do it.
I clenched my hands until my palms hurt as I bent forward.
When Emerson and Enid watched me lower myself like that, their voices grated like fingernails on glass.
“You should’ve done this earlier.”
“Beg twice more. Let it make up for the slap you gave me.”
My recently treated ribs ached fiercely, but the pain was nothing compared to the torment in my chest.
I closed my eyes and lowered my head, begging, “Please… Please delete those posts…”
