"My child isn’t dead! Where are you taking her? Give her back to me!"
I screamed until my voice broke.
"Let go of my daughter! I want to take her home—I want to take her home!"
My mother-in-law clung to me from behind, sobbing as she tried to hold me back.
“Ethan, please... I know you’re in pain. Let the child rest. Let her go in peace...”
Several men rushed forward to restrain me. As my grip finally slipped from the hearse’s door handle, it drove away. I stood frozen, watching it disappear into the distance until the car was nothing more than a speck. My legs gave out. Darkness swallowed me whole.
---
When I opened my eyes again, I was lying in the Sinclair family’s old house. My mother-in-law was sitting at my bedside, her eyes red and swollen.
She wiped her tears quickly when she saw me awake. I tried to smile, but my lips trembled.
“Mom... please,” I whispered. “Let me go. I have nothing left.”
She was stunned for a moment, then her face softened with quiet resolve.
“…Alright. I’ll talk to your father.”
As she left the room, I couldn’t hold it in anymore. I turned away, covered my eyes with the back of my hand, and broke down.
---
I came to the Sinclair family when I was ten. Back then, my father and Rachel’s father had built their business empire together. They were closer than brothers.
But everything fell apart when my parents were targeted by business rivals. Overnight, I became an orphan. It was Rachel’s father who took me in and raised me like his own.
He once told me that without my father, the Sinclair family wouldn’t exist. He also said the one thing he regretted in life was not being there in time to save my parents.
I can’t deny it—both he and my mother-in-law treated me better than their own child.
So even after marrying Rachel, no matter how cruel or cold she was, I stayed. I did the housework. I raised our daughter. I endured everything—for the sake of the family that raised me.
All I ever wanted was to protect my daughter.
Now even she’s gone.
---
I don’t know how much time passed before my mother-in-law returned. She stood in the doorway, her voice gentle.
“Your father wants to see you.”
I walked to the study. My father-in-law sat there, staring at a framed photo of Rachel. When he heard me enter, he quickly wiped the tears from his face.
He turned toward me, eyes filled with sorrow.
“Child… your mother told me everything. All these years, it’s our Sinclair family—and Rachel—who failed you.”
He paused.
“The cremation is tomorrow. After it’s over, if you want to leave, you have my blessing. That girl... she’s not worthy of you. Not after what she’s done.”
I bowed deeply, saying nothing. Tears streamed down, falling onto the polished floor.
I will always be grateful to the Sinclair family for raising me. But Rachel? I’ll never forgive her. Never again will I call myself her husband.
My father-in-law sighed heavily.
“Go rest, son. Things will get better... somehow.”
---
When I returned to the bedroom, the last person I wanted to see walked in—Rachel.
She glanced at me with a sneer.
“What? Came running back to the old house to cry to my parents already?”
She crossed her arms and smirked.
“Ethan, do you really think that sucking up to them will make me give in to you?”
Then her voice dropped, full of mockery.
“I don’t get it—since my mom loves you so much, why don’t you just be her toy? I wouldn’t even mind calling you stepdad. And my dad? Hell, he treats you like a brother already. Why not make it official?”
