I wanted to claw through the window and snatch it back.
"Give it to me!" I gritted my teeth, fists clenched so tightly my nails dug into my palms.
William finally noticed something was wrong. "Lilah, stop messing around."
Lilah pouted, pretending to be upset, but in the next moment, her hand loosened and the pendant slipped.
I lunged forward without thinking, my hands wrapping around that bitch's throat. Her shriek filled the cabin as she struggled against me. The commotion made the cabin creak and sway, the sound vibrating through the air.
Her face turned red, then purple.
"Enough!" William pried my hands away and pulled me into his arms, locking me down. My strength was no match for his, so I screamed and struggled, sinking my teeth into his arm.
He groaned, veins bulging from the pain, but he still didn't let go.
Lilah coughed, rubbing her neck. "I didn't... mean it! she whined weakly.
But whether she did it intentionally didn't matter anymore. I had already lost.
I lost my husband's love. I lost my child. And now, I had lost my mother's pendant.
I knew Lilah wanted me to break down and cry. But I wouldn't give her that satisfaction.
I gritted my teeth and endured it all, and somehow, I wasn't afraid of heights anymore.
The moment the Ferris wheel stopped, I bolted out, stumbling as I rushed toward the area where the pendant might have fallen.
The grass was thick and damp. To find anything, someone would need to crouch down and comb through it.
But I couldn't crouch with my bulging belly. So I dropped to the ground, hands scraping through the grass.
William pulled me up and carried me a few steps away. "Stop looking."
I couldn't help yelling at him. "That was my Mom's pendant! That's all I have left of her!"
He stilled, silent for a moment, then sighed. "I'll find it for you."
Rolling up his sleeves, he knelt on the wet ground and began searching. His pant legs quickly soaked through, streaked with mud and clinging blades of grass.
I sat nearby, the damp seeping into my clothes.
Lilah walked over, smiling cruelly as she loomed above me. "How does it feel to lose something you care about?"
Her voice sharpened. "You killed my brother. I'll make sure you lose everything you hold dear!"
I didn't look at her.
"I'm sorry about your brother," I said quietly, "but I didn't kill him."
Lilah's mouth opened to retort, but she fell silent the moment she saw William approaching.
He was disheveled—covered in grass, sweat streaking his face. In his hand, he held the emerald pendant.
I stared, stunned. After falling from such a height, it hadn't broken.
He handed it to me, and I ran my fingers over its familiar ridges before quickly putting it back around my neck.
But then, a scream tore through the air.
I looked up.
The Ferris wheel cabin above us was plummeting straight down. It grew larger and larger in my vision.
From the corner of my eye, I saw William grab Lilah, pulling her to safety.
Everything happened so fast that there was no time for me to react.
With a loud band, the cabin crashed onto the ground beside me.
I... was... almost dead.
I froze.
When I finally came back to my senses, my hand flew to my chest. The pendant had shattered.
William rushed over and gathered me into his arms. "Emberly! I'm so sorry! I didn't— I didn't protect you!"
My trembling fingers reached for the shards of emerald scattered across the ground. I picked up each piece, desperate to fit them back together. But it was beyond repair.
Mom didn't lie to me. The pendant really protected me.
Emerald pendant, Emerald pendant… how could you be so cruel?
Are you going to leave me and follow my mom too?
Why didn't you take me? If I could trade places, I wouldn't mind dying instead.
But if you leave, who will love me?
The anger in my chest suddenly dissipated, and tears streamed down my face uncontrollably.
William wiped my tears. "Emberly, don't cry. I'll get it fixed. I promise. I'll find someone who can repair it."
I looked at him through my tears, blurry and distant. His eyes were red, too.
William was a contradiction—someone who could abandon me so easily, yet just moments ago had knelt in the mud to search for a broken piece of my past.
He even carried me to a bench nearby and sat me down.
"Your clothes are soaked. I'll buy you something new. Wait here for me," William said.
He glanced at Lilah. "Please look after her until I come back."
Lilah should've been thrilled by everything that had happened, but she wasn't smiling. Her eyes burned with anger as she stared at me.
"I... I just can't understand why you're still alive by now. Why won't you just die?!" she spat. "Your parents are dead—why didn't you go with them?"
I stayed silent, staring at the broken pendant in my palm.
Lilah noticed and suddenly burst into a scoff.
I struggled to stand, my legs still weak, but she grabbed my arm, pulling me back as her gaze followed William's retreating figure.
"Want to play a game with me?" she sneered. "Let's see which one of us matters more to him."
A bad feeling surged through me. Before I could react, Lilah shoved me—hard. My lower back hit the sharp edge of the bench's armrest, and pain exploded through me. I collapsed to the ground.
She let out a theatrical scream and fell down beside me, pretending to be hurt.
William came running back, his face filled with panic. Before he could reach me, Lilah's voice cut through the air.
"William! Someone knocked me down—my ankle hurts so much!"
I was in too much pain to speak, and I felt myself slipping away. In a trance, I felt someone's hands carrying me to a car.
The next thing I heard was the blaring sound of sirens, then the murmur of voices as paramedics surrounded me.
William tried to follow, but Lilah clung to him, and in that moment of hesitation, I was already being wheeled away.
In the ambulance, I murmured to the doctor, "I scheduled an abortion… I want to proceed."
It was the same doctor from that night I scheduled it. "We'll prepare the procedure. Sign here," he said.
I picked up the pen just as William burst through the hospital doors.
"Emberly! What are you signing?"
I looked up at him weakly. "I'm having an abortion."
