Chapter 2

In the morgue, I looked at the hospital bed covered with a white sheet, unable to find the courage to approach.

The staff member urged from the side: "Please identify the body."

I took a deep breath, my hand trembling as I lifted a corner of the white sheet.

My mother's face was peaceful, as if she were just sleeping.

But I knew she would never wake up again, never smile and call me "Lena" again.

Tears finally broke through. I collapsed to my knees by the bed, crying until my heart broke.

During these three days, Kieran didn't make a single phone call. Of course not—he was with his beloved. How could he remember this eyesore of a wife?

I stood at the payment counter, ready to pay the funeral expenses, when I received a bank message.

[Dear customer, your bank card has been frozen. Current available balance: 0.]

Behind me stretched a long line. Everyone looked at me strangely.

It was Kieran. He always kept his word.

In that moment, I felt like a clown stripped naked, exposed before everyone's eyes.

I dialed Kieran's number. It rang for a long time before being answered. In the background, I could hear Iris's coquettish laughter.

"Kieran, you froze my card?"

"Oh? Finally remembered?" His voice was lazy.

"Learn your lesson. Stop talking about divorce at every turn."

"I need money for my mom's funeral. Just a thousand-dollar deposit is enough."

My voice was completely flat, humbly pleading.

Iris's voice came through the phone:

"Kieran, who is it? Is Miss Moore asking for spending money again?"

"I just saw this 'Heart of the Ocean' necklace I love. It's only ten million. Will you buy it for me?"

Kieran immediately soothed her gently:

"Of course. If you like it, buy it. It's fine, just a telemarketer."

Then he lowered his voice and said viciously to me:

"Selena, haven't you caused enough trouble? Still using your mother as an excuse?"

"A thousand dollars? What am I, a charity? Let me tell you, you're not getting a cent!"

"Get back here right now! Don't make me come get you myself!"

He hung up the phone.

I stood there holding the cold phone, wooden and still, my heart shattered beyond repair.

People behind me started getting impatient:

"Are you going to do this or not? If not, move aside!"

I retreated awkwardly to the side, looking at the sparse contacts in my phone, not knowing who to turn to.

Finally, I took off the bracelet from my wrist.

It was the only keepsake my mother left me, part of her wedding dowry from years ago.

I took it to a pawn shop.

With the money from pawning the bracelet and what little cash I had left, I finally paid all the fees and chose a burial plot for my mother.

Coming out of City Hall, the sky had completely darkened.

I held my mother's small urn, walking along the cold, empty street.

A black Bentley slowly stopped in front of me.

The window rolled down, revealing Kieran's stern face.

Beside him sat Iris, smiling sweetly.

He saw the urn in my arms, frowned deeply, his eyes full of undisguised disgust.

"Selena, you'll really do anything for money."

"Carrying around a box to put on a show for whom? Addicted to acting?"

Iris poked her head out, asking with feigned innocence:

"Kieran, what is that? Why is Miss Moore walking around the street holding a jar? How unlucky."

Kieran snorted coldly:

"She says her mother died. Putting on a show for me."

Iris covered her mouth, exclaiming exaggeratedly:

"Oh my God, Miss Moore, you're so inappropriate. How can you joke about your mother's health?"

"Kieran hates being lied to most of all."

She changed her tone, looking at the urn in my arms,

"But this prop looks quite realistic. Miss Moore, is there flour inside?"

Kieran was guided by her words. He pushed open the car door and snatched the urn from my arms.

"Let me see what's inside this prop of yours." He made to open it.

"No!" I lunged forward, trying to protect that small box.

"Kieran, give it back to me! That's my mother!"

"Give it back to you? So you can keep using this prop to scam money?"

He sneered, restraining me with one hand while holding the urn high with the other. Under Iris's entertained gaze, he violently smashed the urn on the ground!

With a dull thud, the box shattered into pieces. Gray-white ashes mixed with dust, scattered by the evening wind.

"Now you have no prop." He looked at me, his eyes cold as a knife.

"You want money, don't you? As long as you admit your mother isn't dead and this was all an act for money, I'll transfer you a million right now."

My world completely collapsed in that moment.

I looked at the ashes scattered on the ground, my mind blank.

That was my mother... my only mother...

I dropped to my knees like a madwoman, reaching out to catch those gray-white particles, but a gust of wind blew them away. Nothing remained.

Tears blurred my vision. I thought back to three years ago.

Back then, my mother was seriously ill. I was desperate. Kieran descended like a god, paying all the medical expenses for me.

"Lena, don't worry. With me here, your mother will be fine. I'll give you and your mother a home."

I thought I'd found salvation, so I married him without hesitation.

But I forgot that his heart already belonged to someone else—Iris.

After our marriage was announced, Iris, who was abroad, developed depression.

Kieran became convinced that I had used underhanded tactics to drive her away and then triggered her with our marriage.

From that point on, the tenderness in his eyes vanished completely, replaced by endless resentment and torment.

Now, he'd destroyed my last connection with his own hands.