Chapter 2

“It was all because of Jason’s lies! You insane woman, you broke our daughter’s leg, and she died from a dangerously high fever! She was killed by you and that bastard!”

“Claire Bennett, you killed your own daughter with your own hands!”

Claire’s face froze for a moment before she viciously kicked me in the stomach.

I stumbled backward several steps and crashed heavily into the corner of the table.

The burning pain in my stomach completely tore away the last of my reason, and cold sweat broke out across my forehead.

“Dead, dead, dead! All you ever do is use death to scare people!”

“Do you think I’m stupid? How could you even come up with such a ridiculous excuse?”

“That brat has the same disgusting blood as you in her veins! You father and daughter disgust me! You’ll do anything to get what you want. You’re shameless!”

“Even if she’s dead, she has to crawl over here and apologize to Jason before she dies!”

At that moment, my heart felt as if it had been pierced by thousands of needles. The pain was beyond anything I could endure.

Nearly losing my mind, I screamed at the top of my lungs, “Then go see for yourself! Our daughter’s body is lying in a refrigerated drawer at the funeral home!”

Claire had never seen me so broken and out of control. She stood frozen for a moment, her red lips parting and closing without a word.

“Claire, my foot hurts so badly. I won’t be able to dance ever again, will I?”

Jason covered his ankle in pain. The moment Claire’s expression began to soften, her face darkened again, and she hurried anxiously to his side.

Then she suddenly looked at me.

“I remember you’re good at massage. Give Jason a massage right now.”

My head went “buzz.”

I stared blankly at the woman I had loved for five years, then suddenly laughed. Cold tears slid down my face.

Jason looked at me, barely able to hide his smugness as he raised an eyebrow. “Ethan, could you do that for me? I’ve been meaning to find a good masseur, but Claire probably doesn’t trust anyone else. She’s always said your hands are the best.”

I staggered to my feet and lowered my eyes, hiding every emotion inside me. Then I walked toward Jason one step at a time.

Under their contemptuous gazes, I suddenly grabbed the dining table and flipped it over.

“How dare you two! How dare you! My daughter is dead, so how can you sit here enjoying yourselves like this?”

Bowls and plates crashed across the floor. Oil splattered all over Claire and Jason, leaving them both in a miserable state.

I punched Jason out of his wheelchair and pinned him beneath me. I struck him again and again, and he was completely unable to defend himself.

Claire reacted and rushed forward, shoving me down with a dark expression before helping Jason back up.

“Hold this lunatic down!”

The bodyguards pressed me firmly to the floor until I was limp as a pile of mud. Claire grabbed my hair in fury and slapped me across the face, making my ears ring.

“What the hell is wrong with you? How dare you attack Jason!”

Still furious, she kicked me hard twice more. I let out a muffled groan of pain, and the prayer beads I had been clutching in my palm rolled onto the floor.

Claire casually picked them up and let out a disdainful laugh. “You even brought the beads that brat always wore to beg for sympathy. Do you really think you two are worthy of them?”

I suddenly realized what she meant, and my pupils contracted. “Don’t!”

The moment the words left my mouth, she yanked the prayer beads apart beneath my terrified gaze.

They broke into pieces.

The beads clattered all over the floor. Several even rolled beneath the dining table and became coated in grease.

I broke free from the bodyguards like a madman and crawled over in panic like a dog, carefully picking up the beads one by one.

I clutched them in my palm as if they were priceless treasures, my eyes filled with grief. “Don’t be afraid, Sophie. Don’t be afraid…”

Claire stared at me, her expression extremely ugly. After a long silence, she forced the words out through clenched teeth.

“Take this lunatic outside and make him kneel. Let him come to his senses.”