Five Years Dead, She Still Wants Money

“Then why cancel the engagement party?”

“I told you—my knot of hate hasn’t been undone. I’ll never let it go.”

“Don’t worry. I won’t make you wait long.”

In the crowd, whispers spread.

“Feels like Ms. Carter isn’t really here to get engaged—she just wanted to use it as an excuse to force her ex to appear.”

“You think so too?”

“Of course. That bastard deserved death. No sympathy for his mother either.”

“Sigh, whether god or devil, no one escapes love. Same for us mortals.”

My soul followed the path where they carried my unconscious mother. Emily immediately called for her family doctor to resuscitate her.

“She can’t die yet—I haven’t forced him to come out. Save her.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

Emily stood outside, lighting a cigarette, sadness leaking through her eyes before it hardened into bottomless hatred.

“Ethan Brooks, you’re truly cruel—even to your own mother. That’s why you kicked me away like trash when I was hurt.”

She glared out at the city lights. “I don’t believe you’ll keep hiding. Just wait—I’ll be harsher than you. When I find you, I’ll break your leg. Let’s see how you like it.”

I stood behind her, sighing at her unyielding back.

Was this lingering affection—or a cursed bond reigniting?

I remembered five years ago, when she had nearly died saving me from being hit by a car. Even before her wounds had healed, she came to me, but I slammed the door in her face.

She had cried outside, begging me not to leave her, promising she wouldn’t drag me down.

I hired a woman to stage an act with me, taunting her: “You’re crippled, what courage do you have to say you won’t be a burden?”

She clung to my leg, refusing to leave, until I kicked her away and she fainted.

My chest clenched painfully as I watched her carried into the ambulance. That was the last time I saw her alive. I only wanted her to survive, even if she hated me.

But now, not finding me, she turned her hatred onto my mother.

The next day, she brought my mother—fresh from resuscitation—to my home.

The house was bare, without anything of value.

Emily sneered. “Wasn’t he kept by some rich woman? Why do you live like this?”

My mother stayed silent, staring at my photo on the wall.

Emily snatched it down, smashing the glass, then tore the picture apart.

“No! That’s my last memory of Ethan. Please, don’t!”

“Don’t call me your daughter-in-law. Do you think your family deserves me?”

At that moment, a furious voice thundered through the door.

“Emily Carter, stop this right now!”

Emily froze, a flicker of joy flashing before it vanished. It wasn’t me.

It was my best friend, Daniel Ross, rushing in to lift my mother from the floor.