I Ruined My Mother's Killer

When I woke up, the room was completely silent.

There was no medicine. No clean clothes. Not even a hint of sunlight came through the windows.

I tried to sit up, but the untreated wounds all over my body burned with sharp pain, as if they were tearing open again.

I could not die. If I died, my mother would lose her treatment. I sucked in a breath and forced myself to change out of my dirty clothes.

Suddenly, Andrew stumbled in. He reeked of alcohol.

I tried to get up and move away instinctively, but my legs refused to cooperate, and I collapsed back down. The next second, a burning hand grabbed my wrist. Andrew’s tall body pressed me down. There was no tenderness. No gentleness. He simply ripped at my maid’s uniform.

“Ella…”

He said my name, but there was no care in his touch. It felt like he was only venting his anger, so I struggled with all my strength.

“Andrew, are you crazy? Let me go!”

He ignored me and pressed his face against my neck. A strong rose scent filled my nose. It was Sophia’s favorite perfume. My stomach churned, and the nausea grew stronger than my fear.

“Bleh—ugh!”

I pushed him away without thinking. I hit the carpet and gagged.

The room fell silent again. Andrew went still at the edge of the bed. His face turned dark. He fixed his wrinkled collar and looked at me with a cold, threatening stare.

“You think I’m dirty?”

I was still gagging. I did not even have the strength to explain.

He gave a short, mocking laugh and stepped on my back.

“What are you pretending to be so pure for? Back then, you were willing to kill me for five million from the Rossi family heir, Mark Rossi. You even took the blame for him for five million. I told you I would become the Don one day. Forget five million. I would have given you fifty million! And how did you repay me? For a little money, you went to prison. You went as far as selling yourself. Those three years in prison, how many men did you have? Do you expect me to believe you fought them off like this too?”

Each word felt like a knife stabbing into my heart.

“I told you. I didn’t.”

Three years ago, I gave him the same explanation over and over.

But Andrew never believed me.

Or maybe he simply refused to believe me. I looked at the face in front of me. It was so familiar, yet it felt completely strange. This was the man I had loved for ten years.

“If you think I’m dirty, then don’t touch me.”

“You think I want to? Sophia is pregnant. I don’t want to hurt her or our child. I came to you just to blow off some steam.”

I froze.

So he was worried about their child. His words felt like needles piercing my heart. The pain spread until I could barely breathe.

“Be smart. Otherwise, your mother is in the hospital…”

Andrew did not finish the sentence, but I understood. He always followed through on his threats.

So I stopped fighting.

I even slid my arms around his waist and forced myself to respond to him.

What once made our love burn brighter had turned into nothing more than a cold exchange. We each took what we wanted.

Later that night, after Andrew left, I dragged a metal box out from under the bed.

At the very bottom, I found a dull stainless steel ring.

Andrew had made it for me himself a few years ago.

“Ella, I swear on my family’s name. When I reach that position, I’ll replace this with the biggest diamond ring.”

His teenage promise still echoed in my ears. But the boy who swore he would love me for life was gone. I clenched the ring and limped to the artificial lake on the estate.

Without hesitation, I threw it toward the center of the water.

There was a soft plunk.

It disappeared into the darkness without a ripple.

Goodbye, Andrew.