Ruptured Loyalty, Revived Love

“Is this your new trick? Crying now?” Michael’s tone was dripping with provocation. “You failed to use Lily to threaten me, so now you’re just shedding fake tears?”

My chest tightened, anger rising like a wave. How dare he? How could he stand there, throwing accusations like that after everything? I wrenched my hand away from his grip, my voice shaking with rage. “Shut up! You don’t get to mention her name!”

Michael’s expression shifted to confusion and then anger. “Where is she? I haven’t seen Lily since yesterday!” he demanded, his gaze darting toward Lily’s room.

“Oh, so you’re just now noticing?” I snapped, rolling my eyes in frustration.

“You crazy woman! Where is she?” Michael’s voice rose in panic as he looked toward the direction of Lily’s room.

“I told you, she’s gone,” I said firmly.

Michael’s frustration reached a boiling point. He grabbed a maid and ordered her to bring Lily downstairs, but the maid just stood there, frozen, unable to meet his gaze.

Seeing that the maid wasn’t moving, Michael’s anger escalated. He stormed upstairs himself, searching Lily’s room. When he found it empty, with her things packed away as I had instructed, his face turned pale with shock.

“Where… Where’s she? Where’s Lily? Why is all her stuff gone?” he stammered, grabbing another nearby maid and shaking her for answers. The maid, clearly new and frightened, remained silent, unable to intervene in the family drama.

“Stop it! Let her go! She’s not going to answer you!” I yelled, my voice trembling with frustration. Michael’s gaze snapped back to me as he stormed down the stairs, his anger evident in every step he took.

“What’s this about? Where are her things? Where did you put her?” Michael demanded, looking more and more agitated.

I gave him a blank stare. Before I could say anything, Allison piped up, “Emma, you’re going too far. Don’t take Lily away from her father.”

The hypocrisy in her tone made me chuckle despite the situation. “Oh, please. Look at you, pretending to be all concerned. If you’re so eager to find her, go ahead and look yourself!”

Michael’s face reddened with anger. “Why are you only asking about her now? Where were you last week? Or yesterday? Where have you been her whole life?” I shot back, but he just pulled out his phone.

“My daughter is missing,” he barked into the phone. “Find out where she is now!” I crossed my arms and took a seat, trying to ignore the tension that was thick in the air. Michael paced the room while Allison glanced back and forth between us, clearly uncomfortable.

After a few minutes, Michael’s phone rang again.

He raised his phone to his ear, there was a voice coming from the other side of the phone, "Sir, your daughter died on her birthday due to an allergic reaction to nuts."

His eyes darted to mine, filled with horror and confusion. “No… No, that can’t be true. That’s… impossible,” he muttered, his voice barely audible now.

"It’s true," The person on the phone insisted, "Someone deliberately killed your daughter. The relevant evidence and suspect information have been sent to your email, please check."

When he opened the email attachment, it had a picture of Allison and a recording of the call where Allison directed everything.