The Debt of a Borrowed Heart

Winnie turned around and walked out of the hospital.

On the day the doctors issued the critical condition notice for my mother, she deliberately brought my father back to the ward one last time.

His spine had been shattered in a car accident long ago. Confined to a wheelchair, he could only stare helplessly through the glass at his wife struggling on the hospital bed.

They had grown up together, school uniforms to wedding gowns. They were lovers for an entire lifetime.

However, all my father could do was weep and beg.

"Please… Let me go in and see her one last time…"

Winnie crossed her arms and looked at him with thinly veiled amusement.

"Do you really think that's possible? Don't look at me with so much hatred. If you want to blame someone, blame Andy.

"If he had the guts to show himself, your wife wouldn't be dying, and you wouldn't be crippled. That precious son of yours… He's nothing but a selfish coward."

My father's eyes reddened, something inside them shattering completely.

Suddenly, the heart monitor let out a piercing alarm.

The red line that marked life flattened into a straight, merciless line.

My mother stopped struggling. Her bitter, absurd life finally came to an end.

"No!"

My father wailed, his grief breaking through at last.

He roared hoarsely, "Andy is already dead! How is a dead man supposed to come looking for you?!"

Winnie slapped him hard across the face as her eyes burned with vicious fury.

She sneered, "The Warren family really are a bunch of liars. You'd even make up something like that.

"Go tell Andy he has three days to kneel in front of me and apologize. Otherwise, I guarantee he'll never see his daughter again."

I thought my heart had long since gone numb, incapable of feeling anything.

However, hearing those words, my entire being trembled.

Six years as a wandering soul… I had almost forgotten.

My father stared at her in disbelief.

"Have you lost your mind? Winfrey is only six years old!"

When I first learned that Winnie was pregnant, I was so happy I could barely contain myself.

I flipped through dictionaries and poetry collections, searching for the perfect name. In the end, I told her that if it was a girl, we should call her Winfrey.

Winnie complained that daughters and mothers should not sound alike, but she could not hide the smile tugging at her lips.

However, after I betrayed her, every tender memory became evidence of my guilt.

The woman I fell in love with, the mistress, was named Fiona Lockhart.

I named the child I had with her Vinni Lockhart.

When Winnie realized that my love for her had long since rotted away, she came to hate Winfrey as well, especially since Winfrey began to resemble me more and more.

Just the thought of Winfrey's face made Winnie nauseous.

She abandoned my father and turned away without another glance.

Back at the Sage family villa, Desmond Doss greeted her with a smile.

He was her new boyfriend, the one who had beaten out countless others to enter her heart. He was the only comfort she had allowed herself over the past six years.

Guilt flickered across Desmond's face.

"Winfrey bullied Nix earlier, so I locked her in the basement. You won't blame me, will you?"

Nix was the puppy they had adopted together.

Winnie paused briefly, then waved it off.

"It's fine. She's so young and already that vicious, so she deserves to be taught a lesson.

"If she dies, so be it. Andy's wretched kid. I feel disgusted just looking at her."

Her eyes suddenly lit up.

"Perfect. I'll bring his old man over and make him watch the little witch die. Then he'll finally be willing to tell me where Andy is, right? That little wrench is Andy's biological daughter, after all."

My heart felt like it was being shredded to pieces.

I screamed soundlessly. 'Winnie, she's your child too!'

However, Winnie had already lost herself completely.

She left young Winfrey locked in the basement, starving for days, before finally dragging my father to the basement door.

She said coldly, "Your granddaughter is inside. Either your son comes crawling out, or you stand here and watch your granddaughter starve to death."