The Sin That Can't Be Forgiven

My daughter was kidnapped in a painting class and Leo used all his force to finally find her in an abandoned warehouse. After waking up from danger, my daughter found that she was blind. As a child prodigy in painting, Josephine couldn't bear the blow. While I let my guard down for just a moment, she ran to the rooftop and jumped.

I lunged to save her, but I was too late. I ended up crashing onto the safety air cushion, unconscious. Leo rushed me to the operating room, crying as he pleaded beside me. "Evelyn, you can't die! Our daughter is already gone, I can't lose you too!"

When I woke up after the surgery, I received an anonymous email. With trembling hands, I opened the attached audio file. I heard Leo talking to his assistant. "Mr. Laughlin, there were other cornea donors available. Why did it have to be Miss Josephine's? She loved painting so much. Losing her sight was like a death sentence to her."

"So, what if she died? The only reason I let her be born in the first place was to save Henry. I raised her for years, asking for a pair of corneas in return isn't too much, is it? Besides, the doctor said a blood relative's corneas have the lowest chance of rejection. Henry is the apple of my and Evie's eye. I can't bear to let him suffer anymore!"

My heart clenched so hard it felt like it would stop. The man who once swore he couldn't live without me was the very person who killed my daughter. Meanwhile, my marriage, which I had always been so proud of, was nothing but a cruel joke.

——

Footsteps echoed outside my hospital room. I quickly put my phone back, shut my eyes and pretended to still be unconscious. Leo brushed my bangs aside and asked coldly, "Didn't they say her vitals were stable? Why isn't she waking up?"

The doctor hesitated before sighing. "Mr. Laughlin, she fell from a great height. She already had a severe concussion and on top of that, she just had a major mastectomy. The blood loss during surgery was extreme. It's normal for her to take a while to wake up."

Leo paused, then asked tentatively, "When she wakes up, you know what to say, right?"

The doctor nodded reluctantly but couldn't hide his unease. "Mr. Laughlin, she just lost her daughter. And now you've taken away her bosom for Ms. Evangeline's breast implants. Isn't that too cruel? What if she tries to hurt herself too?"

"Shut up!" Leo snapped. "You know human tissue implants are much safer and more natural than silicone. I promised Evie I'd fulfill all her wishes!"

Leo interrupted impatiently. "Don't worry, Evelyn is strong. She loves me too much to die. Oh and Evie hates pain. Give her plenty of painkillers, don't let her suffer."

Just then, his assistant, William, rushed in, whispering urgently in his ear. "Mr. Laughlin, Ms. Shaw has been crying nonstop. She says she's scared. Should we … "

Before he could finish, Leo grabbed the doctor and rushed out of the room, leaving without a backward glance. I was alone again, the steady beeping of the machines mocking my fragile sanity. Despite all my efforts, tears streamed down my face.

It turned out that my daughter's kidnapping and her blindness weren't an accident. It was all planned by my own husband just so his illegitimate son could see again. And while I lay broken and bleeding, he stole the most precious part of my bosom to please his mistress. My poor daughter. She was only five. A little girl who loved pretty things was driven to destroy herself.

The pain meds were wearing off now. A deep, searing agony spread through my chest. I glanced down and saw my torso tightly wrapped in layers of bandages. But even with them, I could still make out the two deep hollows where my chest used to be.