The day I walked out of prison, it was pouring. My husband drove me to the cemetery to visit our daughter's grave. Rain hammered the headstone. Jerome, a law professor, broke the silence without warning. "The security footage from the day Lily drowned. I had someone destroy it." I froze. I turned and met my son's eyes. Not a trace of guilt in them. "I testified that you abused her," Daniel said. "It was the only way to clear Vanessa's name." Over a thousand nights in that cell. None of them came close to what this truth did to me. Blood welled up in my throat. I grabbed Jerome by the collar. "What did I do to deserve this?" Daniel almost smiled. "Lily is dead. Is a pianist like Vanessa really going to rot in prison for this?" "You're just a housewife, Mom. A few years inside. What's the big deal?" Jerome pried my fingers loose one by one, his voice flat. "You were my wife, Claire. You had the name, the position, everything that mattered. Vanessa, whatever she gave me, whatever child she bore, she was never going to have that." "As long as you stay away from her and Pearl, I won't send you back to rot in prison." ...... I sank to my knees in front of my daughter's grave. Jerome bent down and brushed the wet hair from my face. "You brought this on yourself. You went digging into Vanessa." "So I arranged for someone to teach you a lesson." "I didn't expect them to go that far. I didn't know they'd leave you with a permanent injury." The sound of iron against bone rang through my head again. That day, I'd just found the first lead proving Vanessa had pushed Lily into the water. Before I could even feel relieved, a group of men had me pinned to the ground, driving a rod into my legs over and over. I dragged myself through the blood to the door. "Help me..." The footsteps in the hallway only walked away. Daniel glanced down at me sitting in the mud. "Stop playing the victim." "Vanessa had a recital coming up. You chose to go after her at the worst possible time." "Dad didn't want to do it. You forced his hand." My own child, speaking for the enemy. The last thread in my mind snapped. I hauled myself upright and slapped him hard across the face. Daniel stood frozen, his hand pressed to his cheek. Jerome lunged forward and shoved me away. "Claire. Don't you dare touch him." I hit the headstone hard. Blood and rainwater ran into my eyes and turned the world red. Two bodyguards dragged me to the car and back to the house. Jerome slid an adoption agreement across the table. "Pearl will be registered in your name." Pearl. Vanessa's daughter. The child she'd had with my husband. I swept everything off the table, my eyes burning. "You want me to adopt your mistress's child? Not a chance." "She killed Lily. I will never raise that girl." A ceramic shard split the back of my hand. Blood dripped onto the carpet. Jerome frowned and pressed his handkerchief to the wound. "Claire. Stop." "Accept Vanessa and Pearl. Show some grace." "You're still my wife. That position is yours. It will always be yours." My stomach turned. I yanked my hand away. Jerome's expression went cold. "You need to calm down." "When you're ready to talk, come find me." He walked out. The door slammed behind him. The room went quiet. Blood kept seeping from my hand, taking the last of the warmth in me with it. I took out my phone and bought a one-way ticket south. I was never coming back to this place.
Through the closed door, the maids' voices drifted in from the hallway. "Mr. Harlow really does spoil little Pearl. Tomorrow's adoption banquet is even bigger than the wedding was." "Young Master Daniel flew to Paris overnight just to commission her a custom diamond gown." I sat with my back against the cold wall, my phone screen casting pale light across my face. In prison, I'd run a fever of a hundred and three. I'd dragged myself on a broken leg and beat on the iron door all through the night. It turned out that same night, the TV had been looping news coverage of Jerome spending a fortune on Vanessa. The voices outside kept going. "Isn't tomorrow the anniversary of the young miss's death? Why would Mr. Harlow pick that day?" "Watch your mouth. Don't say 'young miss.'" "Tomorrow's banquet is being broadcast live across the whole city. From now on, there's only one daughter in this family." My thumbnail split my palm open. Blood welled up. On Lily's memorial day, Jerome was going to throw a celebration. Standing on the bones of his dead child, for his mistress's daughter. Not long after, the bedroom door opened. Jerome set a cup of warm milk gently on the nightstand. "Claire, I've contacted the top orthopedic specialist in Germany." "Your leg can still be repaired. I'll arrange the surgery for next week." He reached toward my hair. I knocked his hand away. The softness left his face. His voice went hard. "I do everything for you. I find you the best doctors." "Claire. How long are you going to keep this up?" I looked at him coldly. "You do everything for me? You had my leg broken." "You do everything for me? You covered for the woman who killed our daughter." Jerome sighed, his tone heavy with impatience. "You spoiled Lily. She was barely five and already screaming insults at grown women." "Vanessa barely touched her. Who could have known she'd fall into the lake?" "Vanessa has been torturing herself with guilt ever since. She's suffered enough." "You can't put all of this on her." Something tore in my chest, so sharp I could barely breathe. To defend a murderer, he was smearing a five-year-old child. I was eighteen when I collapsed to the ground, covered in blood. My father's body was at my feet. My mother had just slit her wrists beside him. Jerome burst in and held my trembling body tight. "Don't be afraid, Claire. I'll spend my life protecting you." Every word he'd ever said to me turned to ash. "Jerome. I want a divorce. I'll let you go." "All I'm asking for is Lily's ashes." Jerome went quiet. His expression grew darker and darker. Then he gave a cold laugh. "Divorce? Not a chance." "Tomorrow's banquet. You'll attend as my wife." "Refuse, and you will never find out where Lily's real ashes are." He let go and slammed the door behind him. I stumbled out of the room and stopped at a familiar door. I pushed it open. Designer gowns, a full wall of Hermès bags. Lily's desk, her toys, her bed. All gone. A huge portrait of Vanessa and Pearl hung on the wall. Limited-edition jewelry Jerome had given her was arranged on the vanity. This room had become their private dressing suite. "Like what you see?" Vanessa leaned in the doorway in a silk robe. "When that little brat was dying, she kept calling for you." "I held her under, again and again." "She fought for about five minutes before she went still. Her eyes were wide open at the end." My blood rushed straight to my head. I raised my hand and hit her with everything I had. Vanessa didn't move. She just smiled. A wave of dizziness hit me. Everything went black and I went down hard.
A bucket of ice water hit my face and I jolted awake. A bodyguard forced a dress over me and dragged me into the banquet hall. Under the blazing lights, every bit of my ruined state was on display. "That's the woman who killed her own daughter?" "How does she have the nerve to show her face? It's disgusting." "Poor Professor Harlow. Stuck with a crippled lunatic." Laughter came at me from every direction, each voice like a slap. Vanessa walked in holding Pearl's hand, glowing. She was wearing a white gown I recognized immediately. Jerome had given it to me the year his company turned its first profit. His first real gift to me. "Claire." Vanessa's eyes were soft, her voice gentle. "You've been through so much." I stared at that gown. My stomach turned over. Pearl suddenly ran at me and drove her heel hard into my injured leg. The pain exploded. I cried out and pushed her away. Pearl let herself fall and hit the floor, wailing. "What are you doing!" Daniel shoved through and scooped Pearl up. "Haven't you been in prison long enough? Now you're going after Pearl too?" Jerome grabbed my wrist. "This is an important occasion. I will not have you causing a scene." I wrenched free and moved toward the exit, dragging my leg. Vanessa's tears were already falling, her voice rising over the room. "Claire abused Lily, fine. But why take it out on innocent little Pearl?" "As Jerome's foster sister, it isn't my place to interfere. But I can't stand by and watch." "Pearl is just a child. How can you be so cruel?" She wept beautifully. Guests around her shook their heads. The screens at the front of the hall lit up. A group of reporters I'd never seen closed in around me. "Ms. Harlow, our sources indicate your father had a history of domestic violence and your mother killed him before taking her own life." "Is it possible you inherited your mother's violent tendencies? Is that what happened with your daughter?" Camera flashes strobed. Microphones pressed close to my face. I stood frozen, the noise drilling into my skull. Then I found my voice. "I was framed." "Vanessa is not his foster sister. She is his mistress." "Pearl is their illegitimate child. They killed my daughter and put me in prison to cover it up." The room went completely silent. Vanessa's face drained white. She swayed and nearly fell. Jerome reached out and steadied her, his arm going around her naturally. He looked out at the room with practiced calm. "Please forgive her. My wife has been unstable since her release. The trauma of incarceration." He turned and put his mouth close to my ear. "Apologize to Vanessa. Tell them you were jealous. Tell them you made it up." I looked straight ahead. "No." Jerome opened his phone. One message on the screen, already composed. Destroy the ashes. My whole body went cold. "Jerome. You're insane. That's your own daughter." "You won't do it. You won't." Jerome looked at me without expression and pressed send. "No!" I dropped to my knees. Tears came without warning. "I'm sorry. I was jealous of Vanessa. I lied about her." "I take it back. I apologize."
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