Eight years after my death, Liam bumped into our son selling trinkets under a highway overpass. It was the middle of a blizzard. My little boy’s face was beet-red from the cold, his tiny hands covered in painful chilblains. Furious, Liam grabbed Leo, roughly dusting the snow off his thin coat. "Where the hell is your mother? Letting you freeze out here all by yourself while she's probably off enjoying herself? I've never seen such an irresponsible parent in my life!" Leo had absolutely no memory of this man. He answered timidly, "My mommy isn't here anymore... Mister, are you going to buy something? I can give you a discount." Consumed by his own anger, Liam completely missed the implication of Leo's words. He let out a harsh, mocking laugh. "What, she's still holding a grudge, so she's purposely torturing my son to get back at me?" "If that's how it is, you don't need a mother like her anyway! Come with me. I'm taking you home!" Leo fought desperately to pull his arm free. "I don't know you! Don't you dare talk about my mommy like that! Let go, or I'm calling the cops!" Liam lost control, roaring at the top of his lungs. "I am your father! I'm your dad!" "Is this how Chloe raised you?! To disrespect your own flesh and blood?! How long is she going to keep this ridiculous grudge going?! Does she expect me to wait until she's dead for this to end?!" My soul floated nearby, desperately trying to push my son out of his grasp. But my hands just passed straight through Leo's body. I couldn't help but smile bitterly. Liam, I'm not holding a grudge. I'm just... dead. 1 Leo burst into terrified tears at the sight of the screaming stranger. But Liam’s rage only escalated. The more he yelled, the angrier he got. "Look at the clothes you're wearing! They're basically rags! It's ten degrees outside, and she lets you out in this?!" "What kind of mother is Chloe?! After the way she treats you, you're still defending her?!" Leo reached up with his trembling, frozen hands to wipe his tears. Liam quickly grabbed his wrist, roughly shoving his sleeve up. "Why are your hands covered in chilblains?! Where the hell is Chloe?!" "When we got divorced, she fought tooth and nail for custody, and this is how she raises you?! What good is she?! She might as well be dead!" I floated around them in an absolute panic, trying to explain. It wasn't that I didn't want to take care of Leo. I just couldn't. The coat Leo was wearing was already the thickest piece of clothing he owned. It was a hand-me-down from Mrs. Garcia's kid from last year. But no matter how loud I screamed, they couldn't hear a single word. Liam crouched down, wrapping his own expensive down jacket over my son's shoulders. He patiently explained that he was his biological father. It took a long time for the shock to wear off before Leo finally processed it. "So... if I have a dad now, does that mean I don't have to stay outside anymore?" Liam nodded firmly, taking Leo's hand to leave. Mrs. Garcia had just finished dealing with a customer at the neighboring stall. Seeing a strange man dragging Leo away, she rushed over. "Who the hell do you think you are?! Trying to kidnap a kid in broad daylight?!" "Let him go right now, or I'm calling 911!" "Help! Somebody help! He's taking the kid!" Liam's expression turned incredibly dark. "This is my son!" Mrs. Garcia planted her hands firmly on her hips, her face turning purple with rage. "Oh, so you're the cheating bastard who abandoned his wife and kid! How do you even have the nerve to show your face?!" "Leo doesn't need you! Get out of here!" She reached out to pull Leo back, but Liam, standing at six-foot-two, easily blocked her. "Is that what Chloe told you?!" "She turns my son into a starving street urchin, and I'm supposed to just leave him here? Taking my kid back is my right as a father!" "Let's see if the cops side with a random stranger or his biological dad!" Hearing him drag my name through the mud, Mrs. Garcia erupted. "Chloe is nothing like that!" "Then tell her to come out here and face me! Let's see if she has the guts to look me in the eye! My son's fingers are covered in frostbite. Does she even deserve to be called a mother?!" "It's not that Chloe didn't care! It's just that she's already—" Before she could finish, Liam scooped Leo up into his arms and walked swiftly away. "...She's already dead..." Mrs. Garcia stared at his retreating back, letting out a long, heavy sigh. "Chloe... I did the best I could for him. Maybe this is just fate..." Her eyes grew red, and the tears she couldn't hold back began to fall. I rushed over, frantically trying to wipe her tears away. My fingers phased right through her cheek. I gave a self-deprecating laugh. I keep forgetting that I'm not really here anymore. I know I have no right to blame her. She took care of Leo for eight years. She had gone above and beyond anything anyone could expect. Maybe Mrs. Garcia was right. Maybe this was fate. Without me, maybe Liam taking him in wasn't the worst thing in the world. At least he wouldn't freeze anymore... But I knew the kind of person living in Liam's house... 2 Liam buckled Leo into the passenger seat. With the heat blasting, the interior of the luxury SUV felt like an entirely different universe from the blizzard outside. Leo looked around with wide-eyed wonder. He hadn't been inside a car since the day he was born. A wave of intense guilt and regret washed over me. For the first time, I felt like maybe I shouldn't have fought so hard for custody. I was too selfish. Sitting in the driver's seat, Liam pulled a cigarette from his jacket. He brought it to his lips, but didn't light it. He just smelled the tobacco before sliding it back into the pack. I was genuinely surprised. When I was pregnant with Leo, I begged him to quit smoking, but he absolutely refused. It seems eight years had changed him. I guess true love really does make people break their own rules. He pulled into an upscale, gated community. The massive house was brightly lit. The moment he walked through the door, Sophia, wearing a sheer silk nightgown, rushed over to greet him. "You're home! Harper and I were just taking bets on whether you'd have to work late tonight." Hearing the name Harper sent a sharp pang of sorrow through my chest. Before we got divorced, Liam and I had planned out names for our kids. Leo for a boy, Harper for a girl. Now, he had given that name to the daughter he had with Sophia. The young girl skipped into the room. Liam had clearly spared no expense raising her; she looked perfectly polished and confident. I barely recognized her. But the moment her eyes landed on Leo, her bright smile vanished. "Who is this?" "Honey, whose kid did you bring home?" Looking at Leo's face—which was practically a carbon copy of mine—Sophia's expression immediately shifted to poorly-concealed panic. "He wouldn't happen to be Chloe's..." "He is." "I ran into him by accident at the farmer's market. He was freezing. I was so angry I just brought him home. Please don't be mad." The flash of pure jealousy in Sophia's eyes was gone in an instant, replaced by her usual, sickeningly sweet demeanor. "Of course not! Why would I be? Your son is my son." "It's just... Chloe fought so hard to take him away. If you brought him here without telling her, I'm just worried she's going to cause a huge scene..." At the mere mention of my name, Liam's temper flared. "A scene?! Let's see her try it!" "Do you have any idea what kind of state he was in?! If I hadn't brought him home, he wouldn't have survived the winter!" Leo struggled to pull himself out from behind Liam's leg. "My mommy isn't like that! Don't you say bad things about her!" My eyes immediately welled up with tears. Before he could finish his sentence, Leo suddenly lost his balance and stumbled sideways. I instinctively reached out to catch him, but my hands just went right through him. Liam caught him, pulling him close, and felt his forehead. "Damn it, he's burning up. You guys go ahead and eat without me. I need to get him to the ER!" He grabbed his coat, fully prepared to head back out into the snow. Sophia grabbed his arm to stop him. "Don't panic! We have children's fever reducer in the medicine cabinet. Harper used it last time she was sick, and it worked really well." "Thank you. You're always so thoughtful. I wouldn't know what to do without you." Sophia forced a smile, practically grinding her teeth together. "Of course. We're a family." "But if Chloe realizes he's missing—" "Don't even say her name. As far as I'm concerned, Chloe can drop dead in the street. If she comes looking for a fight, she'll get one!" I knew exactly why Sophia kept bringing me up. She didn't want to keep Leo, and she wanted to make sure Liam's opinion of me stayed as low as possible. But she really had nothing to worry about. I was a ghost. I couldn't do anything. After drinking the medicine, Leo's fever gradually broke. I hovered over his bed, too anxious to even blink. A suffocating tide of guilt and sorrow washed over me. Before I could even let out a sigh of relief, the bedroom door was pushed open. Harper, wearing a pink princess dress, skipped over to the bed. Leo slowly opened his eyes. Before he could even speak, the little girl raised her hand and slapped him hard across the face. "You're the bastard child my dad had out of wedlock?! You smell so gross! When was the last time you took a bath?! Who told you you could sleep in my room?!" She grabbed a slipper from the floor and started viciously hitting Leo over the back with it. "Get out! You ugly freak, get out!" Leo was so weak he could barely speak. "I'm not a bastard..." "Dad said I'm his son... and the lady said no one was using this room..." The little girl planted her hands on her hips, looking down at him with supreme arrogance. "Who said no one was using it?! This is the room I keep my dolls in!" Harper yanked the blanket back, revealing an expensive porcelain doll resting on the pillow next to him. Leo's eyes instantly filled with tears. "I'm sorry. I won't sleep here. I'll go right now." As he tried to push himself up, Harper shoved him violently. He tumbled headfirst off the bed, crashing heavily onto the hardwood floor. Leo didn't cry when he fell. He didn't cry when he was called a bastard. But when he reached up and realized the necklace around his neck was gone, he completely broke down. "Where's my necklace?! Give it back!" Harper dangled the silver chain in front of his face before casually tossing it out the open window into the snow. "What is this piece of garbage? I wouldn't be caught dead wearing this! If you want it so badly, crawl out there and find it yourself!" "Your mom is a whre, and you're just a bastard born to a whre! Your whole family is disgusting! Go die!" 3 Leo could handle all the abuse in the world, but he absolutely could not tolerate anyone insulting me. And inside that necklace... were my ashes. A sudden burst of adrenaline surged through his little body. He tackled Harper to the ground and slapped her across the face. I rushed forward, screaming in absolute panic. "Leo, don't hit her! They'll kick you out, and you won't have anywhere to go!" "Mommy doesn't care! Mommy is already dead, it doesn't matter what she says!" But he couldn't hear me. His small face was entirely consumed by rage. The moment the slap echoed through the room, the door flew open. Liam, seeing what had just happened, completely lost his mind. He lunged forward and kicked Leo squarely in the ribs, sending him flying across the room. "What the hell are you doing?! Harper is your sister! Who gave you the right to hit her?!" "Is this how Chloe raised you?!" Leo, already weakened by the fever, hit the wall hard. His face contorted in agony. "Mommy never taught me to hit people! She hit me first! She took my mommy's stuff!" He was too young to know the word 'ashes'. Mrs. Garcia had only told him it was the very last thing I had left him. Liam let out a cruel, barking laugh. "Her stuff? Why are you acting like she's dead? Or does Chloe finally realize she deserves to be?" "The apple doesn't fall far from the tree. No wonder she raised you to be a useless piece of trash!" Harper's eyes darted around, and she immediately started wailing louder. "Daddy, am I going to be permanently scarred?! My face hurts so much..." Hearing that, Liam immediately turned and rushed downstairs. When he came back, he was holding the necklace. "You hit her over this?" "Well, let me make this very clear. Absolutely nothing belonging to Chloe is allowed in my house!" Leo screamed in terror. "NO!!!" But it was too late. Liam hurled the necklace against the wall with all his strength. The small glass vial shattered instantly, and the gray powder inside scattered across the floor. "That was my mommy... she's already dead! Why... why did you have to take the only thing she left me?!" "I don't want a dad anymore! I hate you!" Liam froze instantly, all the blood draining from his face. Sophia walked in right at that moment and caught the very end of Leo's sentence. "Leo, how can you say something so horrible about your own mother?" "She didn't do a good job taking care of you, but we don't blame her for that. But you can't just lie and say she's dead! Don't you know how much that hurts your dad?" Whatever shock Liam had just felt was instantly replaced by an overwhelming, volcanic rage at being lied to. He completely lost it, smashing everything within reach in the bedroom. "Why didn't Chloe just die in a ditch somewhere?!" "How sick do you have to be to make up a lie like this, and teach your kid to say it to my face?! I must have been blind to ever marry her!" "Eight years ago she scammed me, and now she's trying to scam me again! She's completely hopeless!" The air in the room completely solidified. Outside the window, the blizzard raged on. Inside, it was dead silent. I closed my eyes in absolute despair. Eight years. I never imagined Liam still resented me this much. When I first got pregnant with Leo, the honeymoon phase of our marriage wasn't even over yet. We were exactly like every other young, passionately in love couple. We wanted to travel the world together. Back then, Liam loved me more than anything. If I said look left, he wouldn't dare look right. If I said I wanted to go to Milan, he'd immediately cancel our flights to Paris. A month after the wedding. Every morning when he woke up, the first thing he did was tell me he loved me. I used to tease him, asking how long he was going to keep saying it. And he would always kiss me, completely unbothered, swearing he would say it for the rest of his life. When we were at the peak of our romance, a positive pregnancy test changed everything. I couldn't bear to cancel our honeymoon trip. He promised me that as soon as the baby was born, we would go on a huge family vacation. Back then, neither of us knew that would be the last moment of genuine warmth we would ever share. We flew back home and went straight to the biggest hospital in the city for my first prenatal checkup. While waiting in line, we accidentally ran into Sophia. That was when I found out the struggling college student I had sponsored for three years had become a nurse. I smiled and asked her how she was doing, if she was adjusting well to the job. Maybe I was too blinded by the joy of my pregnancy, but I didn't notice the unmistakable look of infatuation in her eyes when she looked at Liam. When I went in for the ultrasound, she and Liam stayed in the waiting room. Using her position as a nurse, and claiming she wanted to "repay my kindness," she got Liam's number. She told him to text her if he ever had any questions about the pregnancy. At first, their conversations really were just him asking about obstetrics and prenatal care. But as the days went by, the tone shifted. They started texting each other about their daily lives. Sophia would complain about working overtime, or vent about difficult patients. And Liam stopped asking about me. He started checking in on her. He even initiated inside jokes, offering to buy "the beautiful nurse" boba tea to make up for the bad patients. By the time I realized something was wrong, Liam was out on the balcony smoking. My stomach was cramping with severe morning sickness. Ignoring the nausea, I walked out and snatched the cigarette from his mouth. I asked him if he could quit smoking for the baby. For his health, and for mine. That was the very first time he ever looked at me with open irritation. He told me I was being controlling. Those words completely shattered my pride. Like an absolute lunatic, I grabbed his phone and smashed it against the floor. The cracked screen was frozen on the last message Sophia had sent him. "A new movie just came out. Do you want to take your favorite nurse to see it? I finally perfected my IV technique today, I promise I won't make you cry next time you get blood drawn!" With red eyes, I screamed at him. "If Sophia told you to quit smoking, would you do it?!" "If Sophia was the one who was pregnant right now instead of me, would you have already quit?!" His eyes turned bloodshot, and he matched my energy, violently sweeping the decorations off the living room table. "You are completely unreasonable! You're acting like a psycho!" "The only reason I talk to Sophia is to make sure you and the baby are okay!" "I've told you the truth. Believe whatever you want!" That night, Liam didn't come home. I went straight to the hospital to find him. 4 The nurses at the station told me Sophia hadn't shown up for her shift. I lied, saying I was Sophia's older sister, and managed to get her home address. When I knocked on the apartment door, Liam answered. He was wearing nothing but a towel. The bright red lipstick mark on his neck was the final snowflake that caused the avalanche. It was ten degrees below zero outside. I was wearing a thin maternity dress, but I couldn't feel the cold. I stood in the hallway, screaming, cursing, and completely losing my mind. I raised my freezing, cracked hands and slapped him across the face, over and over again. By the time I stopped, my palms were covered in blood. And so was his face. I couldn't tell if it was mine, or his. My incredibly messy, undignified breakdown was met with one cold, dismissive sentence: "Are you done throwing a tantrum?" "If you're done, go home." "The baby is sensitive right now. You can't let yourself get this hysterical." It was hilarious, really. The man who drove me completely insane was lecturing me about being too emotional. The father who was cheating on his pregnant wife was accusing me of not caring about our baby. I thought about leaving him. But I couldn't let go. I loved him. I had loved him for so many years. I stupidly convinced myself that once the baby was born, we could go back to the way things were. But tragedy always strikes faster than hope. Eight months into the pregnancy, I started coughing up blood. The hospital ran a biopsy. Advanced lung cancer. Late stage. The doctors told me if I wanted to keep the baby, I would forfeit any chance of saving my own life. Panicking, I called Liam, begging him to tell me what to do. But when he heard the diagnosis over the phone, he just sighed. "Are you done acting yet?" "I've been sleeping at home for the past six months, what more do you want from me?" "Sophia said she saw you at the clinic. Your prenatal scans are perfectly normal." "Chloe, I don't want to make things ugly between us. I'll say this one last time. Sophia and I are only going to see each other until the baby is born. Stop pushing me to break my promise to her." Before I could even respond, he hung up on me. A minute later, Sophia texted me a photo of her and Liam, completely naked in bed together. Followed by a single text message: "He told me I'm the one he loves. You're just a responsibility. Honestly, Chloe, are you really willing to spend the rest of your life tied to a man who doesn't even love you?" Was I willing? Of course not. So I chose to keep the baby. I even childishly told myself that since we had loved each other so deeply once, maybe one day we would fall in love again. As for the cancer... I convinced myself that if I was strong enough, I could beat it. But reality quickly taught me I couldn't. On the operating table, they issued three separate critical condition notices. The doctors couldn't reach the baby's father. I dragged myself up from the operating table and signed the consent forms myself. After I was discharged, I didn't cry. I didn't scream. I hired a lawyer and filed for divorce. I asked for absolutely nothing in the settlement. My only condition was full custody of my son. I won. Mostly because Sophia convinced Liam to let me have him. But I still lost everything else. The day I moved out, Liam looked at me with pure disgust. "You want to act tough? Fine! Have fun dying in the gutter, and don't come crying to me when you realize nobody wants a pathological liar!" "You deserve to die alone, Chloe!" I didn't argue. Because he was right. After that, I took my son and hit wall after wall. I worked three part-time jobs just to survive, until I finally coughed up blood and collapsed at a street vendor's stall. Mrs. Garcia rushed me to the hospital. The doctor told me I had waited too long. The cancer had metastasized to my entire body. I only had a few days left. I knew Mrs. Garcia was a good person. Even though she barely made enough to get by, I entrusted Leo to her care. I was terrified of dying on the street and forcing someone else to pay for my body to be moved. I had no money. So, I spent my final days sitting right outside the doors of the local crematorium. Almost every grieving family that walked past asked me who I was waiting for. When I told them I was waiting to die, they cursed at me, calling me a psycho. Mrs. Garcia felt terrible for me. She brought Leo to see me one last time. I told her: "When I'm gone, just keep a tiny bit of my ashes and put them in a necklace for Leo. I want to stay with my son. I want to watch him grow up." "As for the rest of it, just scatter it anywhere. As long as it's free." By then, I was nothing but skin and bones. Maybe God finally took pity on me. Right after I said those last two sentences, I took my final breath. My thoughts were violently ripped back to the present by my son's agonizing scream. Leo had accidentally been hit by the sharp corner of a falling picture frame. Blood immediately gushed from his forehead. "My mommy wasn't like that! She never lied to anyone! She didn't..." Before he could finish, Leo passed out. Liam panicked, scooped his son up, and sprinted toward the hospital. I watched it all happen, my heart shattering into a million pieces, completely powerless to stop it. At the hospital, the attending doctor asked him what the child's name was. "Leo! Just Leo!" The doctor froze, then slowly looked up. It was the exact same chief resident who had delivered my baby. "Is the mother's name Chloe?" Liam looked confused, and visibly irritated by the question. "What does his mother have to do with this?! Just treat my son!" The doctor's demeanor instantly shifted. His face darkened with absolute fury. "I knew it!" "When your wife was in labor, dying of stage four lung cancer, you were completely MIA! And now the kid ends up in my ER looking like this?! Did you do this to him?!" "I've been in medicine for decades, and I have never met a husband as despicable as you! You better pray she doesn't crawl out of her grave and drag you down to hell with her!" Liam shot up from his chair, his face entirely drained of color. "What did you just say? Stage four lung cancer?"
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