Chapter 1

My wife kept her phone off all day. The only sign of her was a courier she sent to collect the ring Lily had been holding tightly in her final moments.

My wife said the ring was something she had given to her first love, Robert Easton, during their youth, symbolizing the beautiful memories they shared. She insisted its sentimental value made it irreplaceable.

The nurse at the hospital looked at me with a mix of pity and anger in her eyes.

"What kind of parents would allow a child that young to enter such a house alone? Someone just died there, for heaven's sake! Even the property owner won't step foot inside. Who was watching over her?"

“I heard the child wasn’t in good health to begin with, yet they sent her to such a horrible place.”

“That poor girl. I hope she never encounters such irresponsible parents in her next life.”

They were right. Even I hated myself. I knew my wife never cared about our daughter’s health, so why did I let her take Lily away?

I sat alone in the living room the entire night, waiting until dawn for my wife to return home.

“Sign it.” I pushed the divorce papers in front of her.

“What nonsense are you on about now?” My wife frowned impatiently. “All this over me not answering your calls? Seriously?

“Robert’s daughter is about to undergo surgery. What’s wrong with me, as a friend, being there for him? Hubert, I’m warning you, don’t push your luck!”

The sharp scent of hospital disinfectant clung to her—that same sterile smell from the ER when our child slipped away. But she had been comforting someone else's all this time.

I laughed coldly, my face full of mockery. “Staying out all night before the surgery even begins? Why don’t you wait until the surgery fails, then go console Robert properly?”

Before I could finish my sentence, her hand struck my face with a sharp slap.

"Hubert Gunner, let me tell you this. I've tolerated you only because we have a daughter together. Keep running your mouth, and I swear I'll throw you out!"

A daughter? She had the audacity to bring up our daughter?

Thinking of Lily's pale and pain-stricken face in her final moments, a searing ache tore through my heart.

"Irene, how dare you even mention Lily? She was only five years old! How could you send her to that abandoned house, a place where someone had just died? Do you even realize what—"

"There you go again, complaining as always!" Irene interrupted, rubbing her temples impatiently.

"Robert is an adventure blogger. He lost the ring there during one of his shoots. What was I supposed to do? It’s just a ring. Sending Lily to fetch it didn’t cost her life! That house isn’t haunted! I told her to go there as a way to toughen her up. It was for her own good!

"Look at Robert’s daughter—so young yet brave enough to face surgery. And then there’s Lily. She runs to you crying over something as trivial as fetching a ring! Don’t blame me for liking Yuki more than Lily. It's just the way it is. Yuki is cheerful and lively, far more likable than Lily!

"You turned your daughter into a sullen, useless child. She couldn’t even find the ring after all this time. How pathetic! And let me tell you, if Yuki’s surgery fails because Lily didn’t find that ring, I’ll make her kneel outside the hospital ward!"

Her words were like knives, stabbing me mercilessly, leaving me bleeding and broken.

I was such a fool, hoping she might feel even a sliver of guilt after our daughter’s death. But now I saw it clearly—she didn’t care about Lily at all.

She only cared about Robert’s feelings and whether his daughter would be okay.

Since that was the case, why should I even tell her about Lily? She wouldn’t grieve; she’d only accuse me and Lily of conspiring to deceive her.

"Enough! I’m done wasting words with you. This doll is for Lily."

My wife tossed a Barbie doll at me. "Get her out of her room and have her properly thank Yuki for the gift!"

I looked at the doll lying carelessly on the sofa and couldn’t help but picture Lily’s innocent, sweet face.

Lily had always wanted an Elsa doll from “Frozen,” but my wife always found excuses to avoid buying one. Now, the doll she brought back was not only heavily discolored but missing an arm and a leg, clearly a worn-out secondhand toy.

The cruel irony was that it wasn’t even Elsa—it was Barbie.

A Barbie that Yuki no longer wanted after playing with it.

How pathetic.

Irene Watts, a high-ranking executive at a publicly listed company, couldn’t even buy her own daughter a doll. Instead, she gave her someone else’s discarded toy.

Ever since Robert entered our lives, my heart had been riddled with wounds from my wife’s indifference.

I thought I had become numb to her double standards, but when it came to our daughter, I still couldn’t stop the tears from welling up.

"Irene, since you like Yuki so much, why don’t you go be her mother? Let’s get a divorce!"

Irene hurled a cushion at me. "Hubert, has something crushed your brain? For all these years, you haven’t worked a single day. All you’ve done is stay home and take care of the child. The fact that I haven’t kicked you out already is proof of my generosity!

"And now, just because I said a few things about Lily, you want a divorce? Let me tell you, the reason your daughter is so weak and spineless is entirely your fault!"

She was about to say more when her phone suddenly rang.

Glancing at the caller ID, she immediately switched to a soft, warm tone.

"Yuki? Don’t be scared, sweetie. I will be right there."

Her expression shifted unpredictably, a mix of anxiety and worry, but when she looked at me, the cold indifference returned.

"If you want a divorce, fine! Do as you wish!"

She grabbed her coat and slammed the door on her way out.

In her eyes, she probably thought I loved her too much, that everything I did was just me being jealous. She believed that once she was in a better mood and threw a few sweet words my way, I’d come running back to her like a dog wagging its tail.

In the past, I always told myself I needed to give my daughter a complete family. So, no matter how much Robert provoked me, I pretended not to see it.

But I never realized that my constant tolerance and forbearance would ultimately cost my daughter her life.

I wanted to leave this house, this place full of heartbreak. But then I thought—why should I be the one to leave?

If anyone should go, it should be Irene and Robert!

Without hesitation, I changed the password on the door lock.

If she liked someone else’s daughter so much, then she could stay with them forever and never come back!