Hysterical, Tina screamed, "Of course not! Linda stole the kidney meant for Sophie on purpose so that Sophie died on the operating table!"Henry opened his mouth, ready to say that it was impossible before he knew it.But it was on the tip of his tongue when he realized where they got Rory's kidney transplant, and he froze!As for Tina, she could not fight back her rage and grief as she remembered how tragic Sophie's life was, and how Sophie had died young on top of that.Tina's eyes were red even as she cried, "Sophie had suffered from her illness for so long, and she was this close to becoming healthy… But Linda is so vile that she had to cut off Sophie's lifeline! Don't I have the right to take a life for a life?!"Henry could not answer as he was still caught in terrible shock, suddenly profoundly terrified that the kidney he had stolen for Linda was the same one meant for Sophie.But in Tina's eyes, his silence was further proof of him doubting her, leaving her clenching her
Tina cried, "You feel for Sophie, don't you? You want to make amends with her, don't you? Then can't you just investigate the truth for her sake? I'm begging you, please!"She was not even hoping for him to trust her like Madam Barnes, who believed her even without evidence.All she wanted was for Henry to feel a faint ounce of doubt toward Linda, which in turn would spur him into investigating.She was only capable of that much—she would never uncover anything.But as long as Henry was willing, he would definitely find something and understand that she was not lying.It was Linda who had deliberately stolen the kidney meant for Sophie to kill her. But even after everything she said—even after she humbled herself to beg—he never agreed to investigate.It seemed that his love and trust for Linda had reached the point where even a small probing would defile the purity of that attachment.Tina's grip around Henry's collar suddenly loosened, and she collapsed limply on the chair,
There were many glass shards in Tina's foot, as she had stepped over them with her bare feet.But Tina never responded."Bite me if it hurts," Henry suddenly said quietly, holding his hand by her mouth.But Tina still did not respond.Carl began to extract the shards very gently, but it should hurt as the shards had cut deep into her flesh.However, Tina did not so much as grunt through it all as if she felt no pain, and it hurt Henry to look.-Madam Barnes' funeral was held at Barnes Ranch, and when a mournful Tina appeared in plain clothes, Whitney and Irene promptly showed up, stopping her at the front gates.Having just returned to the country, Irene was immediately snapping at Tina, "Go away! How dare you show up here after you killed Grandma!""Her death isn't my fault," Tina said very softly, not wanting to cause a scene at Madam Barnes' funeral."Not your fault?! No one but you is responsible for Grandma's death!" Irene kept snapping. "You knew she was in poor health
That was when Tina steadied herself and left his grasp, not pausing as she kept striding inside.Henry glanced at her scrawny figure as she left before turning back to Irene. "What did I say before?"Irene naturally knew what he was referring to—the last time she had called Sophie a bastard at the hospital, Henry slapped her and warned her very threateningly.And after being sent abroad to live on a restricted credit card and without her privilege as an heiress, hardship had humbled her enough to not mess with Henry.She slapped herself, but very gently. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have insulted Sophie."However, Henry kept glaring at her icily, and she had no choice but to slap herself again, this time really hard."If it wasn't for Grandma's funeral, it wouldn't just be two slaps," Henry growled icily.He turned and started to leave, only to stop before he headed inside to glare at Irene and Whitney again. "Sophie is my daughter, and Tina is her mother. That is never going to chan
The skies were getting darker, but Tina was driving around aimlessly after leaving Barnes Ranch.Following Madam Barnes' death, the boulder weighing on her chest became even heavier.Henry told her that if she had not accused Linda of murdering Sophie without evidence, Madam Barnes would not have gone after Linda and died from the aggravation. However, she knew that Linda definitely murdered Madam Barnes.But if—just if—she had not cried out her grief when she thought Madam Barnes was unconscious, then Madam Barnes would not know about Sophie's death, or that Linda murdered Sophie.Would Madam Barnes be alive if she had not gone after Linda? As for Sophie, if Tina had never been delusional about Henry and did not conjure the illusion that Sophie's daddy loved her, then maybe Sophie would not yearn for Henry so much, let alone expect his love.She would not have lied to wait for Henry, and her condition would not have worsened.And she would not have died.There were two voic
Tina was consumed by endless despair.As her body crashed into the bone-chilling water, she did not flail around like a person who had accidentally fallen into water.Having no will to live, she allowed herself to sink.It hurt to drown.Tina could clearly feel the air in her lungs running out, while water gushed in through her mouth and nostrils.Her lungs burned, and she felt like she was ripped apart.Her strength gradually left her, and she started to suffocate.Her consciousness muddled, she knew she was going to die.But before she blacked out, she seemed to see Sophie reaching out to her, just like five years ago, calling out to her sweetly, "Mommy."Tina's lips curled into a tender smile. "I'm here, Sophie."With that, she allowed the darkness to consume her as the last of her consciousness drained away.Would she see her baby again when she died? She really wanted to hug Sophie again…-Meanwhile, John Levine's car had stopped on the other side of the bridge.He
Tina was not responding, while John's call to the hospital got through, and he quickly gave them their location.Once the emergency responders confirmed and hung up, he promptly started to resuscitate Tina.He was usually calm, but his eyes turned red when he could not feel a pulse on Tina's wrist and jugular.His lips were trembling even as he cried, "Tina!"Still no response.He did not wait for the ambulance to arrive and started CPR, performing chest compressions as he yelled, "Wake up! Tina! Wake up! Stay with me! You hear me?!"Still no response.John's eyes reddened further, but he never stopped despite being drained and kept trying to resuscitate Tina even though she did not respond.When the ambulance finally arrived, EMTs moved Tina to the ambulance to continue reviving her, while John wobbled up to his feet and followed the ambulance in his car.Along the way, he made several calls.By the time the ambulance arrived at the hospital, several famous doctors were wait
Tina was moved to a hospital ward.As the doctor had said, she had no will to live and remained unconscious ever since she was wheeled out of the ER.John sat by her bed, never leaving her side and not closing his eyes once for an entire night.He did not dare to be distracted in case anything happened and repeatedly offered words of encouragement so that she would pull together—so that she would find the will to live.However, nothing worked.She could obviously hear him but simply refused to respond, instead laying there silently without giving the reaper a fight, allowing her own life to drain away bit by bit.She really did not want to live.A doctor who came early in the morning to examine Tina then suggested, "Why don't you bring Ms. Smith's loved ones over? They might be able to help."Loved ones?John's immediate thought was Sophie.But worried about leaving Tina alone at the hospital, he called his assistant to find Sophie and bring her over as soon as possible.As
The instant Tina tapped on the notification, she found Henry kneeling outside her door, motionless.She swiped through her phone and saw that most notifications were from Henry, with the first of many being sent at three in the morning.That meant Henry had driven straight to her place after leaving Rose Garden and knelt outside her door for almost four hours.But Tina remained unaffected.Remembering the video John had sent earlier, she had a hunch that Henry was outside after he became aware of Rory's true nature.She soon tapped out of the notifications and kept chatting with John since she found herself in a good mood first thing in the morning.When John said he had yet to have breakfast, Tina could read between the lines and did not play dumb, telling him that she would cook extra portions for him when he came over.John replied: [Already on my way.]Tina could not resist a smile. [Drive safe. See you soon.]After putting down her phone, she went about her daily routine—
It was an especially long night, and every passing second was especially gruelling as Henry stayed on his knees outside Tina's door, like his heart was being stabbed.-When Tina woke up, she noticed that John had just texted her a minute ago.[Are you up?]Tina smiled ever so faintly as she replied: [Mornin'.][There's a video you should watch.][Okay.]While waiting for the video to be sent to her phone, she noticed many notifications from her alarm system.It was the first time this had happened since she moved in, and she was about to tap on it when John's file was downloaded.Tina tapped on the video first and immediately recognized that it was taken outside Rsoe Garden when she tapped on it.A familiar car was outside Linda's villa—it was Henry's.Tina's gaze cooled as she looked on.Yesterday was Sophie's death anniversary and also Rory's birthday.And given how much Henry doted on Rory, it was not hard to see that he went to the Rose Garden after visiting Sophie's
As Henry's car soon disappeared in the night, Rory was left behind and too exhausted to give chase.She lay sprawled on the ground, watching as Henry left her, and her body's warmth slowly faded.Her gaze was endlessly horrified and helpless.Was he really going to leave her?-After leaving Rose Garden, Henry drove straight to Tina's apartment, having paid a hefty sum to buy the adjacent units to hers after finding out that she had moved there.He drove into the car park but stayed downstairs.The apartment complex was very quiet as it was three in the morning, but his heart could not quiet down at all.After all, he had been horrified since the moment he exposed Rory's two-faced nature.It was so obvious, but he just did not see it!He really was too overjoyed from the reunion when Linda showed up, passing herself off as Orange.The delight of the lost and found was just too much, and he cared even more for Linda when she told him that Mama Orange was dead, and how much su
It was such a horrible sight that Henry eased his foot off the gas pedal before he knew it, and his car clearly slowed.To Rory, it was a ray of hope—just as she thought, he loved her and could not really bear to leave her.He must be heartbroken to see how much she loved him and chased him until she got hurt.With that thought, her utterly discouraged spirit was once again soaring.So what if Sophie was his real daughter?! She was dead! And all a dead person could do was lay six feet under, unable to do a thing!But Rory was different—even if she was not connected to Henry by blood, she was alive.That meant she could sweet-talk him, whispering nice words to cajole him.And what could dead Sophie do about that?Hence, Rory found renewed strength despite being exhausted and started crawling toward Henry's car, bawling as she did.She had a clear objective and did not care that her hands and knees were scraped through."Daddy… Look at me… It hurts so much… Daddy…"As Rory g
Henry paused as he turned and suddenly turned toward Rory.Despite her leveling a miserable look at Henry with her eyes swollen from tears, he was still not relenting.In fact, he was endlessly cold as he glared at her with a cool look that cut to the bone."I'm telling you one last time—don't call me Daddy, you hear?"Rory had only seen him give Tina and Sophie that look before and had never expected him to look at her the same way now.She was left trembling endlessly, her lips parting as she really wanted to call out to him and sweet-talk him like she always did.But that icy glare left her speechless, and she could only watch as Henry turned and strode off, his footsteps soon fading into the distance.Did he really hate her now? Was he leaving her?Even as the thought struck her, she shook her head repeatedly!No! Henry could not leave her! She could not lose him! "Daddy!" She finally called out again as she leapt out of bed and started running without putting on her sho
However, was Rory really innocent?Henry might have believed Linda if he had not seen what Rory did with his own eyes—how malicious she looked when she cursed Sophie, and how vile the words she breathed were!Just remembering the sight left him shuddering.Not even a normal adult should have been capable of such vile words, and Rory was only seven!But what frightened Henry the most was how she was once again the good girl Rory as soon as she turned and saw him.She could switch between her personalities as if it was second nature, just like what Linda always did behind his back.The phrase 'the apple doesn't fall far from the tree' really came to mind!Why could he not just see that from the start?!Rory had grown up by Linda's side, and Linda was a mother who was so immaculate with her pretensions.With such influence, would Rory have been all that different?"Adopt Rory, you say?" Henry breathed so quietly that no one could tell what he was really feeling just then.But s
Linda already had some choice words in mind for Rory after Henry never showed up today.So, her eyes were flaring in annoyance when she opened them, as Rory made such a loud ruckus past midnight, waking her up.She was ready to give Rory a beating as she moved from her bed to her wheelchair and headed to the next room.That was when she heard Henry's voice.She did not rush inside, however, and eavesdropped outside, cursing Rory's incompetence when she realized what just happened! Rory could not even do one thing right and had to let Henry catch her cursing that brat!At this point, Linda was well aware that any chances she had of getting back together with Henry depended entirely on Rory, so she must not let Henry become disappointed in Rory.Rory was her trump card. And if she lost her trump card, she had no shot of getting Henry back.And how could she accept something like that?!She had stayed by his side, putting up an act for years! How could she just allow herself to
It had never crossed Henry's mind that Rory was lying.He was prejudiced and had absolutely fought with Sophie, insisting endlessly that Rory would never lie.But was Sophie lying just because Rory did not?At this very moment, Henry did not even dare to think about how many lies Rory had told him over the years.And because he had absolute faith in Rory, how many times he had glazed over the facts and blamed Sophie!"Daddy…" Rory was truly terrified now, clutching her cheek where Henry slapped her in disbelief while her tears welled up in her eyes.In truth, Henry did not hit her that hard—he was holding back, compared to the times her mother had slapped her.But her heart hurt.Her daddy… The daddy she loved so much, the daddy who spoiled her so much and never raised his voice at her, slapped her because of Sophie!He did not just forget her birthday because of Sophie—he even struck her now!But she did not blame him.It was all Sophie's fault—and she hated Sophie even m
Rory asked, "Daddy? Is that my birthday present?"At the same time, she knew very well that if Henry saw what that straw doll really was, he would be absolutely furious.That was why he must not let him see at any cost.However, Henry was still glowering as he threw the gift aside, taking a step forward and glaring at her menacingly. "Show it to me!""Daddy…"More tears gushed from Rory's eyes, as if Henry terrified her.And yet, she gingerly reached out, tugging on the hem of Henry's shirt, chirping sweetly, "Daddy, you're scaring me. Don't look at me like that."At that moment, she was once again the Rory that Henry was so familiar with.Mature and obedient.Kind and innocent.Guileless and harmless.But Henry could not forget about the Rory he saw just now.And seeing that she kept trying to manipulate him, he lost all patience and pushed her aside, while reaching for the blanket with his other hand."Daddy! Don't look!"Rory cried as she lunged over in a panic to stop