I, of course, didn't show up within the three-day deadline he gave me.

Samuel returned once more to the gate of my humble abode.

Toby circled Samuel excitedly. He slipped his tiny, transparent hand into Samuel's hand that was hanging at his side.

He turned back joyfully and shouted to me, "Mommy, I'm finally holding Daddy's hand!"

My eyes stung, and I looked back at him with a forced smile.

Over the years, Samuel had always believed that Toby was Daniel's child. He loathed him and refused to even spare him a glance.

Although I had done a paternity test that confirmed they were biologically father and son, he still refused to believe it. He vehemently claimed I had paid someone to fake the results.

After that terrible night, I had lost all his trust.

I had asked him for a divorce, wanting to put an end to our toxic relationship.

But he only glared at me with venom in his eyes and spat, "Kristen, I want you to remember this—you owe me one for the rest of your life. I told you that this grudge won't end until one of us dies.

"As for divorce, don't even think about it!"

He brought countless women home to spend the night and flaunt his intimacy with them in front of me. Whenever I argued with him, he would sneer and remind me how dirty I was when I slept with Daniel.

This went on until Violet returned to the country. From the moment she came back into his life, he cut off all contact with those other women. Subsequently, the two of them flaunted their relationship openly. Even his business partners referred to Violet as "Mrs. Hoffman."

My thoughts drifted back to the present.

I watched as Samuel stood at the gate and called me. The monotonous voice on the other end informed him that the number was no longer in service.

He frowned and opened our WhatsApp chat. The only thing he saw was the last message he had sent me three days ago, urging me to come forward to provide my bone marrow to Violet.

I hadn't replied, of course.

Samuel turned to Facebook next. When he saw a photo I had posted four years ago, his hand froze for a moment. It was a photo I had secretly taken—he was sitting on the couch, with two-year-old Toby clinging to his arm and resting his adorable little head on his shoulder.

I had thought it was a beautiful moment, so I snapped a photo. But in the next second, Samuel had pushed Toby away in disgust.

He enlarged the photo and stared at it for a long time before returning to the chat window.

Then, he typed a message: "Kristen, you brought this on yourself. The three-day deadline is up. Starting today, I won't send you a single cent for your living expenses."

After waiting for a reply and getting none, he kicked the gate hard in frustration.

Toby, who had been happily holding onto Samuel and running in circles around him, was terrified by the sudden aggression. He quivered and burst into tears as he ran into my arms.

"Mommy, what's wrong with Daddy? I'm scared…"

I held him tightly and comforted him. "Don't be scared, Toby. Daddy can't hurt you anymore. Look, there are butterflies over there. Do you want to go play with them?"

I said that to distract him.

Toby turned his head and saw a few butterflies fluttering in the distance. His tears stopped, and he quickly wiped his face before running after the butterflies with a smile.

Meanwhile, Samuel only grew more agitated after kicking the gate twice.

He rubbed his temples repeatedly. Then, he took out his phone and made a call. "Hello, is this the locksmith?"

Half an hour later, Samuel pushed open the gate, which was already covered in cobwebs. The weeds in the courtyard had grown even taller than the grass by the gate. They reached up to his waist.

It was clear that this place had been uninhabited for a long time.

Samuel stood in the courtyard, hesitating whether to take another step forward.

He had been here twice before, and he should have remembered that I kept the yard in excellent condition. It didn't look anything like this when he visited in the past.

The first time he came here was to drop off Toby and me. Back then, two-year-old Toby had just been diagnosed with uremia caused by underdevelopment of his kidneys.

He thought Toby was a jinx and bought this farmhouse in a remote village for us to move into. Every month, he transferred me 20 thousand dollars, which included the fees for Toby's dialysis treatment.

The second time he came was to force me to go and do the HLA typing to see if my bone marrow was compatible with Violet's. If his memory didn't fail him, he should recall that the yard was once filled with hydrangeas and roses. I had even built a swing there for Toby.

While Samuel was still lost in thought, Violet called again.

Her voice sounded weak over the phone. "Sam, have you found Kristen yet? Will she come and donate her bone marrow to me today?"

Samuel reassured her, "I'll handle this. Just focus on cooperating with the doctors for your treatment. Don't worry."

Violet's voice broke slightly. "I know Kristen must be unwilling to donate her bone marrow for me again, and I can understand. She already saved me once. I shouldn't be greedy and ask her to save me a second time. If she's hiding now, I don't blame her…"

It was as if she knew for a fact that I was intentionally hiding because I didn't want to donate my bone marrow to her.

Samuel was silent for a few seconds.

To my surprise, he didn't immediately side with Violet. Instead, he said, "That's not it. I haven't managed to contact her yet. She probably doesn't even know that your leukemia has relapsed. How could she have known about that in advance and decided to hide?"

Violet was momentarily at a loss for words. She quickly clarified, "Sam, you misunderstood me. That's not what I meant."

Samuel cut her off. "Don't worry, Vivi. As long as Kristen is still alive, I'll find her. And if she's on the brink of death, I'll make sure she donates her bone marrow to you before she takes her last breath."

Violet seemed relieved after hearing this.

After hanging up, Samuel stood in front of the house for a long time. Even though the door wasn't locked, he didn't push it open and go inside.

If he had, he would have seen the two figures outlined in white chalk. Those were the markings left by the police after they discovered our dead bodies in the house.

Samuel just stood there.

In the end, he stepped back out of the yard and bought a new lock from the locksmith. Then, he locked the gate.

I noticed something strange. As long as we followed Samuel, we could leave the place that had bound us for so long.

Toby had grown tired of being at the farmhouse after three years. So, I thought it was a good thing that we could venture out and see the outside world. Of course, Toby was thrilled. He constantly looked around and exclaimed in awe at everything he saw.

However, it seemed we couldn't stray too far from Samuel. We followed him back to his villa.

Toby stared at the luxuriously decorated villa with his mouth agape in astonishment. He had lived here before up until he was two years old. Perhaps he was too young to remember it.

He flitted around excitedly while exploring every corner. Meanwhile, I drifted behind Samuel and followed him as he went into his study. I watched him make a call to the bank and freeze the bank account tied to the card he had given me.

If he had paid closer attention, he might have realized that he hadn't received any transaction notifications for that card in the past three years. The money he had been transferring to that account throughout that time had never been touched either.

He believed that by freezing the account, I would have no choice but to show up within a week.

After all, Toby's uremia required constant dialysis until a kidney transplant was possible. A dialysis treatment was needed twice a week, so he was sure I couldn't survive without money.

When that was done, he opened his phone's photo gallery and stared at it, lost in thought. I floated behind him and saw that he was looking at the photo I had posted on Facebook—the one of him and Toby together.

The resemblance between them was uncanny. His eyes trailed from their broad foreheads to their lush lashes, slightly upturned eyes, and identical eyebrows. Every feature seemed to shout the truth of their shared bloodline.

He wasn't stupid—he could see it.

A sudden phone call broke the silence in the study.

It was from the hospital. Violet had suddenly fallen into a coma.