“Emily, please don’t do this.”

“Sorry. I’m a businesswoman—I only care about profit.”

She straightened her back, scanning the room as if searching for someone.

I knew she was looking for me. I let out a bitter laugh.

“Ethan Brooks, come out here and repay every cent you owe me. You abandoned me when I was crippled, then threw yourself into the arms of wealthy older women. Don’t tell me you don’t have money to pay me back.”

The crowd fell silent. No one dared provoke the fury of the billionaire queen.

Minutes passed, but I didn’t appear. Her anger blazed higher.

“Fine. If you won’t come out, I’ll take your mother instead.”

Emily kicked my mother to the ground, then pressed her sharp heel into her hand, grinding hard.

My mother cried out in agony, tears streaming down her face. I frantically tried to push Emily away.

Stop it! Her heart is weak—you’ll kill her!

But no one could hear me. My voice was swallowed in despair.

“Well? Will he come out and pay me back?”

My mother stared at Emily in disbelief, her face filled with sorrow.

“My son Ethan is dead. He can’t come.”

Emily, furious, stomped harder, drawing blood from my mother’s hand.

“Hah! He’s perfectly fine—he just doesn’t want to pay me back. You’re lying, aren’t you?”

“You two disgust me.”

The guests began to mutter curses.

“That man was a coward, abandoning Ms. Carter when she lost her leg. He’s worse than an animal.”

“Look at his mother, shielding him even now. Disgusting.”

“Don’t pity her—if anything, Ms. Carter isn’t being harsh enough.”

Emily kept her gaze on the door, disappointment flashing across her face when I didn’t arrive. She had the money picked up and forced into my mother’s mouth, bill after bill.

“Ethan, are you watching? If you don’t want her dead, you’d better come out.”

“If you don’t return the money by tomorrow afternoon, prepare to collect her body.”

My mother coughed blood, staining her clothes red. On the ground, barely alive, I sobbed and begged Emily to stop.

I never betrayed you. If you hate me, unleash it on my soul, not her!

But my hoarse cries never reached her.

Mom, get up, please! Don’t sleep! I’m sorry—it’s all my fault.

Curled on the ground, my mother’s eyes closed faintly, her breath barely there.

“My… son… Ethan… he wasn’t unfaithful to you.”

I fell to my knees, reaching to hold her, but Emily had her dragged away and locked up.

She wanted to use my mother’s life to force me to appear. Patience was never her strength.

“Ladies and gentlemen, the engagement party is canceled. I’ll choose another date.”

Emily left those words behind. Brandon Reed, face heavy with disappointment, caught her hand.

“Emily, don’t go. I know you still can’t let him go—you call his name every night in your sleep.”

“You’re wrong,” she sneered. “When I call his name, it’s because I want to kill him in my dreams.”

“Then why cancel the engagement party?”

“I told you—my knot of hate hasn’t been undone. I’ll never let it go.”

“Don’t worry. I won’t make you wait long.”

In the crowd, whispers spread.

“Feels like Ms. Carter isn’t really here to get engaged—she just wanted to use it as an excuse to force her ex to appear.”

“You think so too?”

“Of course. That bastard deserved death. No sympathy for his mother either.”

“Sigh, whether god or devil, no one escapes love. Same for us mortals.”

My soul followed the path where they carried my unconscious mother. Emily immediately called for her family doctor to resuscitate her.

“She can’t die yet—I haven’t forced him to come out. Save her.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

Emily stood outside, lighting a cigarette, sadness leaking through her eyes before it hardened into bottomless hatred.

“Ethan Brooks, you’re truly cruel—even to your own mother. That’s why you kicked me away like trash when I was hurt.”

She glared out at the city lights. “I don’t believe you’ll keep hiding. Just wait—I’ll be harsher than you. When I find you, I’ll break your leg. Let’s see how you like it.”

I stood behind her, sighing at her unyielding back.

Was this lingering affection—or a cursed bond reigniting?

I remembered five years ago, when she had nearly died saving me from being hit by a car. Even before her wounds had healed, she came to me, but I slammed the door in her face.

She had cried outside, begging me not to leave her, promising she wouldn’t drag me down.

I hired a woman to stage an act with me, taunting her: “You’re crippled, what courage do you have to say you won’t be a burden?”

She clung to my leg, refusing to leave, until I kicked her away and she fainted.

My chest clenched painfully as I watched her carried into the ambulance. That was the last time I saw her alive. I only wanted her to survive, even if she hated me.

But now, not finding me, she turned her hatred onto my mother.

The next day, she brought my mother—fresh from resuscitation—to my home.

The house was bare, without anything of value.

Emily sneered. “Wasn’t he kept by some rich woman? Why do you live like this?”

My mother stayed silent, staring at my photo on the wall.

Emily snatched it down, smashing the glass, then tore the picture apart.

“No! That’s my last memory of Ethan. Please, don’t!”

“Don’t call me your daughter-in-law. Do you think your family deserves me?”

At that moment, a furious voice thundered through the door.

“Emily Carter, stop this right now!”

Emily froze, a flicker of joy flashing before it vanished. It wasn’t me.

It was my best friend, Daniel Ross, rushing in to lift my mother from the floor.

“Mom, are you okay?”

Since my death, Daniel Ross had taken care of my mother under the name of a godson. But she refused to leave the family home.

She never saw my body. In her heart, she believed I could still come back to see her.

So she stayed in that old house, waiting for her son’s return.

“It’s you? Hah, people befriend their own kind. You’re just as rotten as he was.”

“And what about that heartless bastard Ethan Brooks? Still planning to keep being a useless coward?”

Hearing her insult me, Daniel roared in fury.

“Shut up! You don’t deserve to even speak his name.”

“If it hadn’t been for your little thrill-seeking street racing back then, his car wouldn’t have nearly been hit—”

Daniel stopped himself, clenching his jaw, realizing he had said too much. He remembered how I had begged him never to let Emily Carter know how I really died.

“Go on, say it! Keep spinning lies for him, is that it?”

Daniel ignored her and helped Mrs. Brooks inside to rest.

“Did I say you could leave?”

Emily blocked their path, smiling cruelly.

Daniel gritted his teeth. “What do you want?”

“It’s not about what I want. It’s about what Ethan owes me. He thought he could just walk away without paying?”

“It’s only fifty thousand. I’ll give you a hundred thousand instead.”

“Your money doesn’t count. I want Ethan himself to pay me back.”

Daniel’s face burned red with rage.

“He can’t come. Stop pushing this too far!”

But those words enraged Emily even more. She couldn’t accept it. To her, it only meant she hadn’t been ruthless enough yet.

“Fine. I’ll burn down his house and see if that brings him out.”

“You’re insane!” Daniel shouted. “If you burn his home, my mom will collapse from the shock—she’s Ethan’s only family left. You can’t do this!”

“Can’t I? Light it up! Burn this place to the ground.”

“No! That’s a crime!”

Emily laughed coldly. “Laws are made to keep the poor in line, not to threaten the rich.”

“Tie that old woman to a chair. Let her life be buried in the flames. Let’s see if Ethan the coward keeps hiding then.”

“Yes, ma’am!”

Daniel fought with everything he had, but he was alone. Soon, he was overpowered.

My mother was tied to a chair, crying out like a wounded animal, begging Emily not to burn the house.

I wept, kneeling, begging Emily not to do this. I wished Daniel would just tell her the truth—that I was already dead.

The flames roared higher. Daniel, desperate, struggled, but Emily struck him with an iron rod, smashing it against his legs.

“Tell me! Where is he?”

“If you don’t, your mother burns.”

Daniel cried out, “Ethan is dead! He’s dead—are you satisfied?”

“You think I’ll believe that nonsense? Dream on.”

Emily, I really am dead. I’m right behind you. If you knew how I died, would you regret everything you’re doing now?

The searing heat was already burning my mother’s skin. Daniel and I both begged Emily to stop.

But Emily clenched her fists, her whole body trembling as if torn apart by her own rage and desperation.

“If he won’t come out, then let his mother die with my hate!”

Bloodied and beaten, Daniel crawled across the floor and grabbed Emily’s leg.