In my heart, I really felt bad. He was wrong, Vilhelmina won't grow up anymore. I hung up the phone without a word. I was in a bad mood. Then I copped my bag and took a cab to the hospital. I rushed straight into the doctor's office.

“Give me back my daughter's peace quilt right now!”

Kimberly looked up in surprise. I knew she saw the anger in my eyes.

“Mrs Arabelle, I thought Mr Maximilian had discussed this with you first. I didn't mean to take Vilhelmina's things on purpose. It's because my child's illness has not been cured before.”

I shouted, “Cut the crap! I don’t want to hear any words from you, Kimberly.”

I was so angry that I drew sideways glances from the other doctors and nurses in the office. Kimberly was also forced to redden her eyes.

“How about this, Mrs Arabelle? When Vilhelmina is not happy when she gets home, I'll immediately wash the quilt and send it back?”

“No way! A thief is in no position to bargain.”

I took a few steps forward and grabbed Kimberly's wrist. She struggled to get up but accidentally bumped into a chair. It made her whole body fall to the ground.

“Arabelle Moonstone!” Maximilian arrived in time and pushed me away. “It’s just a broken quilt, Arabelle. Is it necessary to hit someone like this?”

“Mr Maximilian, I'm not a thief,” Kimberly mumbled her lips. She looked like a pear blossom in the rain.

I was pushed and staggered. The back of my head hit the door handle and passed out. The moment before I lost consciousness, I saw Maximilian running towards me in shock. I closed my eyes and thought to myself, ‘If I die like this, will I be able to see Vilhelmina?’

***

But I didn't die. I just had a slight concussion. When I woke up, my nurse friend, Samantha Wright was by my bedside. Meanwhile, Maximilian was nowhere to be seen in this room.

“You're pregnant, Arabelle.”

I was stunned for a while. “What? I'm pregnant?”

How did I get pregnant at this time?

Vilhelmina had always wanted a brother or sister. Then Maximilian and I had been trying for years but had never gotten it. We thought it was due to age and work pressure from both of us. I didn't expect that just after Vilhelmina's accident, I would be pregnant. 

Perhaps, it was Vilhelmina who sensed that I had no hope of life and took the form of a fetus to cheer me up. Thinking of this, the pain inside me slightly lessened.

I said, “I don't want my husband, Maximilian, to know about this matter for now, Samantha. Can you keep it a secret for me?”

Samantha nodded. “I just heard you guys arguing in the doctor's office, so I thought something was wrong between you and Dr. Maximilian.”

“It's fine, Samantha. Don’t worry. I can handle it.” I skimmed my lips. “By the way, where is he?”

Samantha shook her head. “He was just called away by his female assistant, Ara. Maybe he has something to deal with at work?”

I knew the true answer to it. He didn't actually have anything to deal with at this time. I saw a live sex scene in the stairwell of the ward.

Kimberly hooked Maximilian's neck. She then demanded a kiss. Maximilian was afraid of being discovered and refused at first, but soon he got into the mood, he left dots of red marks on Kimberly's neck. Until I called over. Only then did he end his passion.

Maximilian left behind the lustful Kimberly. He rushed to the bathroom to clean up and then to the hospital room to continue playing the role of a good husband.

“I was the one who was impulsive about what just happened.”

Maximilian apologized with an apologetic face. “Luckily you weren't hurt, Arabelle, otherwise I would have hated to smack myself to death.”

I bristled. I chose to say nothing.

“I was just busy now, Arabelle. There are a lot of surgeries at the end of the year. You take a few days off, stay home and have a good rest. We will have fun together on Vilhelmina's birthday.”

I hang my head and obediently respond to my husband. “Okay, I agree.”

Maximilian didn't know that I had resigned and was preparing to move out of the city. He was even less aware that Vilhelmina was about to turn into a handful of ashes two days later.

The police department suddenly called me. They said that there was a news discovery about Vilhelmina's car accident.

When I arrived, the driver had already been arrested. I looked at the vicissitudes of the middle-aged man across the table. My eyes were so red that they were about to drip blood.

I was in a rage and shouted, “You killed my daughter! I'm going to kill you!”

If the police officer hadn't held me down in time, I really would have jumped on him and bit his throat.

“I'm sorry, madam. I'm really sorry.”

The driver was biting his lips tightly. His face was pale. His eyes also looked like he had been crying.

“Is it useful to be sorry right now? Why aren't you paying attention when you're driving? Why are you rushing up to a green light on the sidewalk? Please tell me all the reasons.”

“I am not…”

The police officer suddenly spoke, “Mrs. Arabelle Moonstone, that's why we're looking for you today.”

They gave me something. It was a tablet. The tablet then was handed to me. 

“We found out that the driver who ran over your daughter was also a victim. There was a red Mustang at the scene.”

In my heart I said, ‘What? There is a red Mustang?’ My heart thumped. ‘Wasn't Maximilian also driving a red Mustang?’

The surveillance video showed that the accident happened just as school was dismissing at 5:30. The boarding school students were out looking for food.

Vilhelmina's figure quickly appeared in the camera. She looked small and fresh. She was chatting with a friend in front of the school.

Vilhelmina was about to go back to the cafeteria to eat. She suddenly turned around and jogged across the street.

While running and waving, she seemed to see someone familiar. At the same time, a red Mustang appeared on the driveway.

It was Maximilian's license plate number. But the person sitting in the passenger seat was Kimberly Beadsworth.

I clenched my fists. My heart felt like it was in my throat. The red Mustang stepped into the gas and still didn't catch the green light.

At this time, Vilhelmina began to walk the crosswalk and the accident of the truck should be parallel without intersection. But the red Mustang suddenly accelerated through the red light. The truck in order to avoid quickly turning the front and out of control. Then the truck hit Vilhelmina on the zebra cross.

It turned out that the murderer who killed her daughter was Maximilian Kostomarov.

I realized that Vilhelmina should have seen his father's car. So she wanted to go over. It made her not think that his father would miss the work time and rushed back to the hospital clock.

In the video, Vilhelmina's body was hit and flew up. She rolled under the wheels of the truck and was crushed several times. The red Mustang was riding so fast that it had no idea what was happening behind it.

Across the table, the driver of the truck covered his face. He cried out in pain. I stared at the black screen of the tablet with a dull expression. Until the police officer tapped me on the shoulder.

He reassured me of my condolences. I touched my face, not a single tear. My heart was empty as if a piece had been ripped out of it.

“We will send more people to find the owner of this red Mustang, Mrs Arabelle.”

I replied, “Don't bother, I know who he is.”

“Who is it?”

“My husband, Maximilian Kostomarov. He is also the biological father of the victim, Vilhelmina Kostomarov.”

The policeman was stunned for a long time. “As a relative of Vilhelmina Kostomarov, we have to ask your opinion as a rule.”

I answered, “How the law is set, just do what you guys do. Don't need to consider my relationship with the perpetrator. You also don't need to tell him the identity of the victims.”

***

That night, while my husband, Maximilian, had not yet returned home, I began to pack my bags. The doorbell suddenly rang. It was the postman, who came to deliver the package. I opened it to find that it was a children's book. Two months ago, Vilhelmina secretly told me the truth.

Vilhelmina said, “Mom, the essay I wrote was selected and the teacher said it would be published in the next issue of Sunrise.”

Her little face was full of pride at that moment. Meanwhile, I was so happy and grateful.

“Really?” I wrapped my arms around my daughter's neck and kissed her fiercely. “Our Vilhelmina Kostomarov is awesome. You are the pride of Dad and me, my love. But can you not tell Daddy yet? I want to send the book to him when it's published. We can give him a surprise.”

At this moment, I flipped through the magazine. I then found the essay written by Vilhelmina Kostomarov titled 'My Doctor Dad'.

[My dad is a good doctor who saves the dying and wounded. I always remember when I was weak and sick when I was a child, but I believed that my father would cure me. He is a good father and a good husband to my mom. I call home every day even though I'm in a boarding elementary school. My dream is to be a scientist and develop a robot that can do surgeries remotely. So, that my dad won't have to stand in front of the operating table until his back hurts.]

Yeah, Maximilian Kostomarov has always been a role model for Vilhelmina. But this role model speeds through a red light. He caused her to be run over by a truck and then crushed to death.

And when his daughter was on the verge of death and needed medical treatment, he was busy with his lover. It would be bullshit if Maximilian was a good father and good husband to his little family. It was ridiculous.

“I'm back, my wife.”

It was already ten o'clock at night when Maximilian dragged himself home. He glanced at the landline in frustration. He then ripped his tie loose and threw it onto the sofa.

“Vilhelmina called, didn't she? She didn't hear my voice again, did she cry?”

I shook my head. I wasn’t in a good mood to talk with him. 

“I had arranged my work and was supposed to leave early, but someone from the police station suddenly came to question me. I'm in trouble, my wife.”

It turned out to be because of the traffic accident caused by his speeding through a red light, resulting in the death of the victim. Maximilian rubbed his temples. He really looked worried.

“I heard that a child was killed in the crash. I became an indirect murderer. That car accident victim I mentioned to you the other day, it should be her. Alas, now the police department is going to sue me for causing death by dangerous driving.” 

Maximilian slapped his head in chagrin. “The families of the victims probably haven't gotten the news yet. If they make a scene at the hospital, I might even get my license suspended.”

I didn't say anything at that time. I just handed him the children's book.

“What is this, my wife?”

I answered, “It’s Vilhelmina's surprise for you. You should open and read on page 38.”

Maximilian flipped through the magazine. He then read the lines carefully for a long time without gradually stretching them out.

“Wow, my great daughter.” The corner of his mouth hooked up slightly. “I am really to have you and Vilhelmina by my side, otherwise I don't know how I'm going to step over this hurdle.”

As soon as the words left his mouth, Maximilian rubbed himself up. He then reached out and wrapped his hand around my shoulders. I could see Maximilian seemed to have made up his mind.

“I've thought it over, my wife. No matter what the court decides and how the hospital disciplines me, as long as you and my daughter are by my side, everything can start from scratch. The big deal is that I will pay money to the families of the victims and go in and squat for two years. I then go abroad to open a clinic and continue to be a doctor. You'd better not say anything to Vilhelmina about this matter for now, honey. Tomorrow is her birthday, I want her to have a good time.”

I nodded. Looking at his longing expression full of relief, I sneered in the bottom of my heart. ‘Maximilian Kostomarov, tomorrow you will know the truth. If nothing unexpected happens, we should not see each other again.’ 

***

Today was Vilhelmina's birthday. The funeral parlor called me early in the morning to inform me that the cremation procedures were ready. I dragged the suitcase as I was about to go out. But I heard a knock on the door. It was Kimberly Beadsworth, an uninvited guest.

“What’s wrong? Why are you here?”

Before I could say anything, she stretched out her leg and squeezed in. Before I had time to react, a slap was thrown in my face.

“This is what you get for making a fool out of me in the office. After Mr Maximilian asked for the quilt back, Benedict's sickness started back and forth again and it's all your fault!”

I touched my throbbing cheek.  A few seconds later I slapped her with my backhand.

Kimberly shouted, “How dare you?.”

Kimberly didn't expect me to hit back. She still stared in shock.

I shouted, “What do you mean, Kimberly? You're splashing around in my house first. Why can't I fight back?”

Kimberly answered by shouting, “Arabelle Moonstone, you are bitch. You know that Mr Maximilian has me in his heart, but you still want to occupy the latrine without doing anything!”