The next day, I put on a neat dress, getting ready to leave this place.

The real estate agency had already given me a clear answer. In three more days, this villa would be completely handed over to someone else.

I took hold of my suitcase, raised my head, and prepared to leave.

But my son’s girlfriend, Eulalie, suddenly showed up, looking at me with clear displeasure. “Aunt, the wedding is about to begin. Why are you still here? Is the gift ready? I’m going to open it right there later.”

While she talked, she ignored my struggles and dragged me straight to the wedding area.

When I saw the seat arranged for me at the wedding site, and Eulalie’s expression that allowed no refusal, I fought against it again and again, but in the end, I still remained.

After today, I would never see Jaxon again. A mother not missing her child’s wedding might have been the last gift I could give him.

With this thought, I began searching for a wedding gift I could hand to them.

Just then, a pair of hands suddenly pulled me up.

“What are you doing here?”

I jolted, and when I looked up, it was my son’s angry face.

He dragged me away from the seat and shouted, “This seat wasn’t set aside for you! How can you sit wherever you like? Why are you here? I don’t remember inviting you to my wedding!”

“I…” My voice quivered as I pointed at the card on the table that read “Mother.”

“Isn’t this seat for me? Am I not your mother?”

My son released a cold, sharp laugh.

“You already divorced my dad. This seat is for Aunt Gwynne. My mother now is, of course, Aunt Gwynne!”

I felt my whole body freeze.

“I took care of you for more than twenty years,” I said in a soft, strained voice.

“But you divorced my dad,” he said again, as if the moment I ended things with Ezekiel, I lost the right to call myself his mother.

“I was the one who raised you, I was the one who gave birth to you!”

I yelled without thinking, my body shaking all over.

My son stared at me like I was acting out for no reason.

Then I heard footsteps behind him as Ezekiel came closer with Gwynne holding a bunch of gifts.

“Heather? What are you doing here?” Ezekiel frowned.

“Forget it. Since she’s here, son, give her a seat. That spot over there is fine.”

Ezekiel motioned toward a corner chair like he was offering me a leftover place.

Gwynne nodded as well, as though she thought this was some sort of big honor for me.

“The wedding is starting soon,” she said gently, “older sister, don’t create trouble at a time like this.”

When I looked at all of them, my heart went entirely cold.

“No need,” I replied evenly. “I’m not so sad that I must attend a wedding where no one welcomes me.”

After speaking, I pushed my numb legs forward and tried to leave.

But Gwynne held onto me without stopping. She pulled at my clothes with force while frowning.

“Heather, stop now. I’ll hand you my seat.”

I tried with all the strength I had, but my power wasn’t equal to hers.

In our struggle, the dress I wore made a loud tearing noise.

The next moment, the dress ripped open fully, leaving me exposed in front of everyone.

“Ah!” I screamed, covering myself.

But Gwynne acted guilty and said, “Heather, I didn’t mean to.”

Ezekiel and my son looked at me with disgust, and at that moment, my older brothers rushed over.

“Enough! Heather, are you trying to ruin your son’s wedding completely? Get out right now!”

Ezekiel seized my arm with clear dislike, as though seeing me would infect him, and he tossed me out.

People around started pointing at me.

Ezekiel and my son even slammed the wedding doors shut, just to make sure I could not enter again.

It felt like my feet were on knives as I walked back to the villa, dazed.

Sunk in pain and shame, I did not pull myself together until the sky turned dark.

Just as I was about to walk away, Gwynne once again stopped in front of me.

Wearing a lazy smile, she looked at me with cold amusement. “Heather, you’re still as useless as ever.”

“Thirty years ago, I left on purpose so I wouldn’t have to marry Ezekiel, and I didn’t expect the Beaumont family to rise again so fast, so I had to make up some excuses.”

“I never thought they would accept it so easily. Even your son believes he came into this world for me. They all support me. If I were you, I would have died already.”

Gripping the handle of my luggage, I stayed silent and tried to walk away.

But Gwynne refused to move and stepped right toward me. “Heather, I really do admire how much you’ve put into Ezekiel and his son all these years. Now I don’t even need to give birth, and I still have a child who will honor me. Your husband treats me with endless gentleness. Since you have cancer and are nearing the end, I can tell you something true.”

She gave me a pitying look and dragged out her voice. “At that time, when your oldest daughter had that car accident, I was the one who told Ezekiel not to save her. Since she couldn’t be raised to obey, no matter how well we treated her, she still only saw you as her mother, so I had Ezekiel switch her out.”

Hearing this, my eyes went wide in shock, and tears pushed out all at once.

Before I had my son, I had a little daughter who was three years old, and she loved me the most and clung to me every single day.

But once, when Ezekiel took her out to play, an accident happened, and my daughter died right away.

I had thought it was an accident, but it was all planned by Gwynne.

Since she couldn’t take my daughter for herself, she simply worked with Ezekiel to get rid of her.

“Ah!!!” I yelled loudly.

The next moment, I threw myself at Gwynne and knocked her straight to the ground.

I struck her face over and over, each one rough.

In just a short time, Gwynne’s face puffed up.

“Crazy woman, Heather, you insane woman!”

Finally understanding what happened, Gwynne held her swollen face and yelled.

She stared at me in wild anger and made a phone call.

Very soon, I was surrounded by a group of people, held down harshly on the ground.

Gwynne pushed herself up and kicked me hard.

I suddenly threw up a mouthful of blood, but she was still not done, kicking my stomach again and again, her look twisted.

She glared at me with hate. “Heather, you have cancer. I first wanted to let you go, but you dared to hit me! And you hit my face!”

“I will never let this go! I will make you truly hurt, I will take everything from you, and I will make sure you die with no place to be buried!”

The next moment, I was beaten until I passed out.

.....

As soon as I woke again, Gwynne and I were tied close together, hanging far above a cliff.

Two ropes separately held each one of us up.

Gwynne coldly smiled. “Heather, guess how many of them, Ezekiel, Jaxon, and your brothers, will choose to help you?”

Right after her words ended, they reached the place.

The people she had called earlier suddenly acted like kidnappers and broke into loud laughs.

“President Beaumont, the two hanging here, one is the mother of your son, and the other is your newly married wife. Who will you choose? Of course, your son should choose his own mother, right?”

“I hope you make a choice fast, or I’ll cut both ropes.”

Right after he spoke, he picked up the pointed blade and ran it across the two ropes.

Gwynne and I at once started to swing.

Staring at the deep valley below, my face went very pale.

“Gwynne, you really are out of your mind! Aren’t you scared you might really fall?”

Gwynne let out a cold, small laugh. “They choose me.”

Down below, when Ezekiel and the others noticed the ropes moving, their faces all showed fear.

With wet eyes, Gwynne looked toward them and acted as she spoke in a soft, sad way, “Ezekiel, brothers, don’t help me, I'll be okay. Older sister only had me tied up because she wanted to see how much she mattered in your hearts. I'm okay. Pick older sister.”

With only that line, Gwynne pushed all blame for the kidnapping onto me.

She purposely turned her puffed face toward Ezekiel and the others, hinting that she was the one hurt.

Ezekiel at once felt a deep ache in his heart that showed on his face. My son and my brothers also stared at me with hurt in their eyes.

The kidnapper acted like he had been caught and hit Gwynne hard, yelling, “What nonsense are you saying?! I have nothing linked to Mrs. Windsleigh! You should make your pick fast, or I'll cut the ropes!”

Ezekiel looked at me with let-down eyes. “Heather, I never expected you to do a thing like this. I do not pick you. You can get down by yourself.”

“Ezekiel, Gwynne is the true one at fault. She paid the kidnappers. The reason I hit her was that she told me that before...” I tried to speak.

But before I could finish, Ezekiel cut me off right away.

“Stop! You say you hit Gwynne, right? I pick Gwynne. For Heather, do whatever you want with her. I will not give a single cent.”

He spoke this to the kidnapper, his face showing a cold lack of care.

“If Heather dies, then let her death be the cost for what she did!”

My son and my brothers stared at me with even more anger.

“If you want to die, then die by yourself. Why drag Aunt Gwynne with you? Anyway, if you have cancer, you will not live long. You'd better die early and reincarnate early.”

I stared at my son in shock, not thinking he would say something so harsh.

Seeing his pulled-tight face, old moments rushed back to me.

How he rested in my arms when he was small, how he turned red with joy while cheering for my birthday.

Each memory broke apart, replaced by the person standing in front of me now.

My brothers stared at Gwynne’s wounds with deep hurt, anger showing in their eyes.

“Heather, from the day you were found and brought home, you began fighting with Gwynne. She already left the Windsleigh family and gave Ezekiel to you. You still were not happy. Even when dying, you want to take her down with you!”

I stood and heard all their blame, and something in my heart stopped for good.

When he saw how I looked, Ezekiel paused for a short moment, as if he wanted to step closer.

Right then, the kidnapper cut the rope holding Gwynne and let her down.

Gwynne fell to the ground, crying in a helpless way, her cared-for face looking soft and sad.

Ezekiel could think of nothing else at that moment.

They all ran to gather around Gwynne, completely ignoring whether I lived or died.

The kidnapper looked at me and smiled mockingly.

Right at the right time, Gwynne passed out. They grew scared and quickly carried her to the hospital, and not one person turned back to me.

Only I stayed hanging above the cliff.

The sky turned dimmer, and the mountain wind turned stronger, making the rope swing hard.

All I could do was watch the rope slowly wear against the cliff, knowing it would not last long.

Just as I got ready to shut my eyes and accept dying, a pair of strong hands pulled me upward.

A known voice spoke close to my ear, “Heather, I’m sorry, I'm late.”

Hearing this, I finally couldn’t stop my tears.

After I got saved, I didn’t pick to go to the hospital first, but walked back toward the villa.

Before leaving, I needed to give Ezekiel and the others three big gifts.

The first gift, I set the cancer report on the coffee table in the villa, making sure they would see it as soon as they came back.

The second gift, I put it in Ezekiel’s study, the note saying the house would be sold, telling them to move out in one week.

The third gift, I told the company to pull back its funds in one week, and at the same time, send Ezekiel the audio of the truth Gwynne told earlier.

I wanted them to hurt, to fall into hell!

After I finished all of it, I grabbed my suitcase and left the villa, not turning around even once.

......

By the time Ezekiel and the others came back to the villa with Gwynne, it was already the next day.

Thinking about what happened yesterday, Ezekiel’s look still had not gotten better.

He stared at the messy coffee table near him, feeling even more annoyed.

Right when he was about to loudly blame Heather, he suddenly noticed a white document.

He coldly laughed. Heather even left the cancer report behind. Did she still think he would go soft?

With that thought, Ezekiel picked it up carelessly.

But after only one look, his eyes went wide in shock.

The name written on the cancer report was his name!