The day my girlfriend’s condition worsened and she needed urgent surgery, I publicly called her a burden in front of everyone. Despite her pleas, I abandoned her cruelly.

Seven years later, she became a formidable international tycoon and returned home with great fanfare.

To exact her revenge on me, the heartless man, she poisoned my mother into silence and sent my father to prison.

Eager to see me beg for mercy, she mobilized every connection to track me down. At this point, her parents could no longer bear to watch.

With tears streaming down their faces, they revealed the entire truth.

“He died seven years ago to donate his organs to you!”

The day Sylvia Woods returned, she was the center of attention and the undisputed star of the show.

However, she had no desire to linger under the spotlight. The moment she stepped off the plane, she rushed over to a nursing home.

Damona Grant was being held there—my mother, and the biological mother of the man Sylvia had remembered and hated for seven years.

“Sylvia, let me out! How could you do this to me? Have you forgotten how I took care of you when you were with Charles?!”

“Don’t you dare mention Charles to me!”

Sylvia was breathless from rushing over, but she immediately lunged forward. She slapped my mother across the face and knocked her to the floor.

“How dare he claim he was ever with me? When I got ill again and almost died, he was the first to abandon me!

“Now, he has the audacity to bring up our past? Take a good look at your family. Do you even deserve me?”

Furious, Sylvia kicked my mother on the floor a couple more times.

In a fit of panic, I lunged forward to shield my mother’s body. Unfortunately, the heel on Sylvia’s shoe still landed squarely on her form.

Hearing my mother’s agonized cries, I came to a belated realization: I was dead.

I had been dead for seven years.

I was just a wandering spirit and powerless to protect anything.

“Sylvia, Charles didn’t abandon you! He...”

‘He donated his organs to you and chose death for himself.’

Seeing my mother hesitate to finish her sentence, I lowered my head and silently completed her words in my heart.

Even so, Sylvia refused to believe it. She already had the image of someone selfish and self-serving deeply ingrained in her head.

She would only see any explanation as an attempt to justify my actions.

“He didn’t? What kind of joke is that?!

“Back then, Charles cursed me in front of everyone and called me a burden. He said that he’d never marry a woman with a physical disability. I remember every single word!

“Let me get straight to the point. I came back to exact revenge on your entire family. No amount of persuasion will change my mind!”

Sylvia’s eyes blazed with overwhelming fury, while a bone-chilling smile formed on her lips.

She waved her hand, and several bodyguards immediately surrounded my mother. One of them held a bottle of unidentified medication.

“You and your husband did care for me once. But who’s to blame for raising such a ‘fine’ son?

“You love mentioning Charles, don’t you? Well, I detest hearing his name. So, I’ll poison you and turn you mute. How are you going to keep praising him after this, huh?!”

There was a ruthless glint in Sylvia’s eyes. The next moment, the bodyguards pinned my mother to the floor.

The transparent liquid flowed into her mouth continuously. Kneeling on the floor, I roared with fury and tried every possible method to save her. But not even the air around us stirred.

“Mom, Mom! Sylvia, please spare her! Let her go!”

My tearful cries could only come from the depths of my heart. By the time the bottle of medicine was empty, my mother had completely lost the ability to speak. She was only able to utter hoarse syllables.

Seeing my mother like that, my heart hurt more than if it had been carved out!

Yet, Sylvia’s eyes did not hold a shred of pity. She even recoiled in disgust as she took a step back.

It was as if she had completely forgotten that my mother had once stayed by her sickbed for two days and nights, sleepless, caring for her with unwavering devotion.

“Tell Charles that I won’t let him off the hook unless he begs for my forgiveness for his crimes.

“He can ignore me if he wishes. Let him test whether I mean what I say!”

I froze as I stared at Sylvia’s stunning yet resolute figure. For a moment, I felt dazed.

She had changed. She no longer seemed like the gentle and kind little girl who would cry sympathetic tears at everything she saw.

Sylvia’s influence reached far and wide. Suppressing the matter involving my mother would be as easy as snapping her fingers.

Yet, she chose not to hide it from my father. She sat at home with perfect composure, as though she was luring him into a trap.

Sure enough, my father knocked on her door the next day. His face was twisted with anguish as he sought justice for his wife of many years. However, he did not expect to be pinned to the floor the moment he stepped inside.

“Why are you alone? Where’s Charles? Is he hiding from me because he’s so afraid that I’ll seek revenge?”

Sylvia’s voice dripped with scorn, and she was oblivious to the flash of sorrow in my father’s eyes.

I begged my father to stop hiding the truth. I no longer cared about love or having any regrets.

Right then, I just wanted to trade my life for my family’s safety!

Finally, my father seemed to come to his senses. Choking back sobs, he slowly reopened my family’s wounds.

“Sylvia, you won’t get to wait for Charles anymore... He’s dead.”

The moment those words left his mouth, silence fell.

I watched as the look in Sylvia’s eyes shifted from scorn to shock before rage finally took over.

“Each one of you really is deplorable in your own ways.

“I gave you a day to figure something out, and this is the lie you came up with to fool me?!”

I had imagined countless ways Sylvia might react to my death. But I never thought she would not believe it.

To her, I was probably greedy and afraid of dying.

Why would anyone abandon a good life and choose death?

My father did not expect her reaction either. He seemed to open his mouth to defend me, but Sylvia silenced him with a slap.

“Shut up! I’ve run out of patience. I don’t want to hear another word from you.

“It looks like Charles is determined not to apologize to me. In that case, I see no reason to show him mercy either!

“You’re so fond of speaking up for your son, aren’t you? Well, I’ll use you to get back at him now. That should be okay, right?”

It sounded like a polite question, but each syllable laid out a path that led straight to my father’s doom.

Sylvia was ruthless. She raised her hand and plunged a knife into her chest. Then, she immediately flung the bloodied blade at my father’s feet.

“Attempted murder. Both witnesses and evidence are here. That should keep you locked up for the better half of your life.”

My eyes widened with fury. I could not believe this woman would stoop so low to exact her revenge on me!

My father was over fifty. How could he endure over a decade behind bars?

However, Sylvia did not care. She only wanted to do everything she could to make me miserable.

So, when the police arrived, she wept and wailed. She pulled no punches as she tarnished my father’s image.

She transformed him from an innocent victim into a vicious criminal motivated by greed.

My poor father had lived his entire life with a clean conscience. But he had to face this undeserved calamity because of me!

I was powerless and forced to watch helplessly as the police dragged him away.

His cries of “I’m innocent!” shattered my heart.

The forged evidence was complete, and Sylvia also invested a significant amount of money to establish connections at every level.

So, there was almost no doubt that my father would be sentenced to 15 years in prison.

The day the verdict came out, my mother fainted by the stands from anger.

From that day onward, she began running around to clear up my father’s tarnished name.

However, she underestimated how capable Sylvia was. Sylvia had already forbidden every lawyer from taking over her case.

No one was willing to offend Woods Group for such a lost cause.

My mother cried and had nowhere to air her grievances. She could only seek Sylvia again and beg her for mercy.

In the Woods household, Sylvia looked down at her with condescension. She was incredibly satisfied with how dejected my mother was.

“If you’re here to tell me Charles’s whereabouts, I’m sorry to tell you that I don’t care anymore.

“I figured, why should I forgive him? He hurt me so deeply at that time. Why should I write things off with him?

“So, it’s useless to say anything now. No one in your family can run away!”

Sylvia’s eyes were full of cruelty. I stepped closer to look at her and found only resentment, nothing else.

The day I insisted on breaking up with her, she stopped loving me. So many years had passed since then.

I still remembered Sylvia lying in a hospital bed. Her eyes were full of disbelief when she heard me say I wanted to break up with her.

I had always known that she had a serious congenital disease. But I never treated her differently because of it.

Instead, when everyone laughed at her, I was the first to stand up for her.

This was precisely why those words hurt even more when I said them.

“Sylvia, I’ve been putting this off because I didn’t want to upset you. But the truth is, I’ve wanted to break up with you for a long time.

“You won’t be any help to me in the future. You’re just a burden to me, and you could die at any time!

“I’m tired of being with you for so many years. So, can you please let me go? I’m begging you. Stop pestering me!”

Sylvia’s face turned pale, but I ignored it and hurt her completely in one breath. But no one knew that my own heart hurt so much that I wanted to die too.

I had loved her for three years. How could I ever want to see her sad?

At that time, Sylvia was about to fall into a coma. Yet, she still held my hand in her half-conscious state.

“Don’t leave me, Charles… I promise you that I’ll take good care of myself and be cured…

“Please don’t leave me. I’ll be good in the future... I can be cured. I’ll try my best to be normal. Don’t break up with me, okay…?”

Right before she lost consciousness, I tried to break free from her grip. She saw me leave with a cold and determined expression.

It was the same expression she was showing my mother in the present.

My mother’s voice was destroyed. She could only bow and move her hands stiffly to communicate with Sylvia through sign language.

However, Sylvia had no patience. She frowned and told her bodyguard to try to drive my mother away.

“Listen. My parents are coming to see me later, so I don’t have time to waste with you.”

“Take my advice and get out of here! How dare you pollute my parents’ eyes? Don’t blame me if I drive your family to its end!”

This was a blatant threat, and everyone knew that Sylvia would do it.

My mother no longer dared to fight back on her own. She had to remain alive and wait for my father to come out.

I looked at her haggard figure and felt unspeakable sadness in my heart.

It was also the first time that I had regrets about saving Sylvia.