Chapter 2

Mr. Ethan sucked in a breath and stood up to go. “I won't help you anymore. As a therapist, I can't watch her struggle between death and loving you. You can stare at her arms covered in scars and feel nothing. I can't.”

Carter shifted to block his way, then laughed and blew a ring of smoke right into his face.

“Don't act like you're above this. You were my accomplice from the beginning. What makes you any different from me?”

“If you won't do it, I'll pay top dollar and hire your notorious student. If he does it, I won't have to worry about loose ends. Sure, he might try to blackmail me, but you know what I have the least shortage of.”

Carter laughed.

Mr. Ethan's face flushed with anger. He ground out each word through clenched teeth.

“Fine. I'll help you. But if one day she truly remembers and comes for you. You'll be on your own.”

Carter laughed so hard tears welled up.

“Isn't that perfect? As her adoptive father, I can't marry Ava anyway. If I die taking care of Ava's biggest problem... what a worthwhile death.”

My fingernails dug into my palm. The searing pain was the only thing stopping me from barging in and strangling him right then and there.

I couldn't help but let out a bitter laugh. Damn it. I never thought my own husband would fall for our adopted daughter.

I was foolish, completely fooled by a man's lies.

But my mom? She didn't deserve any of this.

I forced the surging emotions down and made my way back to the bedroom, one hand braced on the wall, step by step.

When I looked at the dense lines of cuts on my arm, my heart went numb with pain. So numb that I couldn't breathe.

I grabbed the glass on the table and hurled it to the floor.

When I came back to my sense, shards of cracked glass were embedded in my hand.

Blood dripped from my palm, pattering down like a slow confession.

“Isabella!” Carter burst in.

He saw the blood spilling from my hand and hurried to the bedroom cabinet for the first-aid kit.

With gauze in his hands, his eyes red, he pleaded, “Isabella... I'm begging you. Don't do this to yourself.”

He wrapped the gauze around my hand, his voice lowered, almost humble. “If you're in pain, you can take it out on me...”

If the sting in my palm wasn't reminding me, I might've believed his performance.

He knew I loved him. He knew I couldn't bring myself to hurt him so he said it on purpose.

He wanted me to feel guilty. He wanted my worry for him to swallow me whole again.

“Isabella, you've already atoned for your mom. Stop punishing yourself. If you die... what am I supposed to do?”

Clearly, Carter thought I was trying to kill myself.

He pulled me into his arms. His whole body was trembling.

Because of him, my life was already destroyed.

In his heart, he wanted me to keep suffering. He wanted me dead so Ava could be at ease.

But this life of mine... my mother bought it with hers.

Even if I hurt myself again, Carter still tried to hypnotize me once more.

The familiar suggestions pulled me back, again and again, through that painful scene.

But this time... I saw it clearly.

The person holding the gun wasn't me.

It was Ava, my daughter.

I watched her go from being innocent to standing there, aiming a gun at her grandmother.

When the hypnosis ended, my face was soaked in tears.

Mr. Ethan slid a tissue out and handed it to me. He looked like he wanted to say something like he couldn't bear it.

But before he could speak, Carter politely ushered him out.

Like always, Carter went to the kitchen to make dinner.

And if I wasn't wrong, the soup I drank every day had drugs mixed into it.

The dinner that used to make me feel warm now looked like proof of every sin.

“Aren't we waiting for Ava to come home for dinner?” I asked.

Carter glanced at the clock, then carefully blew on the soup to cool it. “Did you forget? Ava's at a class party.”

Right then, his phone rang.

I heard Ava's voice on the other end.

“Dad... I got hit by a car. Am I going to die?”