Chapter 3

All the way home, I gripped the steering wheel so hard my palms broke out in a fine sweat. The cruel conversation I had overheard at the cafe kept replaying in my mind on an endless, agonizing loop.

The moment I walked through the door, the living room I used to find so spacious and bright now only suffocated me.

I couldn't stay in this house full of lies for another second.

I marched straight into the bedroom, dragged a suitcase from the depths of the closet, and began packing my things with mechanical efficiency.

I grabbed a few essential pieces of clothing I wore often and all my important personal documents. The overwhelming desire to leave this place immediately was the only clear thought in my head.

Once I was mostly done packing, I walked down the hall to Liam's bedroom at the very end. Even though he had passed away, his room had been kept exactly as it always was.

I wanted to take Liam's favorite toy from when he was alive.

It was a vintage-style red electric toy car, a gift I had given him for his third birthday.

When he received it, he had thrown himself into my arms and declared he was the happiest boy in the world.

I pulled his toy chest out from under the bed, only to find it empty. The red electric car was gone.

Just then, the sound of a key turning in the lock came from the entryway downstairs, followed by a clear string of footsteps.

I stepped out of the room and looked down from the second-floor landing.

It was Kevin.

And walking through the door right beside him was Sarah.

Seeing the two of them standing side by side in my home so brazenly, the sense of betrayal and humiliation I had suppressed at the cafe instantly surged up in my throat.

I dug my nails hard into my palms, forcing the emotions down, and descended the stairs step by step.

"Where is Liam's toy car?" I demanded, stopping on the bottom step and glaring at Kevin.

Kevin was taking off his suit jacket, which Sarah received and hung up on the coat rack with practiced ease.

Hearing my voice, he frowned slightly, as if trying to recall what item I was talking about.

A few seconds later, he answered in a flat tone, "Oh, I gave that toy to Sarah's son, Jack."

My chest tightened violently at those words.

Beside him, Sarah clearly noticed my fiercely restrained expression. She immediately took a small step forward, putting on an anxious and innocent face.

"Emma, I'm so sorry," Sarah said, deliberately softening her voice. "The last time Jack came over to play, he accidentally saw that toy car. Kevin saw how much he liked it, so he just gave it to him."

She paused, sighing softly, and added in a tone that seemed to plead for understanding, "You wouldn't hold a grudge against a little kid over something like this, would you?"

It sounded like she was trying to smooth things over, but it was actually a thinly veiled accusation that I was making a fuss over nothing.

My body was rigid, my fingernails digging deep into my palms. My voice came out strained.

"That was Liam's toy." I ignored Sarah completely and shifted my gaze back to Kevin, gritting my teeth as I spat out every word. "That was the birthday present I gave him! You knew that."

Leaning against the entryway wall, Sarah responded with almost cruel entitlement, "But Emma, Liam is already gone."

That flippant remark made me instinctively take a step back.

"Just because he's gone, does that mean you can just take whatever belonged to him?" I looked at the two people before me, my eyes red with extreme fury, my voice shaking uncontrollably. "You've already... taken so much from him."

His father, his life... and after his death, you even strip him of his toys.

The man he called father was the very culprit who had robbed him of his life.

Kevin didn't catch the hidden meaning behind my words.

He showed obvious annoyance at my questioning. Pinching the bridge of his nose, his tone dripped with exhaustion and impatience. "Emma, what exactly do you want?"

"I want Sarah to give the toy back to me." I made my demand, leaving no room for compromise.

Seeing this, Sarah immediately put on a pitiful, wronged expression. "But Emma, Jack is lying in a hospital bed right now. He's very weak. He can't go for walks in the park like healthy kids, and he can't go to the playground. All he wants right now is that one toy car. Can't you be a little more considerate?"

"Then go buy him one at the store!" My emotions finally broke. Unable to maintain a calm facade any longer, I interrupted her sob story with a hoarse scream. "There are so many toy stores out there. Why do you have to steal my son's things? Are things stolen from other people really that much better?!"

"Enough, Emma!" Kevin raised his voice, his expression turning cold and stern. "He is already dead! That toy was just sitting there collecting dust. It's completely useless. Is it really necessary to throw such a fit over a piece of junk?"

All my sanity teetered on the very edge of snapping.

Sarah, who had been watching from the sidelines, saw that the atmosphere between us had hit rock bottom and immediately stepped forward, pretending to act as a peacemaker.

She closed in on me, grabbing my arm with both hands, feigning deep distress. "Emma, please, don't fight with Kevin because of me. It's all my fault..."

As she spoke, she yanked at my sleeve forcefully, tugging my arm left and right.

Out of sheer physical revulsion, I instinctively tried to pull my arm back.

But before I even exerted any force, Sarah suddenly let out an ear-piercing shriek, acting as if she had been violently shoved.

Deliberately using the momentum of my pulling away, she threw herself backward, falling heavily onto the cold floor and even knocking into the display shelf nearby.

"What are you doing?!" Seeing Sarah hit the floor, what little patience Kevin had left shattered completely.

A furious expression instantly twisted his face.

Completely refusing to hear any explanation, he lunged forward, raised his hand, and gave my shoulder a vicious shove before immediately dropping down to help Sarah.

The violent push caught me completely off guard.

Heavy and clumsy with pregnancy, my feet slipped violently under Kevin's brutal shove, and I rapidly lost my balance, falling backward.

My spine slammed hard against the floor with a sickening thud.

A tearing, agonizing pain instantly pierced through my entire body. A sudden spasm from my abdomen was so sharp it stole my breath for a split second.

Numbed by the excruciating pain, my consciousness swiftly slipped away into darkness.