Chapter 2

Ethan took our daughter to the hospital for a tetanus shot and sent me a warning message.

He said he would never let me near our daughter again, saying I was a completely unfit mother.

I had no way to defend myself. Even if I told him everything that had happened, he wouldn't believe me anyway.

I also wanted to believe that everything before was just a dream, but now the facts were right in front of me.

For my daughter's safety, I couldn't just sit back and do nothing.

After Lily came back from the hospital, she ignored me completely, following Ethan around with an indifferent expression.

Only when Ethan mentioned taking her to the amusement park tomorrow did Lily's eyes light up a bit.

The next day, Ethan warned me again.

"You just stay home and reflect on yourself! Rachel, this family is ruined because of you!"

The door slammed shut with a loud bang, leaving only my helpless figure in the villa.

Gritting my teeth, I got into an inconspicuous black sedan and followed Ethan's car.

Through my phone's location tracking, I knew they were heading to Seaside Amusement Park.

The largest and best-equipped amusement park in the city.

But on the weekend, it was packed with people, and in a moment of carelessness, I followed the wrong person.

By the time I realized it, Lily and Ethan were long gone.

This was bad.

What if something happened to Lily because I wasn't watching her?

Unable to accept that outcome, I frantically pushed through the crowd.

People I bumped into gave me looks of contempt and anger, but I couldn't care.

After searching for ages, as the clear sky turned to sunset glow, I still hadn't found them.

Had they already left?

After rushing around for hours, I was exhausted.

Looking at my phone, Ethan hadn't sent me any messages.

Suddenly, I remembered that Lily had always wanted to ride the Ferris wheel.

And this amusement park's Ferris wheel only opened in the evening near nighttime, because the fireworks show looked better at night.

I ran toward the Ferris wheel again.

When I arrived, the Ferris wheel had just started.

Looking at each cabin one by one, I finally spotted Lily.

My legs gave out and I fell to my knees.

Why was Lily alone in that cabin?

She was still bouncing around inside, completely unaware of how dangerous her situation was.

Where was Ethan?!

The Ferris wheel operator was still wearing headphones, swaying to the music, completely oblivious to the little girl alone in the cabin.

I wanted to go stop it, but then I saw a figure even more panicked than me.

It was Ethan. He threw down the ice cream in his hand, rushed up and grabbed the operator by the collar, demanding he stop the machine.

The operator was confused by the confrontation and hadn't even taken off his headphones yet.

Thinking Ethan was just causing trouble, the two immediately got into a scuffle.

Then I heard Lily's shouts—her cabin had reached the highest point.

She was excitedly looking at Ethan, and what made my vision go dark was this:

Her cabin door had somehow opened.

Without hesitation, I pulled the headphones off the operator.

"Stop the machine now! My daughter is only five years old, and she's up there alone!"

Ethan looked at me in shock, as if he hadn't expected me to be there.

The operator snapped out of it, and when he looked up to check, he was terrified too, scrambling to shut down the machine.

I wanted to tell Lily not to move, but she wouldn't listen to me at all.

The next second, she lost her footing and fell.

My face went white, and pure adrenaline propelled my body to save her.

Fortunately, Lily wasn't too far from the ground, otherwise catching her with my bare hands would have been more than just a fracture.

The sound of bones cracking echoed, but after realizing I'd broken something, I felt lucky.

Because I'd successfully caught Lily. But Lily's heart-wrenching cries forced me to open my eyes.

I couldn't believe it—in my view, Lily's left hand was a bloody mess.

Just then the Ferris wheel finally stopped, the gears ceased turning, and a bloody severed hand fell from between them.

I must not have noticed—Lily's hand had gotten caught in the gears.

"Daddy!" Lily cried in my arms, calling for Ethan.

No one cared whether I lived or died. Ethan's harsh rebuke fell on me.

"Rachel! The rescue team was already here—what are you interfering for?! Because of you, Lily is going to be disabled!"

I collapsed weakly on the ground and looked around. The rescue team's markings were painfully glaring to my eyes.

The second day's dream had come true after all.

And it was because of me.