A strange unease crept over me.
I realized something must have happened to him.
Taking advantage of my trip to buy groceries, I hailed a cab to his hideout.
I arrived just in time to see him being escorted out of a dark basement by the police.
People around stopped to watch and discussed.
“I heard he’s mentally ill, stealing corpses.”
“I even heard the corpse he stole was his own daughter. How could a father be so cruel?”
The voices were loud and chaotic, echoing in my ears.
I knew everything was over.
James had been arrested, and it was very likely he would turn me in.
Cold sweat rolled down my forehead as I quickly turned to leave.
Antonio stood just a few steps away, a dark look on his face.
“Miria, what are you doing here? Do you know him?”
1:57 PM
<
Chapter 6
He slowly moved toward me, his eyes filled with deep suspicion.
I took a deep breath, trying to stay calm.
Then my expression shifted, and I slapped him across the face like a wild woman.
“Antonio, stop accusing me! I was just here to watch the commotion, and now you’re slandering me for having an affair? Look at you. Your own daughter is dead, and you don’t care. You didn’t let me report it, locked me up in a mental hospital…
“Do you know what kind of hellhole that place was? Amy is up there looking at you, can’t you see?”
I intentionally raised my voice, drawing the crowd’s attention.
At the same time, I rolled up my sleeves to show the deep scars and marks on my arms.
“Miria, calm down.”
Antonio tried to push me away.
But when his eyes landed on the crisscrossing scars on my arms, he froze.
He was speechless, his face a picture of frustration and guilt.
Then, the crowd closed in.
Their thoughtful gazes made him so ashamed he couldn’t look up.
“Miria, I didn’t… Let’s go home and talk.”
He realized he was in the wrong.
Unable to bear the strange looks from others, he grabbed me and rushed off.
Clearly, he had forgotten to question why I was there in the first place.
Once we were home, he genuinely seemed to repent.
He took me to the hospital to apply medicine, treat my wounds, and remove the scars.
He wouldn’t let me do any housework.
Fearing that I might be hurt by seeing Amy’s things, he even tidied up the house again.
Although I knew his actions were just pretending, I still put on a show of being deeply moved.
A few calm days passed, and then I overheard him secretly talking to Evelyn in the restroom.
“Antonio, I want to build an elementary school in my hometown in Julia’s name, to help her accumulate luck in her next life. It’ll cost five million dollars, but I’m a bit short on funds…”
Antonio paused for a moment before responding hesitantly.
“Evelyn, it’s not that I don’t want to, but the company is in the middle of a big project, and our funds are tight.”
“But you still have 15% of the shares, don’t you? Anyway, Amy is dead, so it’s not like you’ll need them. Why not cash them in and use the money for Julia’s benefit?”
“I’ll think about it.”
It was clear that Antonio was tempted.
1:57 PM d
<
But no one could take what belonged to Amy.
After that day, I started having frequent nightmares.
I would wake up and cry, throwing myself into Antonio’s arms, crying.
“Amy, don’t go!
“Antonio, I dreamed Amy came back. She was standing at the head of our bed, crying, saying she wasn’t happy in heaven and was always
being bullied.
“My poor daughter, no one is helping her accumulate luck for her next life. She’s going to become a wandering soul, a lost ghost.”
At first, Antonio patiently tried to calm me down, telling me not to overthink.
But after several days of tormenting nightmares that left me drained and exhausted, he finally gave in.
“Miria, Amy will be fine. How about this? I’ll sell the shares I was going to leave her and use the money to build a school in Amy’s name. That way, she’ll be blessed.”
“Really? Thank you.”
That was exactly what I had been waiting for.
Fearing that things might drag on the next day, I urged him to handle the matter immediately.
Evelyn, his secretary, naturally knew about it too.
I overheard the office staff say they had a heated argument.
That night, I received a message from her.
[Miria, don’t get too smug just yet!]
I sneered at the message.
Without a second thought, I deleted it.
To me, everything was settled. She wouldn’t get those shares.
