Sophia’s Pov
I didn’t move. I couldn’t.
I just stared at the floor where my daughter’s ashes had scattered like dust.
The glass shards from the broken jar glinted under the chandelier light, mixing with what little remained of her.
My baby. My Ariella. Gone again–this time for good.
“Oops,” Renata giggled, clapping her hands like a child at a birthday party.
“Well, what’s left of that brat is now trash. Just like her mother.”
Something inside me snapped.
I lunged. “You bitch!”
I slapped her so hard her head jerked sideways, her wine glass crashing to the floor.
She screamed.
I grabbed her hair and yanked with everything in me, dragging her to the ground.
She clawed at my arms as I pinned her, my nails sinking into her scalp. All 1 could see was red–ashes, blood, pain.
“You evil, disgusting monster!”
“GET HER OFF ME!” Renata shrieked.
Two of Lorenzo’s guards burst into the room and ripped me off her.
My legs kicked. My nails were still full of her hair.
She scrambled behind the couch, sobbing and shrieking like she hadn’t just shattered the last thing I had left.
Lorenzo stormed in seconds later, eyes wide as he rushed to Renata’s side.
“Renata? Baby, what happened?!”
She buried her face in his chest, wailing.
“She’s gone mad! She attacked me, Lorenzo–she said she’d kill me!”
- AL—— IL. Tamil Pan ilan Ham Than
7:12 Tue, Sep 9
“She’s lying!” I yelled, “Please–just listen to me for once-
I tried to speak, but the moment I opened my mouth-
A heavy slap landed on my left cheeks that sent me reeling back with shock.
Then another, and another, and another until I lost count and all I could taste. in my mouth was blood.
My ears rang. My cheek was swollen. My knees buckled as he kept slapping me until I couldn’t hear anything but the rush of my own pulse in my head.
Tears streamed down my face. I looked up at the man I once loved, the mant who used to kiss my hands and promise to protect me forever.
“You never learn,” he muttered, “It seems I will stop paying your bastard’s hospital bills since you’re so stubborn.”
“You can stop paying her hospital bills,” I whispered through cracked lips. “You don’t need to anymore.”
His face darkened as he spat, “How do you intend to afford it, huh? By your continuous whoring around?”
I
“She’s dead, Lorenzo,” I said, the words tearing out of me like knives. “Ariella’s
gone.”
He froze. For a split second–he hesitated.
Renata pulled away from his chest and gasped, her voice thick with fake.
shock.
“That’s a lie! She’s lying! I–I visited Ariella this morning! That’s why she attacked me! She told me never to go near her daughter!”
“You liar! You didn’t go near that hospital…” I tried to speak again but Lorenzo interrupted me.
“You have a wicked heart,” Lorenzo snarled, eyes burning. “How dare you say that? You’ll say anything just to make her look bad.”
“Her ashes are right there on the floor!” I screamed, pointing at the shattered remains near the couch. “That’s our daughter–YOUR daughter!”
Renata held up her hand. A small, pathetic burn on her wrist.
“She burned me. She even burned papers and said they were Ariella’s ashes!”
7:12 Tue, Sep 9
“You have a wicked heart,” Lorenzo snarled, eyes burning. “How dare you say that? You’ll say anything just to make her look bad.”
“Her ashes are right there on the floor!” I screamed, pointing at the shattered remains near the couch. “That’s our daughter–YOUR daughter!”
Renata held up her hand. A small, pathetic burn on her wrist.
“She burned me. She even burned papers and said they were Ariella’s ashes!”
“You lying bitch-”
But it was too late.
Lorenzo’s fury snapped again.
“Maids! Sweep it up. Throw it out. I don’t want to see that filth on my floors.”
My world crumbled.
“No–NO! Please! Don’t touch it! That’s my baby! That’s my daughter!” I screamed, thrashing against the guards. “Please don’t sweep her away- PLEASE!”
I broke free for a second and crawled toward the ashes, my fingers reaching. But Lorenzo grabbed me by the hair and dragged me backwards, toward the kitchen.
“You really don’t learn, do you?”
“Lorenzo, no–PLEASE!”
He yanked my hand and slammed it onto the hot stove.
The scream that ripped from my throat didn’t sound human. I writhed and kicked, but he pressed harder until the skin sizzled and the pain exploded like lightning through my spine.
I crumpled to the floor, gasping, shaking.
But just as I saw the maids sweeping up my daughter’s ashes, I ignored the pain and ran toward them.
“Stop it!” I yelled, trying to grab their broom.
“Hold her down, she’s truly gone crazy!” Renata cried.
The guards held me as I thrashed in their arms sobbing profusely as the
maids gathered my daughter’s ashes and emptied them in the trash.
“No!” I cried. my heart shatterina.
Chapter 4 – Devil For A Husband
3/4 66.23
7:12 Tue, Sep 9,
“I was going to let you off this time but since you insist on continuing your charade I will teach you a lesson,” Lorenzo said.
But I wasn’t looking at him, I was crumpled on the floor massaging my burnt. hand as I stared into space.
“Beat her up!” Lorenzo ordered.
Suddenly, I recalled the doctor’s words.
“I’m pregnant!” I screamed. “I’m pregnant, Lorenzo–please–don’t-”
He stared at me for a second. Then-
He laughed.
“I’ve never touched you,” he spat. “So you can’t be. And if you are? Another bastard? I’ll make sure it doesn’t make it out.”
“No–please… Please, not again.”
But he was already moving.
His foot slammed into my stomach.
I screamed so loud the windows should’ve shattered.
Another kick and more followed as I curled up into a ball on the floor.
I tasted blood. I felt something rupture inside me.
“Stop–please–STOP-” I sobbed.
“You think I’m stupid? You think I’d raise another bastard?!” he roared.
Another kick.
“Lorenzo…” I whimpered.
Blood soaked through my dress. Down my thighs. Pooling on the cold tile.
He stood over me, chest heaving.
I stared up at him through blurry eyes. His face, once my salvation, now.
looked like hell itself.
You killed her, I thought.
And now… you’ve killed the only piece of me I had left.
The pain swelled. My vision spun.
