NovelNext Chapter 9
Chapter 9
Greatest failure of my life.
Jack didn't want a divorce.
"Lucy, from now on, I'll be fully committed to our marriage. Once you've healed from losing Ella, we can try for another baby. This time, I promise I'll be a good father and take care of you. I won't screw it up again."
"As long as you agree not to divorce me, I'll accept any conditions you want."
He was delusional enough to think we could hit the reset button.
I nodded. "I can agree to that."
His face lit up, his entire demeanor changing as if the weight of the world had been lifted from his shoulders.
"As long as you bring Ella back to me!"
His smile froze. The joy drained from his face, replaced with pure shock.
For a second, he stood there, stunned, like someone had slapped him awake from a dream.
I felt absolutely nothing. No sympathy, no remorse.
"Just sign the papers. If you don't, I'll take it to court."
Seeing how determined I was, he reluctantly signed.
The moment I had the divorce papers in my hand, I exhaled in relief.
The past was finally behind me.
And a brand-new future was waiting.
Captain Quinn called, letting me know that Mandy had been diagnosed with mental illness after an evaluation. She had gone insane.
"If she's really insane, just send her to a psychiatric hospital for treatment!" I said, my tone flat, as if I had already moved past the pain of losing Ella.
Captain Quinn seemed relieved. But what he didn't know was that right after I hung up, I was on the phone with the director of the psychiatric hospital, offering him a generous sum to "take good care" of their new patient.
Someone who could hurt a five-year-old that way couldn't be that mentally fragile.
Even if she had gone mad, so what?
Did it erase the evil she'd done?
Did it make anyone else's pain go away?
The hospital director was skilled at making things happen. He didn't break any rules, but he found Mandy two very special neighbors, ones with violent tendencies.
I didn't keep track of Mandy after that. But three years later, I heard a rumor: a female patient at the hospital had slipped through the staff's radar, climbed to the roof, and jumped. By the time she hit the ground, she was unrecognizable.
On my 30th birthday, I got the best gift.
I kicked Jack out of the company and took over as CEO.
The company he and my brother had built was now completely mine, with no trace of him left.
To Jack, that company was everything.
Losing it was worse than death.
The day he left the company, it was pouring rain, just like the day we lost Ella.
Half an hour later, I got a message from him.
"Congratulations on getting what you wanted. I hope you find happiness for the rest of your life."
I glanced at it, then deleted it without a second thought. Just like every other message he ever sent. I erased him from my life completely.
At the time, I didn't know that would be the last message he'd ever send.
And I didn't know he'd sent it just before dying in a car crash.
Jack was gone.
He died in a car accident on a rainy day.
Just like our daughter.
Maybe this is what they call fate.