Chapter 3

3.

Lily didn't make it out of surgery. The doctor came out looking defeated. He said we arrived too late.

The world went black, and I collapsed onto the cold hospital tiles. I kept thinking about the parking lot. I could have saved her if I had the car.

Sienna took the car. She delayed her own daughter's chance at life. I hated her with every fiber of my being.

I spent the whole night crying in the morgue. The next morning, I pulled myself together to arrange the funeral.

I tried to reach Sienna through every app possible. She ignored everything.

Instead, she was posting photos on her social media. She and Garret were acting like college sweethearts―going to the fair, bungee jumping, eating cotton candy.

While she was laughing, Lily was lying in a cold metal box. Sienna didn't offer a single word of explanation.

If I could turn back time, I never would have agreed to this "mercy mission" for Garret. I thought I was being a supportive husband. I was just being a fool.

Three days later, Lily was buried. Sienna hadn't come home once. She hadn't even checked in.

I sat on the couch, staring at Lily's framed photo. My soul felt like it had been shredded.

My mother was next to me, weeping uncontrollably. "It's a sin. Sienna killed her own daughter on her birthday."

Suddenly, my new phone rang. It was Sienna.

"Luke, what the hell is wrong with you?" she snapped. "You're telling people Lily is dead just to make me come home? Are you even human? That's our daughter!"

"You still remember she's your daughter?" My voice was a low growl.

"I'm telling you, Sienna. Lily is gone. She died while you were busy screaming Garret's name."

The line went silent for a long time. Finally, she stammered, "I... I don't know what you heard, but I haven't done anything inappropriate with Garret."

"Stop lying to me!"

"Look, I know I didn't handle the birthday party well. But you saw Garret. He would have killed himself! Just stay hidden for a few more weeks until he's stable."

"Then we'll throw Lily a new party. I'll make it up to her. Tell her I'm sorry, or put her on the phone."

Garret's accident was three months ago. The day it happened, Sienna dropped everything to stay by his side for a week.

When she came back, she begged me to let her play along with his amnesia. She said he had no one else.

I had believed her because we had been married for seven years. I thought our bond was unbreakable.

But every ounce of trust I gave her was met with more betrayal. And now, it had cost Lily her life.

"Lily will never hear your apology," I said, looking at her sweet smile in the photo.

"You shoved her when you left. It triggered her heart. She's dead, Sienna."

My mother snatched the phone from my hand. "You better get your ass home and beg your daughter for forgiveness, or I'll kill that lover of yours myself!" She slammed the phone down.

The next morning, Sienna finally showed up. Lily had been buried for less than twenty-four hours. The living room was still filled with funeral flowers and incense.

Sienna didn't look sad. She looked pissed. She swung her designer bag and hit me across the head with it.

"How dare you make a shrine for a living child! You're sick, Luke!"

I grabbed the death certificate from the table and shoved it into her face. "You think this is a game?"

The paper fluttered to the floor. She looked down, and her eyes went wide.