Chapter 4

I couldn't sleep at all, my mind filled with images of Levi walking away hand in hand with Meadow.

After showering, I crouched barefoot on the floor, trying to piece Mom back together.

But Levi had smashed her into such tiny fragments that no matter how hard I tried, it was utterly hopeless.

The harder I worked with my hands, the clearer the memories became in my mind.

Levi and I had gotten into college the same year, quickly attracted to each other. We grew closer and closer, becoming the five-star couple everyone admired.

On our one-year anniversary, Levi stood me up and disappeared without a word.

I panicked, staying up all night, calling everyone for help.

The next day, I found out that Meadow, a younger classmate, had been hospitalized, and Levi had spent the night at the hospital with her.

Later, I learned the truth from their mutual high school friends.

Levi had a crush on Meadow since high school. Back then, Meadow was the universally adored prom queen, solely focused on marrying into money. Levi's family was poor, so naturally, he wasn't even on Meadow's radar.

In their senior year, Meadow even dropped out of school to marry into a wealthy family.

But marrying rich isn't as easy as it sounds. Less than a year later, Meadow was kicked to the curb. Coincidentally, just then, she heard that Levi's family had received a hefty compensation from a demolition project. She eagerly followed Levi to his university.

However, there were even more rich kids at college than in high school. After Meadow got to know a group of second-generation rich kids through Levi's connections, she stopped paying attention to him.

That night, Meadow discovered her boyfriend was cheating and threatened suicide to make him stay.

Her boyfriend couldn't care less about Meadow's life or death. Meadow had no choice but to cut her wrist, but her boyfriend didn't fall for this trick at all.

Meadow was at a loss, but she couldn't swallow her pride. So she called Levi to come keep her company.

I looked at the wound on Meadow's wrist, which was as faint as a line drawn with a red pen, and laughed bitterly to myself.

Later, Levi promised me that he would never pay attention to Meadow again, and only then did we continue our relationship.

But Meadow's name remained a constant barrier between us, impossible to completely erase.

In the middle of the night, a notification suddenly popped up on my phone.

"Camera function activated, data transmission initiated."

I was stunned for a moment, then realized that the security camera installed at home must have been accidentally turned on and was now transmitting footage to my phone.

Filled with confusion, I pressed the view button, and was immediately confronted with an unbearable scene. In Meadow's meticulously arranged bedroom, she stood with her back to the camera, wearing seductive sleepwear as she removed the diamond bracelet from her wrist.

Levi, utterly inebriated, collapsed onto the bed without a care, mumbling incoherently.

Meadow approached slowly, but froze in her tracks when she clearly hears the name Levi is muttering.

"Vivienne... Vivienne... I miss you so much..."

Meadow's anger built with each word she heard. She impulsively grabbed a wine glass from the table and hurled it, splashing liquid onto the camera lens, causing the signal to cut out.

The final image before the interruption.

It's Meadow straddling Levi.

My thoughts were thrown into chaos, scrambling all rational thinking. In my panic, I accidentally brushed against my phone, illuminating the screen to reveal a wallpaper of Levi and me from our anniversary trip last year.

I numbly scrolled through the photos, unknowingly reaching a picture from my mother's crime scene.

A decorative bead in the photograph caught my eye.

I rummaged through my handbag, retrieving a bracelet identical to Meadow's.

Never before have I examined its ornaments as intently as I do now, after all these years. The image from the security camera was still fresh in my mind. I carefully compared the pictures. When I held Meadow's diamond bracelet up against the one in my hand, it was clear that hers was missing a bead!

And that very bead had turned up at the scene of my mother's fatal car accident!

Meadow - she was connected to my mother's death!