Chapter 6

After hanging up the phone, I held the small handful of my mother's remaining ashes and returned to the home we once shared.

The mother who once smiled and frowned, whose eyes held only me, was now reduced to this tiny handful of ashes, kept in a simple box.

I could no longer hold back and burst into sobs.

To ensure her a peaceful passage, I took her urn to St. Patrick's Cathedral in Chicago to pray for her.

Just as the priest was praying for my mother's soul, Isabella appeared before me, her face glowing with health.

She didn't look like someone who had just undergone surgery at all. She saw my mother's memorial portrait, her face filled with smug satisfaction.

"Oh, she's finally dead! You have no idea how much effort it took for me to switch her with that dummy!"

"Stella,I wanted you to watch with your own eyes as Dante drowned your mother for me. Oh, and by the way, did you know? When I had her cremated, I found that all her organs had rotted from being soaked in the lake water. Such a tragic way to die—"

As she spoke, Isabella clapped her hands in delight.

In that instant, all the blood in my body seemed to rush backward, and a sharp pain shot through my entire being.

I went berserk, grabbing Isabella's hair and slamming her head to the ground.

Again and again, without a shred of mercy.Isabella’s face was covered in blood from the impact, but she didn't care at all, a provocative smile plastered on her face.

"You don't actually think this is enough to avenge your mother, do you? In your dreams!"

Before I could react, she dropped to her knees in front of me, crying and pleading.

"Stella, I was wrong. I shouldn't have wanted your kidney, and I shouldn't have made Dante fall in love with me."

"Please, let me go... It hurts so much..."

Dante arrived just in time to see this scene, and he sent me flying to the ground with a single slap.

"Stella!"

"How dare you? Hurting her again and again! Is it because I've been too easy on you?!"

I sprawled pathetically on the floor and let out a scoff. Such clumsy acting, yet Dante condemned me without even asking a single question.

Seeing me like this, he said, his eyes filled with loathing,

"You really are your mother's daughter, just like that crippled mother of yours!"

At the mention of my mother, my eyes reddened with fury as I glared at him.

"Dante, don't you dare mention my mother! You murderer, you don't have the right!"

Seeing that my grief and indignation didn't seem feigned, Dante hesitated for a moment, just about to say something.

Isabella shrank pitifully into his arms, her voice a sob.

"Dante, I can't breathe… Stella said she put a pile of cigarette ash in the urn to curse me. It must be working."

Hearing this, the man, who had looked doubtful just a moment ago, instantly turned as cold as ice.

He picked up the urn from the floor, opened it, and his expression turned vicious.

I frantically shook my head, begging desperately.

"Don't—"

"Dante, that's my mom..."

Before I could finish, his hand slackened, and the urn vanished without a trace in the flames.

"No—!"

I screamed until my voice was hoarse, plunging my hands into the fire. Blisters of all sizes immediately erupted on my skin.

But still, I couldn't find even a single speck of my mother's ashes…

I collapsed on the floor, my sobs tearing through my lungs, but Dante simply looked at me as if I were a mad woman before turning to leave with Isabella in his arms.

He left me with only one sentence:

"Next week is Isabella's birthday. If you come and apologize to her then, I'll pretend this never happened, and I'll let your mother continue to stay in her hospital room."

I remained silent.

A week later, having not received the apology he was waiting for from me, Dante stormed furiously into my mother's former hospital room.

He pushed open the door, only to find the room completely empty.

His heart plummeted.

Just as he was pulling out his phone, his assistant rushed in, his face pale with terror.

"Boss, they said the madam's mother passed away a week ago!"

"And the madam is missing!"