My Wife Chose Her First Love Over Our Daughter’s Final Goodbye—Then Lost Her Mind at the Sight of Her Ashes

I collapsed to my knees, clinging desperately to the doctor’s hand despite how pathetic I looked. “Please, you have to save her. It was only a fever. How could you not bring her back? Please, I’m begging you…” “I’ll kneel and kowtow if you want. I’ll kowtow to you…” I slammed my forehead against the floor again and again until it was red and swollen. The doctor couldn’t bear to watch and hurriedly helped me up, his voice heavy with sorrow. “I’m sorry for your loss, Mr. Reed.” “You can go inside and take one last look at the deceased.” All the blood in my body seemed to freeze, and in an instant, I lost every bit of strength. I moved mechanically into the operating room and lifted the white sheet with trembling hands, revealing Sophie’s bruised and purple face. Her once fair, delicate face was covered in dried tear tracks, twisted with unbearable pain. The doctor had closed her eyes, but my daughter had died unable to rest in peace. I touched Sophie’s cold little hand and tightly clutched the prayer beads she had worn since birth in my palm, sobbing so hard I could no longer make a sound. After a long while, I tremblingly used my phone to call Claire Bennett. The phone rang for a long time before Claire finally answered. “Ethan Reed, do you know that Jason was pushed down the stairs by your precious daughter?” Her voice was filled with anger and impatience. “I have to stay with Jason. I don’t have time for you.” At the same time, the hotel front desk’s checkout announcement came through the receiver. In that instant, a furious rage nearly burst through my chest. So while I was rushing around the hospital in panic, kneeling and begging one doctor after another, while my daughter was being shocked again and again, and even while she had finally become a cold corpse… Claire had been getting a hotel room with Jason Miller! A powerful wave of nausea rose into my throat. I staggered into the bathroom, gripped the toilet, and vomited until the world blurred around me, my brain going numb. Tears fell together with stomach acid. I wiped at my mouth carelessly, my face covered in tears. The scalding tears struck the back of my hand one after another. I hugged my head tightly, laughing and crying at the same time. It wasn’t until dawn that I returned home in a daze. Claire was smiling as she peeled shrimp for Jason and brought one to his lips. The moment she saw me, all the warmth vanished from Claire’s eyes. She rolled her eyes impatiently. “Where have you been messing around? Where’s that little animal? Tell her to get over here and kneel before Jason to apologize in person.” “Jason has a performance in a couple of days. If he can’t go onstage, I’ll cripple that brat’s other leg too! She’s been rotten since she was little. Who knows what kind of evil things she’ll dare to do when she grows up!” “Don’t think locking her up for two days will make this go away! I’m going to discipline that brat properly today!” That little animal… A sense of absurdity and despair rose inside me. So that was what she called her own daughter. “She can’t come.” After going a full day without drinking even a drop of water, my voice was hoarse and unpleasant. The moment I finished speaking, Claire flew into a rage and threw a bowl of hot soup at me. Oil splashed all over my face, leaving me utterly humiliated. “Ethan Reed! That brat turned out this way because you spoiled her! And now you still have the nerve to protect her!” “If that brat doesn’t come here and apologize to Jason today, don’t even think about getting her leg fixed! She can be crippled for the rest of her life!” I clenched my teeth so tightly that my entire body trembled, as if I were seeing the woman in front of me for the first time. Even a wild animal wouldn’t harm its own young. Yet she had personally broken our daughter’s leg! “Claire, let it go. Sophie probably didn’t mean to do it.” Jason grabbed her arm and smiled gently. “It’s only a sprained ankle. She’ll be fine in a few days. The child’s health matters more.” He gave me a seemingly casual glance, but the smugness in his eyes was impossible to miss. Sure enough, his words made Claire’s face turn livid. “Bang!” She slammed her palm on the table so hard that the entire room seemed to shake. She looked at me as if her eyes were poisoned blades. “Where the hell did you hide that brat? Tell her to get over here right now!” “She’s dead.” I stared at her and forced the words out one by one. “She died at the hands of her own mother.” “You’re still pretending!” Enraged and humiliated, she stormed over to me and raised her hand high. I grabbed her by the collar and finally lost control. Tears and snot streamed down my face as I roared, “Sophie is dead! She’s dead!”“It was all because of Jason’s lies! You insane woman, you broke our daughter’s leg, and she died from a dangerously high fever! She was killed by you and that bastard!” “Claire Bennett, you killed your own daughter with your own hands!” Claire’s face froze for a moment before she viciously kicked me in the stomach. I stumbled backward several steps and crashed heavily into the corner of the table. The burning pain in my stomach completely tore away the last of my reason, and cold sweat broke out across my forehead. “Dead, dead, dead! All you ever do is use death to scare people!” “Do you think I’m stupid? How could you even come up with such a ridiculous excuse?” “That brat has the same disgusting blood as you in her veins! You father and daughter disgust me! You’ll do anything to get what you want. You’re shameless!” “Even if she’s dead, she has to crawl over here and apologize to Jason before she dies!” At that moment, my heart felt as if it had been pierced by thousands of needles. The pain was beyond anything I could endure. Nearly losing my mind, I screamed at the top of my lungs, “Then go see for yourself! Our daughter’s body is lying in a refrigerated drawer at the funeral home!” Claire had never seen me so broken and out of control. She stood frozen for a moment, her red lips parting and closing without a word. “Claire, my foot hurts so badly. I won’t be able to dance ever again, will I?” Jason covered his ankle in pain. The moment Claire’s expression began to soften, her face darkened again, and she hurried anxiously to his side. Then she suddenly looked at me. “I remember you’re good at massage. Give Jason a massage right now.” My head went “buzz.” I stared blankly at the woman I had loved for five years, then suddenly laughed. Cold tears slid down my face. Jason looked at me, barely able to hide his smugness as he raised an eyebrow. “Ethan, could you do that for me? I’ve been meaning to find a good masseur, but Claire probably doesn’t trust anyone else. She’s always said your hands are the best.” I staggered to my feet and lowered my eyes, hiding every emotion inside me. Then I walked toward Jason one step at a time. Under their contemptuous gazes, I suddenly grabbed the dining table and flipped it over. “How dare you two! How dare you! My daughter is dead, so how can you sit here enjoying yourselves like this?” Bowls and plates crashed across the floor. Oil splattered all over Claire and Jason, leaving them both in a miserable state. I punched Jason out of his wheelchair and pinned him beneath me. I struck him again and again, and he was completely unable to defend himself. Claire reacted and rushed forward, shoving me down with a dark expression before helping Jason back up. “Hold this lunatic down!” The bodyguards pressed me firmly to the floor until I was limp as a pile of mud. Claire grabbed my hair in fury and slapped me across the face, making my ears ring. “What the hell is wrong with you? How dare you attack Jason!” Still furious, she kicked me hard twice more. I let out a muffled groan of pain, and the prayer beads I had been clutching in my palm rolled onto the floor. Claire casually picked them up and let out a disdainful laugh. “You even brought the beads that brat always wore to beg for sympathy. Do you really think you two are worthy of them?” I suddenly realized what she meant, and my pupils contracted. “Don’t!” The moment the words left my mouth, she yanked the prayer beads apart beneath my terrified gaze. They broke into pieces. The beads clattered all over the floor. Several even rolled beneath the dining table and became coated in grease. I broke free from the bodyguards like a madman and crawled over in panic like a dog, carefully picking up the beads one by one. I clutched them in my palm as if they were priceless treasures, my eyes filled with grief. “Don’t be afraid, Sophie. Don’t be afraid…” Claire stared at me, her expression extremely ugly. After a long silence, she forced the words out through clenched teeth. “Take this lunatic outside and make him kneel. Let him come to his senses.”