Parting of the Ways

My daughter, Lily, was hit and dragged for two whole miles by a drunk driver. I rushed her blood-drenched body into the emergency room. While the doctors saved her, I collapsed onto the floor in the hallway. With the last ounce of strength left in my body, I sent a text to my husband, Howard. [Lily is in critical condition. Get to the hospital now!] A few seconds later, my phone chimed with a reply. [Stay safe. I’ll be over as soon as I wrap things up here.] Chapter 1 My heart seized in my chest. Howard York had been sent on a work assignment three months ago, and ever since, this was the kind of reply I had received every single day. When I was injured by a piece of falling debris from a high-rise building, I clutched my bleeding leg and sent him a message. He replied instantly. [Rest up. Stay hydrated.] When my manager cornered me in the parking garage and verbally harassed me, I broke down in tears and messaged him, pleading for help. He replied instantly. [Don’t be scared. Everything will be okay.] Even on the night our daughter suffered an anaphylactic shock, I stood outside the ICU, my hands trembling as I begged him to hurry home. Still, he replied instantly. [Trust the doctors. She will pull through.] Right now, my phone vibrated again, displaying that same cold, distant reply. I stared at those words on the screen and suddenly burst out laughing. However, as I laughed, a bitter, metallic taste filled my mouth. Outside the emergency room, I received the same generic, AI-generated response with every message I sent him. He always claimed he was too busy and too tied up with work to step away. Since the day he left for his assignment, my entire world had been reduced to these automated replies, and along with my heartbreak, fear, and helplessness, they consumed me whole. As my daughter, Lily York, was wheeled into the operating room, I paced the hospital hallway like a ghost. Driven by anxiety, I decided to look for the attending doctor to ask about her condition. However, as I got to the door, my feet froze in place. A familiar voice was coming from inside the office. It was the voice of the husband I had missed day and night yet never got to see—Howard. “Howard, is this really worth it?” The doctor hesitated. “After all, she is your biological daughter. If your wife ever finds out…” My breath instantly hitched, and my whole body turned to stone. A faint sigh came from inside the room. “She will never find out.” He paused, his voice heavy with exhaustion. “I didn’t want things to come to this either. But Jolene broke her arm in the fall and lost too much blood. She has an extremely rare blood type, and no one else in the city is a match. Aside from Lily’s, we have no other choice.” “But you’re gambling with a child’s life here. What if something goes wrong during the surgery?” “As I said, she won’t find out.” His voice turned cold and firm as he cut the doctor off instantly. “I’m drawing the blood right now and sending it over to her hospital as soon as possible. As for Riley, keep her distracted for me.” “Keep me distracted?” I shoved the door open. Both men inside froze at the same time, their faces draining of all color as they stared at me. As I stepped into the room, my eyes locked dead on my husband's panicked expression. He instinctively tried to hide the blood bag in his hand. The label on it read: Rh-null, Pediatric, Emergency Dispatch. “What did you just say?” I asked, my voice shaking terribly. Tears refused to fall, but my insides felt like they were being ripped apart. “Say it again! What did you mean when you said you had no other choice aside from taking Lily’s blood? Did you orchestrate this car accident yourself?” His lips trembled as he reached out, trying to grab my hand. “Riley, listen to me. Things aren’t what you think–” “She’s our daughter!” I screamed, and the pent-up frustration of countless days and nights erupted along with the overwhelming hatred I felt in that moment. “She’s only four! She’s lying on that operating table with her life hanging by a thread! As her father, not only did you not come to check on her once, but you were secretly plotting to steal her blood just to save that female coworker you went hiking with?” “I just had no other option!” Driven into a corner, Howard’s eyes turned bloodshot. “Jolene only went up there because of me. I couldn’t just stand by and let her die!” “But you can stand by and let Lily die?” I grabbed the medical chart off the desk and hurled it at him. Pages flew everywhere as I roared, “You’re sleeping with her, aren’t you?” He avoided my gaze, falling silent. At that moment, as I looked at him, he suddenly seemed like a stranger to me. The last hope I had held onto died, along with that bag of blood. Suddenly, the door to the operating room opened, and a nurse rushed out in panic. “Lily York’s family? The patient is hemorrhaging and urgently needs a blood transfusion!” I looked at that bag of blood and lunged for it like a madman. However, he shoved me to the floor, pulled off his belt, and bound my hands and feet tightly. Then, he tore off a strip of heavy-duty tape and sealed my mouth shut. I shook my head frantically. Tears blurred my vision as a desperate sob escaped my throat. He covered my eyes, his voice trembling. “The entire city is sourcing blood. It will take ten minutes at most. Riley, Lily can wait…” He frowned, a fleeting trace of hesitation crossing his eyes. Suddenly, the intercom rang. The moment he heard the call, he let go and rushed off. “But Jolene can’t wait any longer.” I curled up on the freezing floor, listening to the nurse screaming frantically in the distance. “Lily York’s family?” Yet, all I could do was desperately twist my wrists until they were raw and bleeding, and blood trickled from the corner of my mouth. A few minutes later, the nurse announced, “Lily York’s family? I’m sorry, but she didn’t make it.” In that instant, my entire world fell silent. Chapter 2 Later that night, the sound of footsteps filled the air. “Riley!” Howard dropped to his knees, a trace of relief in his voice. “I managed to get the blood. It was a rare match. Lily will be fine now.” My body was limp as I murmured weakly, “Our daughter… is gone…” He frowned as he reached out and began untying the leather belt around my wrist, his movements rough and impatient. “When are you going to stop this? I don’t have time to explain things to you right now. Jolene’s surgery just ended, and she’s extremely weak. I need to go back and watch over her. She’s a single mother with no one to care for her. Who’s going to watch over her if I don’t?” When he couldn’t untie the knot, he simply gave up, stood up, and looked down at me. “You take care of Lily. Once Jolene is discharged from the hospital, I’ll come back to see her.” I stared at him, forcing out a raspy whisper, repeating, “Lily… is gone.” “I know you’re upset, but you can’t just take your anger out on me because of this.” He wasn’t listening at all. Instead, he impatiently adjusted his cuffs and continued, “Try to be a little understanding. Jolene is physically weaker to begin with, and with her breaking her arm, who will take care of her if not me? We’re married. If you’re upset, I can make it up to you later, but she can’t be left alone right now.” He pulled out his phone, apparently intending to call a caregiver in. “Stop throwing these childish tantrums, and look after Lily. If anything comes up, send me a message. If I have the time, I’ll reply.” Yet every time I faced danger and sent him a message, all I ever received was an automated AI-generated response. Seeing that I still wasn’t moving, he let out a sigh and tried to comfort me. “Alright, stop throwing a fit. Jolene’s situation is critical, so I’ll head over now. If you can’t take it anymore, once this passes, I’ll apply for a transfer back home, okay?” Then, without giving me another look, he turned around and left in a hurry. I closed my eyes. The tape over the corners of my mouth was completely soaked through with blood, and the torn wound burned with agonizing pain. However, all I could feel was the cold. As it turned out, in his world, the lives of both Lily and me were nothing compared to Jolene’s. When the nurse pushed the door open and walked in, she let out a terrified scream. “Mrs. York! How did you…” She frantically untied the leather belt, attempting to examine my injuries. However, I pushed her away and sprinted all the way to the morgue. Lily was lying there, her tiny body covered by a white sheet. With trembling hands, I pulled back a corner of the cloth, only to see her pale, lifeless face. There were still tears at the corners of her eyes. Once upon a time, Howard had been a good father and a loving husband, and memories of the past came flooding back. Back when we were newly married, he would carry me on his back across waterlogged streets on rainy days. He would hand me his paycheck the very second he got it. He would run across half the city just to get me my favorite pastries from that bakery downtown. The day Lily was born, he held that tiny, wrinkled baby in his arms and cried like a fool, saying, “Riley, thank you for giving me a family.” Back then, we were truly happy. How did things come to this? As I caressed my daughter’s ice-cold cheek, my heart felt like it was being carved to pieces. I regretted it. I truly did. If I had seen through his hypocrisy earlier… If I had taken Lily away from that cold, lifeless home sooner, would things be the same? I gathered Lily’s remaining belongings. Inside her backpack was a crumpled piece of paper. I unfolded it to reveal an essay she had written, titled “My Dad.” “My dad is a superhero. Even though he’s very busy, he promised he would take me to the theme park. Mom said Dad is fighting monsters far away, and once he’s done, he’ll come home and blow out my birthday candles with me. Dad, I’ve learned how to tie my shoelaces. When are you coming home to teach me how to ride a bike?” On the paper, three stick figurines were drawn holding hands. I clutched that piece of paper tightly, my fingernails digging into my palm until it broke the skin. When Lily needed him the most, when she was hospitalized with a high fever, when she performed on stage for the first time, when she was hit by a car and on the brink of death, Howard had never shown up once, and I shouldn’t go on waiting for this endless, directionless love anymore. The next day, when I submitted my resignation letter, Howard sent a message. It was still that familiar, robotic AI response. [Take care of yourself. Don’t overwork yourself.] That message made me throw my phone into the trash can. At that moment, I finally came to my senses. In his heart, I would always be that foolish woman who would swallow my pride for the sake of the family and wait for him to come home no matter what he did. I had spent five years thinking about that assignment I was offered as the director of overseas projects. Five years ago, I had just gotten pregnant, and Howard said the family needed me. So, I declined it. Four years ago, Lily was just born, and he said the baby couldn't be away from her mother. So, I declined it again. Three years ago, he said Jolene had just joined the company and needed his guidance. So, once again, I chose to stay behind. Every concession I made became leverage for him to hurt me. So this time, I didn’t ask him, nor did I wait for his approval. Chapter 3 The next day, I picked out a burial plot at the cemetery and pulled out my bank card. The card reader beeped with an error prompt that read “Transaction Failed.” Insufficient balance? I froze, my fingers trembling as I swiped the card a second time. “I’m sorry. Your account has been frozen.” My heart sank, and I instinctively dialed Howard’s number. “I’m sorry. The number you have dialed is busy… “I’m sorry. The number you have dialed cannot be reached at the moment…” I redialed his number over and over until all that remained from the receiver was the busy beeping tone. In total despair, I sent him a message. [Howard, has the card been frozen? I need that money to cover Lily’s funeral arrangements. I’m begging you, please unfreeze it.] A few seconds later, my phone vibrated. Full of hope, I tapped it open, only to see that familiar automated reply. [Don’t worry, I’ll handle it.] I was fuming. Looking at Lily’s innocent smile in the black-and-white photo not far away, I broke down inside. I scrolled through my contact list, pulled up Jolene’s number, and pressed call. The call was picked up almost instantly. Howard’s deep voice came from the other end. “Hello, this is Jolene’s husband. She isn’t feeling well and is resting right now. I can convey the message to her.” In the background, there was the gentle sound of ocean waves crashing on the shore. “Howard, is that you? You froze the card, didn’t you? Unfreeze it now. It’s for Lily’s funeral arrangements,” I screamed, my voice echoing through the cemetery, drawing strange looks from the people around us. There was a two-second silence on the other end of the line before he snorted impatiently. “Riley, what are you up to now? I set a spending limit on the card because I was afraid you’d spend recklessly.” A chill ran down my spine as I said, “Those were my savings, and they were money for our daughter’s funeral!” “Riley, stop kicking up a fuss, will you?” His voice carried an unabashed disgust, as if I were a shrew throwing a fit over nothing. “Jolene’s in a bad mood, so I’m taking her on a beach holiday for a few days to relax. Your interference has made Jolene feel guilty, and she hasn’t had a good night’s sleep. “Setting a limit is just to keep you from wasting money. I’m doing this for the good of our family.” I roared into the phone, tears running into my mouth, salty and bitter, “Howard, Lily is dead! She’s lying in the morgue, and she doesn’t even have a place to rest! Why are you doing this to us?” “Enough!” He cut me off sternly, his tone full of contempt. “Riley, I didn’t think you’d be the kind of person to curse your child just for some money! I delivered the blood bag on time. Even though there was a small delay on the road, the doctor said she’d be fine as long as she had the transfusion. Why do you insist on saying our child is gone? What kind of malicious intent do you have?” “I’m not lying to you! Lily really is gone! She passed, just last night!” I fell to my knees, gripping my phone tightly. On the other end of the line, Howard’s voice sounded hesitant. Right at that moment, I heard Jolene chime in with her sweet voice. “Howard, what’s wrong? Who’s calling and screaming into the phone?” “It’s nothing. It’s just a crazy person.” Howard’s voice turned tender before turning icy cold again. “Riley, if you’re really that broke, I’ll have Jolene transfer you two thousand dollars later so you can scrape by. Don’t call this number again. Jolene needs her rest.” “No! You must remember what happened to Lily! You can go and ask the hospital!” I cried out, begging. “Howard,” Jolene gasped, “I just remembered. My best friend is part of the parent-teacher association at Lily’s kindergarten. I remember her saying that school went as usual today, and Lily even received a little award. How could she be dead?” In an instant, my mind went blank. “Did you hear that, Riley Stone?” Howard’s voice turned ice-cold in an instant. “How long are you going to keep up this act? You’ve lost your mind. To think you’d even tell a lie like this just for a little money.” “I didn’t… That was last week… Lily got into a car accident yesterday…” I tried to explain, but my voice was weak. “Shut up!” Howard yelled angrily, “Riley Stone, you genuinely disgust me. Don’t bother us ever again. Just stay home and take care of the kid.” With that, the line went dead. When I redialed the number, it went straight to voicemail. “The number you have dialed has been switched off.” I had been blocked. I sat slumped in front of the tombstone, and the wind rustled through the grass, making a sound that sounded like a sob. Chapter 4 It wasn’t until dusk settled and a biting cold set in that I staggered to my feet. Lily couldn’t be left without a resting place. So, I wiped my face and stumbled out of the cemetery. I may not have any money left, but I had our marriage certificate. Since Howard cared about status and reputation more than anything else in this world, I took a cab straight to his corporate office. The receptionist couldn’t stop me as I marched directly into the main office floor. “Does anyone here know where Howard York went?” My voice wasn’t loud, but it was enough to silence the entire office. Someone recognized me and called out, “Mr. York is away on an out-of-town training assignment.” I nodded and squeezed out a grim, hollow smile. “Right, Howard is always so busy. He’s so busy taking care of Jolene Foster that he couldn’t even make time to come home when his own daughter was killed in a hit-and-run. Some of you might not know this, but Miss Foster is a single mother going through a very difficult time. So my husband, Howard, has been catering to her hand and foot on behalf of the company and showering her with loads of cash.” The previously bustling office immediately fell silent, and everyone’s gaze shifted to sympathy, disdain, and pure shock. “Mrs. York, is this… Is this true?” a senior employee couldn’t help but ask. “Every word,” I said, gritting my teeth as tears welled up in my eyes. “The doctors couldn’t save my daughter, and she passed away. I asked Howard for our savings so that I could lay our daughter to rest, but he put a strict limit on my bank card. Instead, all that money was spent on buying designer handbags and plane tickets to a luxury beach holiday for Miss Foster.” With a loud thud, the door to one of the offices swung open. The HR manager, having overheard every detail of the conversation, walked out with an ashen face. He probably never thought that Howard, who always seemed so smart and ambitious, could hide such a despicable face behind closed doors. “Mrs. York, please try to stay calm,” the HR manager said as he pulled me into a private conference room away from prying eyes, his expression conflicted. “Look, the company was originally planning to issue last quarter’s bonus next month. I’m going to special-approve it and advance it to you right now.” He tapped on his phone a few times. Moments later, a notification chime went off on my phone. When I glanced at my screen, I was petrified. [Bank Deposit Notification: +$20,000.00] Twenty thousand dollars. I stared fixedly at that string of numbers, feeling a bitter taste in my throat. I remembered it vividly. At the end of last year, Howard brought home one thousand dollars, looking completely overwhelmed as he told me, “Babe, the company performed horribly this year. The bonus was only a few grand, and there might even be layoffs next year. You need to pinch every penny you can.” To save a few pennies that winter, I suffered a miscarriage due to severe physical exhaustion. To save twenty dollars on a cab fare, I took a three-and-a-half-hour bus ride for my medical follow-up, only to collapse on the bus from severe hemorrhaging. To save on electricity, I spent my days leeching air conditioning at the public library and keeping the lights switched off at night as I worked on client proposals in the dark until my retina detached. To supplement the household income, I worked three jobs a day—delivering food, tutoring, and taking freelance gigs—relentlessly grinding myself down into a neurotic, resentment-filled shell of a woman. Trembling, I lifted my gaze to meet the manager’s eyes, my voice shaking. “Howard… How much does Howard actually make every month?” The manager sighed, as if he couldn’t bring himself to keep it a secret anymore. “His base salary is fifteen thousand, plus project commissions and quarterly bonuses. On average… he brings home at least three hundred thousand dollars a year.” Three hundred thousand dollars, and yet the total household allowance I received from him for the entire past year was under twenty thousand dollars. Chapter 5 Suddenly, I burst out laughing, which eventually turned into a heart-wrenching, racking cough. Tears streamed down my face. My heart felt as though it was being crushed, and the pain was so intense that I couldn’t even stand up straight. So, it was never that he didn’t have money. He had simply poured every last cent into taking care of that “financially struggling” Jolene. I held my phone and stared at the text notification confirming the twenty thousand dollar deposit, my heart breaking. If Howard had given me even a tenth of that amount, Lily could’ve been transferred to the best private hospital and had a fighting chance at survival. I wiped away my tears, stood up, and thanked the HR manager. “Thank you.” As I walked out of the office, I heard the employees whispering around me. “Hey, look. That’s Howard York’s wife.” “I heard that because of Jolene, Howard couldn’t care less whether his daughter was dead or alive.” “I knew it! I was wondering how Jolene could afford to wander around the office every day carrying Hermès bags on a single mother’s budget. As it turns out, she’s Mr. York’s charity project.” A female colleague, taking pity on me, lowered her voice just enough for me to hear clearly. “Mrs. York, you have no idea. Jolene is a total joke in our company. She spends more every month than our CEO makes in a month. Just yesterday, she unboxed a new designer bag, claiming it was a ‘consolation gift’ from Howard.” Another colleague joined in with a cold sneer. “Financially struggling single mother? She lives a more luxurious life than any of us here. She goes out for two-hundred-dollar steak lunches daily and gets a full high-end high tea every afternoon. Is she even here to work? She’s just here to enjoy being catered to by Howard!” My heart seized in my chest, and I almost lost my footing. “What’s most disgusting,” the female colleague continued, her voice rising with anger, “is that during the performance review every month, Jolene’s proposals are either plagiarized straight off the internet or written for her by interns. To scrape up bonus money for her, Howard forced the people in our team to put her name on our proposals, calling it ’teamwork.’ The performance bonuses that were supposed to go to us ended up right in her pocket!” “Exactly! For that major project last month, Louis pulled three all-nighters to get it done, but Jolene got top billing on the submission. Howard even warned us not to talk, saying Jolene was going through a tough time at home and that we should be more understanding.” Every word felt like a slap across my face. I recalled how, last winter, I had tried to save a few dollars on the heating bill by holding Lily, who had a high fever of a hundred and four degrees, as we shivered under two layers of blankets in our rented apartment. I recalled how I ate nothing but plain bread for three days straight just to squeeze out enough money for household expenses before eventually collapsing from exhaustion at the subway entrance. I leaned against the wall for support, my fingernails digging deep into the wall. “Excuse me, please,” I said softly, pushing through the crowd of onlookers. As I stepped out of the building, the sunlight was blindingly bright, yet it couldn’t warm my cold heart. I hailed a cab and headed straight to the courthouse. The courtroom was crowded, but my mind had never been clearer. “Your Honor, I’d like to file for divorce,” I said as I handed over the documents, my voice firm and unwavering. “Here is the evidence of the transfer of assets, the message logs proving marital misconduct, and the transaction records showing that he gifted a joint property to a third party.” I laid out each piece of evidence one by one: the screenshots of the AI-generated replies, Jolene’s social media posts showing off her luxury purchases, testimonials from Howard’s colleagues, and that itemized “charity” record. “Under marital property law, any unauthorized disposal of joint assets by one spouse gifted to a third party during the marriage is invalid,” I said, looking straight at the judge. “Over the past three years, Howard York has transferred funds and covered expenses for Jolene Foster totaling over three million dollars. I am requesting a full recovery of all these funds.” The judge scanned through the materials with a frown. “Mrs. York, are you sure you want to add Jolene Foster as a co-defendant? This might be a tough legal battle.” “I insist on pursuing it,” I said through clenched teeth, my eyes bloodshot. “Every bag he bought her, every meal, and every vacation was all paid for with my daughter’s and my blood, sweat, and tears. Since he loves that little arrangement so much, I’m going to make sure he's left penniless.” When I stepped out of the courthouse, I had already received the formal case acceptance notice. I was going to settle this account, item by item, and get back every penny with interest. Chapter 6 Early the next morning, I received two emails. One was an offer letter from the overseas project department. It was a position I had once begged for and given up three times for the sake of my family, but now its doors were finally open to me. This time, I had finally learned to put myself first. The other was a threatening text message from Howard, followed immediately by my phone ringing. “Riley Stone, have you lost your mind?” The moment the call connected, his furious roaring blared through the speaker. “You ran to my company wailing that our daughter is dead? Now the whole company is bad-mouthing me, calling me a cheating scumbag and calling Jolene a homewrecker! Do you have any idea how much hurt you’ve caused Jolene by doing this?” My fingers trembled, and my stomach churned. I felt a genuine, physical disgust toward Howard. “Howard,” I interrupted him softly, “Lily really is dead. She passed away that night when you took her blood supply.” “Shut up!” he bellowed. “I knew you were just putting up an act! Riley, weren’t you just like this back in college, faking illness and playing pity cards just to get my attention? And now you’re pulling this trick about our daughter being dead? Do you think doing this will make me give in and come running back to appease you? Let me tell you, that is never going to happen!” For a moment, my mind went blank, and my memories came flooding back. Yes, I used to be like that. Back on campus, I used to follow him everywhere like a stalker. If he mentioned in passing that his stomach hurt, I would run across the entire city in the pouring rain just to buy him soup from that hard-to-reach diner. If he failed an exam, I would stay up all night organizing revision materials for him, only to tell him afterward that his success was all thanks to his own hard work. Back then, I thought that was love. Only now did I realize that in his eyes, I was nothing more than an embarrassing, clingy nuisance. That unequal dynamic had sealed our fate right from the very beginning. “You don’t have to give in,” I said calmly. “And I won’t back down either. Howard, I’m serious this time.” There was a moment of silence on the other end of the line. Howard clearly hadn’t expected me to be so firm with my decision. Promptly, he let out an even harsher sneer. “Fine! A divorce, right? I’ll sign the papers right now. I’d love to see which one of us will regret this! “Also, you’d best head to my company immediately and clear things up, or I’ll head straight to the police station to sue you for defamation! You claim Lily is dead? Ha, I have proof that she’s perfectly fine! You’re just a lunatic fabricating stories to gain sympathy!” At the mention that he was going to the police station to prove Lily was fine, my heart lurched. How I wished this was all just a nightmare. How I wished that in the next second, Lily would come bouncing in front of me, safe and sound. Unfortunately, miracles like that weren’t real. “Do whatever you want,” I replied. With that, I hung up the phone and tossed it aside. … Fuming with rage, Howard rushed back from the beach holiday and stormed straight into his company. He tried to defend himself to his colleagues. “Don’t listen to Riley’s nonsense! She’s mentally unstable! She’ll make up any lie just to force me to come home! Jolene and I are innocent. She was just facing some difficulties at work. What’s wrong with me looking out for her as her boss?” However, the whispers around him didn’t stop. If anything, the disgust in their eyes grew. Flustered and infuriated by their stares, Howard pulled out his phone and dialed 911. “Hello, 911? I’d like to file a report. My wife, Riley Stone, is maliciously fabricating facts, defaming me for having an inappropriate relationship, and even cursing our daughter by claiming she’s dead… Yes, I want to press charges against her for defamation.” Soon, two police officers arrived at the scene. Howard rushed up to them, speaking hurriedly as he pointed at the surrounding crowd. “Officers, you arrived just in time! My colleagues were incited by my wife, and now they’re all spreading rumors about me! “My daughter is perfectly fine. She’s not dead at all! My wife is just a lunatic who would say something so utterly wicked just for a bit of money! You can check the hospital records right now! My daughter, Lily York, is alive and well!” Frowning, the police officer pulled out his handheld terminal and entered Lily’s name. Howard crossed his arms, staring at the crowd with a triumphant expression. A cold smirk played at the corner of his lips, as if saying, ‘Just you wait. Riley will be going to jail.’ However, a few seconds later, the young officer’s expression changed. He glanced down at the screen, then looked back up at Howard oddly. The officer said in a grave tone, “According to the system, Lily York, female, four years old, passed away three days ago.” In that instant, time stood still.