The way Darrell looked at me made me so cold all over.
I didn't care how he humiliated me, but I couldn't give up on my daughter's only hope.
When I grabbed his wrist again, he gave me a backhand slap.
Katelyn grabbed his hand and gasped in worry.
"Carolyn, I finally know how good your acting skills are today. You don't care about your husband, and now you're even taking advantage of your daughter. Do you have a conscience? If I were your daughter, I would be pissed off with a mother like you!
"All these years, if I really wanted to take Darrell away from you, you had long been a loser. You probably don't know that I was the one who came up with the travel plans for the three of you. It's a pity that you didn't cherish it! My painstaking efforts were in vain."
Katelyn put on an aggrieved expression, but her eyes revealed her provocation and arrogance.
If it weren't for her graduation travel plan, Alicia and I should have been celebrating at home at this moment!
I couldn't help but push her away from Darrell.
"I disdain to compete with a whore for trash! But today, Darrell has to go with me!"
I was unusually domineering, and Katelyn's eyes were full of tears of excitement because of it.
"Darrell! Look, how dare she hit me!"
Darrell didn't expect me to do it, so he completely lost patience with me.
"Carolyn, how dare you? Katelyn is on her period and in pain. If you don't want to continue the marriage, just divorce me!"
But at this moment, Katelyn's face was ruddy, and she didn't look like she was in pain at all.
Darrell was probably so stupid that he couldn't see my pale face out of pain!
I forced myself to calm down and tried my best to explain to Darrell calmly.
"There's no need for me to lie to you. My daughter is waiting for you to save her life. Just come with me. Even if you're deceived by me, you won't lose anything, right?"
If possible, I wish I could knock him out and draw all his blood to save my daughter!
Perhaps my sincere tone touched Darrell, and the expression on his face softened a little.
However, before I could be relieved, I heard Katelyn groaning with her hands on her stomach.
Her face, which was rosy a second ago, was now pale, and there was some blood at the corner of her mouth.
"Darrell, my... stomach... hurts!"
Tears fell down her face.
Katelyn immediately lost her balance and fell backward.
"Katelyn! I'll take you to the hospital now!"
Darrell immediately picked her up by the waist and hurriedly got her into the car.
I came up with an idea and got into the car.
"Darrell, hurry up! There's still an hour left. We can rush to the Central Hospital to save our daughter!"
Darrell thought for a moment and nodded in agreement.
But Katelyn kept humming in the back seat.
"Darrell, I'm in so much pain... I'm afraid I can't make it to the Central Hospital!"
Darrell hesitated immediately. Seeing that he was about to start the car in the opposite direction, I held the steering wheel tightly and refused to let him go!
Darrell dragged me out of the passenger seat angrily.
"Get lost!"
I stood in front of his car and wouldn't give up.
"I'm begging you, Darrell! If you don't save Alicia right away, she'll die! If you wouldn't save her today, then just get over my body!"
"Darrell, I feel like I'm not going to make it..."
Darrell looked back at Katelyn, who was curled up and hitting her head against the window, and stepped on the accelerator without hesitation.
I was knocked to the ground by the car. Darrell's remaining conscience told him to get out of the car and drag me aside.
"I can't stand your behavior today! I won't stop you if you want to die, but get away from my car!"
After that, he stepped on the accelerator and drove away with Katelyn.
After being rejected, I endured the pain and struggled to get up. Just as I was about to chase after Darrell, a call from the hospital came.
I picked it up immediately.
"Doctor, please give me some more time. We'll be there soon..."
I hope my lie could give some hope to the doctor and my daughter...
However, the phone was terribly silent.
A sense of foreboding overcame me.
The next second, the doctor's regretful voice came.
"Ms. Levy, I'm sorry! We've tried our best. Your daughter... has passed away."
As the phone was hung up, I felt my world had fallen apart.
Trembling, I hailed a taxi and climbed to the seat.
When I stumbled to the operating room, the door was open.
My beloved daughter was lying miserably on the operating table with her face couldn't even be recognized. Her eyes were closed forever.
Her whole body was covered in bruises and blood, and her broken ribs were protruding against her abdomen. She looked like a rag doll.
Her body gradually lost its temperature and felt cold.
It was so cold that I was also freezing all over!
My hands trembled as I hugged her gently, trying to warm her up.
But no matter how hard I tried, it was useless.
My daughter was dead!
I lay next to her. My eyes were sore, but I was in so much pain that I couldn't even shed a single tear.
I felt so desperate as I went to look for a gardener to restore my daughter to her previous look.
After being repaired, Alicia's face looked rosy, as if she was sleeping. It seemed that as long as I called her gently, she would wake up.
I called her name over and over again, but she wouldn't open eyes again and replied sweetly, "Mom!"
Two days later, I watched Alicia being sent to the furnace, but I still felt unreal.
It was as if it was just a nightmare.
It wasn't until Alicia's urn was handed to me that I had no choice but to accept the fact.
My daughter, whom I had carefully raised, had died at such a young age.
Her life was ended on the day when she just finished the SAT.
I could still recall the scene where she rushed out of the school, hugged me, and cheered, "I'm sure I can go to the top university!"
Alicia had been smart and sensible since she was a child. She knew I had been living a hard life, so she always worked hard silently and made herself my pride.
She said that this time, she must make me proud in front of her father and grandmother!
However, before she could support me, she turned into a handful of ashes and lay in a small and cramped box.
I hugged the box tightly and tried to imagine that this was my daughter.
The memories of eighteen years of being together flashed through my mind like a movie.
Finally, my tears fell on the box.
I chose a beautiful place for my daughter to be buried.
It was not until seven days later that Darrell called me.
His voice sounded cold.
"Today is Alicia's birthday. Prepare some gifts for her as usual and ask her to celebrate with my elder sister.
"Remember to dress decently. Don't make any more trouble! Otherwise, we'll get a divorce!"
Katelyn's coquettish voice came from the phone.
"Darrell, help me unzipped..."
I stared at Alicia's sweet smile on the tombstone and had no desire to talk to this man again.
Darrell couldn't be patient with me and hung up the phone directly.
Looking at the phone screen, I said coldly.
"I'll definitely bring my daughter there on time!"
You caused her death. I would let you pay the price!
The first time I met Darrell was at a college party.
He's a top student in the School of Economics, and I'm the prettiest girl in the acting department.
He was dressed in a black suit like a prince, and I was in a white dress like a princess.
We fell in love at first sight and became a couple quickly.
He said that we were destined to meet each other at the perfect time among tens of millions of people.
I asked him if love would last forever.
He kissed me dotingly.
"Even if you don't love me, I will still love you as before."
With the rise of the Terry family, Darrell's status also became noble. When I entered the entertainment industry, the Terry family wouldn't accept me because of the dark side of the industry.
But both Darrell and I did not give up.
He said our love could be long-lasting and conquer everything.
To marry me, Darrell forged my pregnancy report, so the elders of the Terry family had no choice but to accept me.
In order to repay Darrell, I chose to retire from the movie industry after obtaining the title of best actress.
When Alicia was born, Darrell held her in his arms. He was so touched that he cried a lot.
He kissed me over and over again. Regardless of the objection of the Terry family, he chose to have a castration and moved out of the Terry's house to share the private space with me and my daughter.
He said that he was satisfied enough to live with me and Alicia in this life!
I thought that our family of three would live a happy life forever until we left the world...
But my happiness came to an abrupt end after Katelyn returned from abroad.
It wasn't until then that I realized that Darrell had once sought her out but failed!
Katelyn was Darrell's lifelong obsession.
That night, Darrell returned home, getting drunk.
Since then, he had always worked overtime, and spending shorter and shorter time at home.
Those moments, which he had never been absent from, were occupied by Katelyn.
It seemed that as long as Katelyn wanted, he could do anything for her no matter what took.
This family, which used to be his harbor, had become a painful burden to him.
He used to be a father who loved Alicia so deeply, but the love seemed to have disappeared.
After countless expectations and disappointments, I had lost hope in him.
I kept telling myself that at least we used to love each other so deeply, so why did we have to force ourselves to be together forever?
For my daughter, I had endured everything silently for more than ten years.
After all, if we got divorced, I would definitely lose the custody of Alicia!
For the rest of my life, I could live without love, but I could bear leaving Alicia.
But Alicia was dead.
The person who killed her was her father, whom she looked up to as a role model!
Dressed in black, I arrived at the Terry's house on time.
I was not surprised at all when I saw the Terry family surrounding Katelyn.
After all, Katelyn, who came from the scholarly family, had always been the one that the Terry family favored.
"Kate, that's exactly the birthday gift I want. We really have a tacit understanding!"
Jaclyn Terry, Darrell's elder sister held onto Katelyn's arm intimately as she continuously threw meaningful glances at Darrell.
"Look at my silly brother. He's just looking at Kate and smirking. He just forgot anything else!
"In my eyes, you should get a divorce as soon as possible and marry Kate. After that, you can stare at her every day!
"Then you two will have a lovely baby!"
The Terry family all agreed with Jaclyn's words.
I watched coldly as they planned on using the cheapest method to get rid of me, their burden, and welcomed another woman marrying into their family.
During the whole process, Darrell did not stop the conversation, and even smiled happily.
Katelyn was the first to notice me standing at the door.
"Carolyn, you're really late!"
When Jaclyn heard it, her face immediately darkened as she accused me.
"Carolyn, it's my birthday today. It's okay if you're late, but why are you dressed in these?"
Darrell also asked me with a cold face.
"Answer it! Jaclyn is talking to you! You don't have to attend today's birthday party. Alicia will stay!"
He looked behind me but didn't see Alicia.
"Where's Alicia?"
I stared at him coldly and vented the resentment in my heart.
"I'm afraid it's too late to care about Alicia now!"
My sarcastic words annoyed Darrell.
"Answer my questions now! If you can't, you can shut your mouth forever!
"I just missed a graduation trip. Alicia has been a good girl, so she can definitely understand me. Don't ruin my image in front of her!
"You've been living such a comfortable life at home and playing around with my money. Now you're so aggressive in front of me.
"Hurry up and call Alicia over. I'm really worried about her future since you're such an unqualified mother!"
Darrell's attitude determined the attitude of the Terry family toward me.
Once, he risked his life to protect me. Even if the Terry family was dissatisfied with me, at least they showed respect to me on the surface.
Now, he insulted me mercilessly, so more than a dozen people of the Terry family were easy to scorn at me.
But I was no longer the submissive woman.
I sneered and said to everyone with tears in my eyes.
"Take it easy. Alicia is already here."
After hearing my words, someone ran out of the door to look for Alicia, but there was no sign of her.
There were a lot more unbearable discussions.
Darrell, who felt embarrassed, couldn't stand it anymore.
"Carolyn, how dare you embarrass me here! Sign this divorce agreement and get lost! From now on, Alicia will be raised by me!"
Looking at the divorce agreement that had been prepared long ago, I didn't feel sad. Instead, I was excited.
When I was absent-minded, Claire Foster, Darrell's mother thought that I was reluctant to divorce. She rolled her eyes and mocked me.
"You didn't expect that you would end up like this, did you? I've already told you that you're not worthy of my son!"
I just ignored her, turned straight to the last page, and signed my name.
Claire seemed to have waited for this moment for many years. She clapped her hands excitedly.
"Guards, throw her out!"
These people couldn't wait any longer!
Meanwhile, Darrell had already called Alicia.
Unfortunately, Alicia's phone rang in my bag.
The ringtone was Alicia's singing. The moment I heard the familiar voice, I couldn't help crying again.
Darrell finally realized that something was wrong.
"Carolyn! Where is Alicia?"
I took out the posthumous photo and death certificate from my bag and put them on the table.
"She... is here!"