I took a deep breath, trying hard to suppress the simmering rage that was about to burst forth.

Turning around, I lowered my voice and said into the phone receiver, "Ivana, Noelle is dying."

There was a second of silence on the other end before a scoff came through. "Cut the crap! One second you're going crazy in Charles' Instagram comments, and in the next you're using Noelle to gain sympathy."

It felt as if all the blood in my body had frozen solid at that moment. Grief and fury surged violently through my chest.

I looked at Noelle, not daring to shout in front of her.

Holding back the pain in my heart, I pleaded, "Ivana, I'm begging you."

Still, my tears fell uncontrollably.

I hurriedly asked a nurse to watch over Noelle while I ran into the hallway and roared into the phone, "Come to the hospital now! You promised Noelle you'd dress up as Santarina for her!"

Ivana snapped back almost instantly, "I've got no time for this. I'm helping Charles look for Bubbles. If Bubbles is truly lost, Charles will be heartbroken."

In the next moment, she added, "Besides, Christmas is tomorrow. You're in such a hurry for me to come over because you're jealous, aren't you?"

I closed my eyes and let the tears slide down soundlessly.

After ten years of marriage, I finally understood that to Ivana, Noelle and I weren't even worth as much as Charles' dog.

I took a deep breath and said icily, "Ivana, it was supposed to be your turn to stay with Noelle tonight. If you hadn't left, Noelle might not have…"

Ivana seemed to have lost her patience as she cut me off. "Enough. I checked on her earlier. There was absolutely nothing wrong with her! Besides, Charles was so kind as to come and visit Noelle, but she kept kicking and hitting Bubbles…"

I practically roared. "What? Noelle is afraid of dogs! How could you let Charles bring a dog along to visit her? Do you even have a conscience?"

Ivana suddenly fell silent on the other end. She had forgotten that Noelle was allergic to dog fur.

Could her sudden deterioration have something to do with that?

Charles' voice came through the phone. "Ivana, maybe Jeremiah really does need you for something urgent. I'll keep looking for Bubbles myself. It was the first gift you ever gave me. Even if I can't be with you, seeing it reminds me of you…

"You already work so hard managing a company as a CEO. I don't want you to be exhausted during your personal hours. If Jeremiah can't even give you a little bit of personal time, then you should just go back."

Ivana comforted him gently, "Ignore him. He always uses the child to threaten me."

I laughed bitterly to myself. There wouldn't be any more threats like that in the future.

I stopped waiting for Ivana's response and shouted back, "Ivana, you killed Noelle! You'll regret this someday!"

After saying that, I hung up immediately.

On the way back to the hospital room, my heart hurt so badly that I could barely breathe. In the end, I couldn't bear to let Noelle spend the last Christmas Eve of her life filled with regret.

I searched through every office on the entire floor and finally found a female doctor about the same height as Ivana. I begged her to pretend to be Ivana.

An hour later, the doctor appeared beside Noelle's bed, wearing a Santarina costume borrowed from somewhere on the street. She was holding Noelle's favorite doll.

Noelle cried tears of happiness. "I knew Mommy wouldn't abandon me."

I covered my mouth and pulled Noelle tightly into my arms.

A nurse took a picture of our final moment together. In the end, Noelle died on that snowy Christmas Eve.

I quickly notified my older sister, Jennifer Gilder, who was overseas. She was the only family I had left in this world. After that, I brought Noelle to be cremated by myself.

Noelle was six years old. I used to feel proud that she took after her mother, as she had a tall and slender frame despite her young age.

However, now, all that was left of her was a tiny urn of ashes.

Holding her in my arms, I whispered, "Noelle, you always said that you wanted to see the ocean. I'll scatter your ashes into the sea, okay?"

This world had been far too cruel to her. I would rather lay her to rest in the deep sea.

By the time I walked out of the funeral home, it was already morning.

Just half an hour earlier, Ivana had still been posting on Instagram, looking for the dog.

I, on the other hand, posted Noelle's obituary to say goodbye to this world on her behalf.

Then, before blocking Ivana, I sent her one final message.

"Let's get divorced."

Jennifer had been waiting at the airport early in the morning. The moment she saw the urn in my hands, she got choked up.

After sitting silently in the car for a long time, she finally said, "Don't worry. I won't let Ivana get away with this."

I nodded and moved into Jennifer's villa. I was planning to scatter Noelle's ashes into the ocean the next day.

However, early the next morning, I heard arguing downstairs. It was one of the maids and a woman. When I looked down through the window, I saw that it was Ivana.

She was shouting furiously at the maid, "Tell Jeremiah to come out!"

The maid blocked the doorway. "My employer said you are not allowed inside. Please leave."

Ivana refused to back down. "I'm here to see my husband! Why would I need your employer's permission to do that?"

She shouted toward the house, "Jeremiah, I know you're in there! You came all this way just to fool around with another woman! Have you no shame? Come out now! Bring Noelle out too!"

The neighbors nearby began gathering around to watch. Not wanting to drag Jennifer into this mess, I quickly changed my clothes and went downstairs.

Jennifer grabbed my arm. "You don't have to deal with her."

I sighed and said, "We're not divorced yet. This has to be settled eventually."

When the door opened, Ivana frowned at me. "You finally came out. Are you done fooling around with your mistress?"

She was the one who strayed from our marriage first. How could she have the audacity to shamelessly accuse me?

Without another word, I raised my hand and slapped her across the face.

I asked, "How did you know I was here?"

"How could you hit a woman?" she responded incredulously.

She hadn't expected that I would hit her. Her face instantly flushed red.

Then, she lowered her head and sneered. "Don't forget that I was the one who bought your phone. I always know where you are."

As she spoke, she leaned sideways to look behind me. "Where's Noelle? Tell her to come out and go home with me!"

At that moment, Charles stepped out of the car parked outside.

He had an awkward look on his face as he said to Ivana, "Maybe we should forget it. I don't blame Noelle for this."

Ivana pointed at me and snapped, "If Noelle did something wrong, she needs to admit it. I refuse to let Noelle grow up uncultured like her father!"

Hearing that, Jennifer strode out from behind me. She grabbed Ivana by the collar and slapped her hard across the face. Blood trickled from the corner of Ivana's mouth.

Jennifer roared, "Noelle is already dead! How inhumane can you be? I thought you came here to apologize to Jeremiah. Instead, you brought your lover here just to humiliate him! You're not fit to be a mother, and you're even less worthy of being a part of the Gilder family!"

Ivana's head snapped to the side from the blow.

It took her a long moment to recover before she shouted back, "What gives you the right to hit me? Who are you?"

Then, as if realizing something, she sneered, "Oh, I get it now! You're Jeremiah's mistress! How dare you curse my daughter and say she's dead?"

I pulled the two of them apart and said coldly, "This is my biological sister, Jennifer Gilder."

"Jennifer?" Ivana froze for a moment before crying out in shock, "You mean the CEO of Gilder Group, Jennifer Gilder?"

At that moment, a maid walked over carrying Noelle's urn. "Mr. Gilder, it's time."

I took the urn and said, "Noelle is right here. If you still have even a shred of conscience left as her mother, then come with us."

Ivana stared at the urn in my hands in disbelief. "How ridiculous! That's impossible! Maybe you can fool other people with these tricks, but you can't fool me."

As I walked outside, I said, "That night, the funeral home sent you a text message too. If you don't believe me, check your phone."

Panic instantly flashed across her face as she hurriedly looked at her phone. The anger on her face gradually faded, and it was replaced by intense unease.

Charles came over and read the message too.

Then, he exclaimed, "I read some news reports a long time ago about such text messages. They can easily be faked."

I stared at them coldly. My heart was numb from the pain. I removed Ivana from my blocked contacts and sent her the video of Noelle's final moments in the hospital.

In the video, Noelle hugged the Santarina, who should have been played by her mother, as she slowly closed her eyes forever.

Ivana stood there with her mouth open before collapsing to the ground in agony. Then, she suddenly jumped up and tried to snatch the urn from my hands, but I kicked her away.

I got into the car with Jennifer, and we drove all the way to the seaside.

Ivana stumbled after us. When she realized that I was going to scatter the ashes into the ocean, her eyes instantly reddened.

"No! How could you scatter Noelle's ashes?" she shrieked.

I shot her an icy glare and said, "The deeper the ocean is, the deeper your sins are. Ivana, I want you to spend the rest of your life living in hell!"