Chapter 4

Cindy, who had been all smiles earlier, now stood frozen, her head bowed in silence. I ignored them both and kept walking forward.

With an eerily calm expression, I watched as the hospital staff pulled open the morgue drawer. There, covered in frost, lay my daughter. Her little face was peaceful, as if she were merely sleeping. But the gaping hole in her head told a different story, a horrifying, gut-wrenching truth.

I bent down slightly, my voice soft and tender. "Sweetheart, Mommy and Daddy are here to see you. Are you happy? Look, Daddy finally came. Won't you open your eyes and take a look at him?" My tone was gentle, almost coaxing, as if she might wake up if I spoke softly enough.

Norman staggered back, his face drained of color. His hands trembled as he pointed at Nina's lifeless body. "This… this… What happened? How did this happen? Tell me what's going on!" His voice cracked with disbelief as he turned to me, demanding answers.

I let out a bitter laugh, my tears falling freely. "And you have the audacity to ask me? Why don't you ask yourself?" I tried to smile, but the pain was unbearable. "If you hadn't abandoned her to celebrate your first love's birthday, Nina wouldn't be lying here like this! How dare you ask me!"

"Why… why didn't you tell me?" he murmured, his voice barely above a whisper, thick with guilt.

I met his eyes with nothing but cold fury. "Did you ever give me a chance? I called you, over and over. I sent message after message. But you ignored every single one of them! You didn't pick up. You didn't read them. You didn't care!" My voice trembled, my hands clenched into fists. "If it weren't for you, Nina wouldn't have been murdered!"

I couldn't hold back my rage any longer. My palm struck his face with a sharp crack.

"Smack!"

Norman didn't move. He didn't even flinch. He just stood there, head lowered, as if he knew he deserved it.

"Smack!"

Another slap. Harder this time.

"The coroner said her hands and feet were broken. She was dragged across the ground. Her clothes were torn. Her skin scraped off." My voice broke. "You know how much she hated pain. Imagine how much she suffered! And where were you? Where the hell were you?!" My screams echoed through the room as I shoved him back. He stumbled against the wall, his face ashen.

Cindy took a step forward, then hesitated. Her outstretched hand wavered before she withdrew it, unsure of what to do.

"I… I…" Norman stammered, his body visibly shaking. But there were no words. Nothing he could say would change what had happened.

"The thing I regret most," I choked out between sobs, "is believing your lies. You swore you'd protect our daughter. And now she's dead, because of you."

Norman, the once confident and self-assured man, now looked utterly broken, his body slumped against the wall. I couldn't bear to look at him anymore. I turned and stormed out of the morgue.

The police found the killer soon after: David Foster, an entitled, reckless rich kid, and Cindy's ex-boyfriend.

At first, he hadn't intended to kill Nina. He'd gone to her school looking for Norman, but when he couldn't find him, he focused on Nina instead. He told her that her dad had sent him to pick her up. At first, she hesitated. But when she heard it was from her father, she believed him and followed.

According to his confession, he never meant for things to go that far. But Nina wouldn't stop crying, asking for her dad, over and over. Her sobs infuriated him, igniting a rage he took out on her in the most brutal way possible.

When Norman heard the full story from his lawyer, his face turned ghostly pale. He broke down completely, laughing and crying hysterically. He destroyed everything in the house, smashing furniture, punching walls, like a madman drowning in his own grief.

I watched him from a distance, my expression unreadable. Then, I handed him Nina's school composition notebook.

"I found this in her backpack. She wanted to show it to you." I let out a hollow laugh. "Who would've thought this would be the last thing she ever wrote?"

Norman stared at the notebook, his hands trembling as he took it. He flipped through the pages, his breath hitching. "I'm sorry… I'm so sorry…" His voice broke as he buried his face in her words, sobbing like a man who had finally realized what he had lost.

But it didn't matter.

Nina was gone.

And so was our marriage.

"Let's get a divorce." My voice was calm. Detached.

Norman froze, lifting his tear-streaked face. "What?"

"Divorce."

"Why?" His voice cracked, as if he couldn't believe I would suggest such a thing.

I looked him in the eyes. "You love Cindy so much, don't you? I'm setting you free. Now, you won't need any more pathetic excuses to see her every day."

"I… I was wrong! I know I was wrong! I won't see her again. I swear!" Norman dropped to his knees, clutching my hands as if that could undo everything. "Please… don't leave me."

I wrenched my hands free. "The person truly responsible for our daughter's death… is you." My voice was ice. "Every time I see you, all I can think about is Nina's suffering. I can't live like that."

Norman's face went even paler. His lips trembled, but he had no retort. He simply shook his head, silently pleading.

"Then we'll settle this in court," I said coolly before walking away, not once looking back at that empty, hollow home.

The moment I left, exhaustion hit me like a tidal wave. My body gave out, and I collapsed in the street from sheer fatigue.

When I woke up, I was in the hospital.

"You're pregnant," the doctor informed me gently.

Pregnant?

If Nina were still here, she would have been so excited to be a big sister. But now… it was nothing more than a cruel joke.

What was the point? The marriage was over. The love was gone. Why bring a child into a life of pain?

After much thought, I made my decision. I scheduled the abortion.

When Norman found out, he stormed into the hospital, his bloodshot eyes wild with fury. "Why didn't you tell me?! Why did you do this without me?! You're so cruel!"

I met his gaze with a hollow stare. "Cruel? Can I ever be as cruel as you?"

His breath hitched. He stood there, stunned. Then, as if remembering what had happened to Nina, his entire body seemed to collapse in on itself. His spirit broke before my eyes.

After a long silence, he exhaled shakily. "Let's… get a divorce."

"Finally," I murmured, my voice devoid of emotion.

This was the end.