Chapter 2He Hid Our Daughter to Break Me

A flicker of malicious joy crossed Sophie's eyes before she forced a look of pure worry. "Dom, why is Caroline in there? Does that mean... she heard everything we just said?"

Dominic's face darkened. He buttoned his dress shirt, pushed past her, and marched straight toward the closed nursery door.

My soul drifted right behind him. I watched his palm grip the brass handle. His knuckles turned stark white.

He hesitated for three seconds. Then, a hollow click.

The door swung open.

My body lay stiffly curled under the blankets, my back facing the door.

Dominic stared at my unmoving figure, a bitter scoff leaving his lips.

"Caroline, since you heard everything, I won't bother hiding it. Yes, Cici is at my estate in London. But you brought this on yourself! You were the one who used your parents' money to force Sophie out of school. You were the one who threatened me with divorce!"

His tone was glacial, dripping with arrogant charity. "As long as you drop this high-and-mighty attitude, the title of Mrs. Astor is still yours. No one is taking it from you."

The room was deathly quiet.

Dominic waited. When I did not move, his expression turned toxic. "Playing the silent treatment game? Fine. Let us see how long you can starve yourself!"

He slammed the door so hard the walls shook.

I looked at his retreating back, wishing I could scream at him to stop. No matter how much he hated me, I was still his wife. He should just cremate me already. I wanted to go find Cici in the afterlife, not be chained to my own rotting corpse.

But a ghost cannot speak.

Ten minutes later, the front door opened again.

Dominic marched back inside. This time, he was dragging a tiny, stumbling figure by the hand.

It was Cici.

My sweet, beautiful Cici. The daughter I had hallucinated about for four agonizing years.

"You spent four years acting like a lunatic looking for her! Well, I had her flown back from London today. Are you happy now?"

Dominic sneered, tossing the crying child onto the foot of the bed. He turned around, grabbed Sophie, and walked out, locking the door behind him.

Animal. Absolute monster.

How could he lock a terrified, weeping child in a dark room with a dead body!

Cici pounded her tiny fists against the heavy wood until her palms swelled, but the door did not budge. The room was pitch black. She was terrified of the strange, unmoving shape under the blankets, too scared to even sob out loud.

She backed into the corner, hugging her knees, her little shoulders trembling violently.

I fell to my knees in front of her, trying so desperately to wrap my arms around her. "Cici, baby, do not be scared. Mommy is right here. Even as a ghost, Mommy will never let anything hurt you..."

But my glowing hands just phased right through her tiny, shaking frame.

Eventually, Cici cried herself to sleep on the rug, inches away from my corpse.

When morning light filtered through the blinds, Cici sat up, rubbing her swollen red eyes. She peeked timidly at my face. My skin had taken on a sickening, bruised purple hue.

She waited for a long time. Finally, her stomach growled. "Auntie? Can you wake up? I am so hungry..."

The figure on the bed remained dead still.

Cici dropped her head in disappointment. Suddenly, her eyes lit up. She reached out and picked up the empty pill bottle I had dropped on the floor.

"Wow! Pretty candies!"

Two highly toxic pills were still rolling around at the bottom of the plastic bottle.

Cici tipped them eagerly into her palm. "Auntie, I am just going to eat two. I am so sorry. I am just really, really hungry."

"NO!"

I unleashed a bloodcurdling scream, but the living could not hear me.

Right at that exact second, the bedroom door was kicked open.

Dominic had come in to check if I was ready to surrender. Instead, he walked right into a nightmare.

His eyes widened in raw panic. He lunged forward, snatching the bottle. He read the warning label and grabbed Cici's jaw, prying her little mouth open with his fingers. "Spit it out! Spit it out right now! You stupid girl!"

Cici wailed in absolute terror. "Daddy, please do not hit me! I will not do it again!"

Only when he was certain she had not swallowed them did Dominic let go, his face completely drained of blood.

He turned his gaze to the bed. The exhaustion and disgust in his eyes were suffocating.

Sophie peeked in from the hallway and let out a dramatic gasp. "Caroline! Even if you are mad at us, you cannot poison your own child! She is just a baby! You are actually trying to kill her!"

Dominic turned his head away, refusing to look at me for another second.

If he had taken just one step closer, he would have felt my freezing, hardened skin. He would have smelled the faint, sweet rot of decay hanging in the air.

But he did not. He just scooped Cici up and walked away without looking back.

Sophie trailed right behind him, a smug smile playing on her lips.

Dominic drove them to the most exclusive brunch spot in the city. He ordered a massive spread of imported pastries and delicacies.

Cici ate like she had been starving for days.

But Dominic could not eat. He pushed away his expensive cup of tea and started chain-smoking, his leg bouncing restlessly. He unlocked his phone. Our message thread was still frozen from two days ago.

No matter how stubborn his wife was, she had never dropped off the grid like this.

Suddenly, a cold sweat broke out across his back. A terrifying thought snapped into his brain.

"No... something is wrong. She is too quiet."

His face went totally white. He shoved his chair back, completely ignoring a startled Cici, and sprinted like a madman toward the parking valet.