Chapter 5
As soon as Reynald looked down, Vanessa grabbed his hand.
“Rey, I heard only two kinds of people sign these donation forms. One, the terminally ill. Two… the ones putting on a show.
“Gabriella, this kind of thing isn’t a joke. But it’s fine–you’re still healthy. You can cancel it anytime.”
Reynald’s eyes turned ice–cold. “Putting on a show to this extent? Gabriella, you’re hopeless. Disgusting.”
Gabriella stayed silent.
Maybe she’d been hurt too many times. Even pain had gone numb.
Reynald frowned. He’d seen her lose control plenty of times–but this quiet made him uneasy.
“Rey, it hurts…” Vanessa murmured softly.
He snapped back, all unease buried. “Gabriella is a walking disaster. What could possibly happen to her?” he thought.
He left with Vanessa, not even sparing a glance back.
Watching his back, Gabriella’s tears fell silently, landing on the donation. agreement.
There really were only two kinds of people who signed those papers.
The ones who couldn’t live–and the ones who didn’t want to.
She didn’t want the blame of killing Reynald hanging over her. So she
Chapter S
couldn’t live–but she also didn’t want to.
Gabriella lay in the hospital for three days. Reynald never came.
He stayed just one floor above, never leaving Vanessa’s side.
On the day she was discharged, Gabriella followed an agent to pick out a burial plot.
“Ms. Hensley, this is the only one left next to your mom. It’s small, and the location isn’t great, so no one’s bought it. Want to look at something else?”
“No. Just this one.
She walked over and gently placed the bouquet of lilies she had brought, brushing her hand over her mother’s photo. Her nose stung.
Now, all she wanted was to rest a little closer to her mom after death.
She stood quietly for a while. Just as she turned to leave, a group appeared across the cemetery. Her steps halted. It was Reynald, Vanessa, and… the Hensley family.
Her grandmother, Agnes Farrell, saw her. Her face darkened immediately. Then she spotted the lilies–her expression broke. She charged forward, grabbed the bouquet, and hurled it at her.
“You killed my daughter! How dare you come here?!”
She pushed and hit her, hands trembling with fury.
Gabriella didn’t dodge. She was afraid Agnes might fall.
“Grandma, please calm down, I…”
“Don’t call me that, you murderer’s daughter!” Agnes spat, eyes full of hate, tears running down her face.
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“My daughter was about to get married! She should’ve had a happy life! She was kind; she was good. Why did she have to suffer like that…”
Gabriella froze.
This guilt would follow her forever.
But it didn’t matter. Her life was almost over anyway,
By the time the Hensley family helped Agnes away, Gabriella’s hair was a mess, her arms scratched and streaked with blood.
Reynald walked up to her, voice sharp as a blade. “What are you doing here?”
“Uh…” the agent jumped in, finally reacting, “Ms. Hensley was here to choose a burial plot. She picked the small one next to her mom.
Reynald’s stare turned colder. “Addicted to the act now? Fine. Let’s say you really do want to die…”
Gabriella lifted her head and looked at him. His eyes burned with hatred.
“You don’t even deserve to be buried. You should be ground to ashes.”
Her heart clenched hard. All color drained from her face.
She stared at him for a long time, then said softly, “Alright. Ashes it is.”
She turned and started down the steps. But behind her, Vanessa’s voice rang out. “Don’t misunderstand, Gabriella. Reynald didn’t mean it that way, he just…”
Gabriella turned, grabbed the hand reaching toward her, and snapped. “Get lost.”
Just as she let go, Vanessa shrieked–and fell down the steps.
