Chapter 4

I woke up in a hospital bed. A dull throbbing pulsed through my skull.

Ethan sat by the window, looking out. He turned when I stirred.

"The doctor said you have a concussion. Chloe is very sorry. She was just... overwrought. Worried about Leo."

Chloe. Sorry.

The door opened and she swept in, all feigned concern.

"Oh, Emily, I am so terribly sorry! I don't know what came over me. It's just, Leo's condition... this rare immune deficiency... the specialist said this energy ritual was our last hope."

She clutched her hands to her chest. "We still need Sophia's purest essence. Her ashes... for the final part of the ceremony."

My stomach churned. They hadn't found Sophia's actual ashes. I'd hidden them, replaced them with generic ash from the funeral home's incinerator before scattering those decoys. My daughter's true remains were safe. For now.

"Get out," I said, my voice raspy.

Chloe looked at Ethan, her eyes wide with hurt.

"Emily," Ethan said, his tone placating. "Chloe is under immense stress. This 'postpartum anxiety'... it's been years, but it lingers, especially with Leo's illness."

Leo was at least four. Postpartum anxiety. Another lie.

"I want a divorce, Ethan." The words were flat, final.

He frowned. "Don't be hasty. We can discuss this after Leo's ritual is complete. He needs this. Just be understanding, Emily. I'll make sure you're compensated, of course."

Compensated. For my daughter's desecrated memory? For my shattered life?

His cold pragmatism was more chilling than any outburst.

He saw my daughter not as his child, but as a means to an end for Chloe's son.

I turned my face to the wall. There was nothing left to say to him.