Chapter 1 Chapter 1

"It appears she accidentally fell from a great height..." the police officer said, but his words felt like distant echoes to me. All I could see was my daughter, my precious, sweet girl. She was only five, as adorable as an angel. Her once-bright eyes were now closed, never to open again. I knelt beside her, cradling her tiny hands which were covered in bruises and cuts. Her smartwatch, the one I put on her, was nowhere to be found. "Stella, can you open your eyes for Mommy? I got you your favorite doll. Remember, the one you wanted to hug every night?" I whispered, my voice trembling. "How could you fall asleep here all alone, sweetheart?" But no matter how much I called out to her, she never answered. I opened her little palm and found a crumpled family portrait she had drawn of our family. That was when my tears broke free, unstoppable. It was now 3 in the morning. An hour earlier, I found Stella's body at the foot of the mountain where she and her father, Cedric Fleetham, had gone camping. Just yesterday, she had left the house bouncing with energy. I had carried her to the backseat of Cedric's car. "You're going to sleep in a tent with Daddy tonight, Stella. Are you excited?" I asked. Stella nodded eagerly but made a small gesture showing a hint of fear. My sweet girl could not speak. She had been mute since the day she was born. I remembered reassuring her, "Don't be scared. Daddy will protect you." For all of Stella's five years of life, Cedric always found excuses not to celebrate her birthday. This time, I begged him endlessly until he agreed. As Cedric got into the car, he looked at me impatiently. "Are you done yet? If it gets dark, we won’t bother going." Cedric had agreed to take Stella camping to watch the sunset, but under one condition: I was not allowed to come along. Stella just wanted to spend her birthday with her dad. That was her wish last year. "Okay, okay." Before I closed the door, I double-checked Stella's smartwatch. "If anything happens, call me, okay?" Stella could not talk, but we had a deal. If she were ever in danger, she would press the button to call me. No words would be needed. I thought everything was set. I thought she would be safe. I never imagined that would be the last time I would see Stella, gazing at her little face through the car window, alive. The next morning, Cedric did not bring Stella home, and she did not come back on her own. I rushed up the mountain to find her, but all I saw was a broken tent and piles of trash. I called Cedric over and over as I searched the mountain. It was not until late at night that he finally answered, his voice dripping with irritation. "Are you insane, Rachel Jover? I just checked into my hotel for a business trip, and you’ve been calling me non-stop all day. You might not need rest, but others do," he growled. I sighed in relief despite everything. "Sorry for disturbing you, but why would you take Stella on a business trip?" My humility was met with mocking laughter. "I already sent her home. Are you trying to blame me for your incompetence as a mother? Did you lose her and now think you can pin it on me? How useless are you?" Cedric mocked. "Oh, I get it. You saw that post, didn't you? And now you’re pretending to be worried. What, I can't take Laura and her daughter camping? They have no one else. What's wrong with me helping them? Your jealous whining is pathetic. It makes me sick." I opened Cedric's social media, and there it was—his latest post. In the photo, he stood with Laura Welbey and her daughter, Tina, looking like a happy family of three. And it was Stella who took that picture for them. Cedric was cruel, a monster. But even then, I naively believed he would never abandon his own daughter—until I found Stella's body at the foot of the mountain. Her tiny limbs had been gnawed by stray dogs, her skin pallid, and the air around her thick with the smell of decay. At that moment, it felt as though my heart was being ripped apart. "Your husband is calling you. Do you want to answer it?" The policeman's voice pulled me back to reality. I looked down and stared at my phone screen, at the word "Hubby."

Chapter 2 Chapter 2

Right in front of the officer, I declined the call and blocked Cedric's number. The officer looked at me in surprise. "Are you sure you don't want the child's father to see her one last time?" My voice came out raspy and broken. "Officer, would you let a murderer see your child?" As I stumbled into the ambulance with Stella in my arms, the doctor told me that Stella had not instantly died from the fall. She had died slowly from internal bleeding. Her pain must have been unbearable. Before her death, Stella had dug into the earth with her hands, breaking her nails in the process. All ten of her fingers were bloodied. But no one came to save her. She died in despair, alone. I sat in the hospital's morgue the entire night until the sun began to rise. The medical staff gently urged me to lay Stella to rest soon. Not wanting my Stella to stay in that cold, lifeless place, I contacted a funeral home and arranged for her body to be taken away. I then returned home to prepare for her burial, clutching the family portrait she had drawn. The moment I stepped inside the house, I froze. Toys were scattered across the floor, left behind in the rush. Stella's drawings were still up on the walls and her schoolbooks lay on the table. For a moment, I thought I saw Stella running toward me, smiling and signing, "Mommy, I love you." Oh, my sweet Stella. You promised to stay with me forever. Why did you leave this Earth before me? As I sat on the sofa, clutching Stella's toys and crying, Laura sent me a message. It was followed by a picture. [I'm so happy! He's really good with kids. I always knew he'd make a great dad.] Seeing a portrait of Laura in the background, I surmised the picture had been taken at her house. In it, Cedric was sitting at the dining table and holding Laura’s daughter, Tina. He was spoon-feeding her some food. The scene was so warm and tender, and it made my chest ache deeply. In the five years of Stella's life, Cedric had never fed her like that. He had never even changed her diaper or comforted her to sleep. There was a time when Cedric and I were in love. Before Stella was born, he would kiss my stomach and talk about our future, saying our child would be his little star. That was why we named her Stella. But on the day I gave birth, Laura returned to the country with her child. She called Cedric crying, and he left to see her. He was gone for days, and when he came back and learned that Stella's vocal cords were abnormal, that she was mute, he looked at me with disgust. "There were no problems during the prenatal checkups. If something's wrong now, it must be because you ate something you shouldn't have while pregnant. This is all your fault," he said. "I don't want a broken child. Send her to the countryside to live with your parents. We'll have another one." But Stella was my baby whom I carried for months. I could not possibly send her away. I got on my knees before Cedric and begged him to let me keep Stella. My C-section wound started bleeding, staining the tips of his shoes red. Only then did he reluctantly agree to let me keep Stella. [I'm so sorry, Rachel. I meant to send that to a friend. Sent it to you by mistake.] Laura’s message pulled me back to reality, and I saw that she had deleted the photo. In the past, I would have immediately called Cedric and meekly asked why he was with Laura again. But my precious daughter was now gone, and my heart was cold. I did not reply to Laura and simply blocked her. Not long after, Cedric came rushing back home. As soon as he stepped inside, he slapped me across the face. "You declined my call and blocked me? Who gave you the courage?!" he shouted. "Laura sent you that picture by mistake, and you cursed Tina saying she should die? You have a daughter yourself, Rach. How could you be so heartless?"

Chapter 3 Chapter 3

Laura stood right behind Cedric, looking at me with a pitiful expression. "Rachel, Ced just got back from his business trip. Tina wanted to see him, so I invited him over for dinner. If you're mad at me, fine, but how could you curse my daughter like that?" Laura spoke through tears. Cedric's face twisted in pain, clearly distressed for her. "Don't cry, Laura. Retribution will come her way soon enough!" he comforted her. My face had gone numb from the pain, and my heart was dead and hollow. Laura's daughter was still alive, being fed and cared for by Cedric. But my daughter, my Stella, was gone. Marrying Cedric was my retribution. "Rachel, it's your daughter who's mute, not you! Stop pretending to be pitiful! It's disgusting!" Cedric yelled. His words stabbed at my heart. He could say whatever he wanted about me, but not about Stella. In anger, I raised my hand and slapped him. Smack! Cedric froze, then his face twisted in anger. "You dare hit me?!""You can hit me, but I can't hit you?" I scoffed. For a moment, Cedric stared at me in confusion. "Rach, what the hell is going on with you today?""Rachel, Ced always said you were unpredictable and frightening. I didn't believe him, but now I see you're truly that short-tempered. You're terrifying…" Laura moved closer to me, crying as she grabbed my hand and pressed it to her face. "If you need to hit someone, hit me. Go ahead, hit me if it makes you feel better." I found Laura's actions repulsive and yanked my hand away. And in our struggle, she suddenly let out a scream and fell to the floor, clutching her face. A red mark ran down her cheek as if scratched by a nail. "Rachel! You're insane!" Cedric exploded, pushing me aside. I was flung against the coffee table, and everything on it was knocked to the ground with a deafening crash. Cedric looked back at me, seemingly about to reach out, but Laura grabbed his arm. He turned back to her and asked, "Are you hurt?" Lying there among the scattered items, I laughed. For Stella's sake, I had never kept my nails long, always trimming them down to the quick. Laura, on the other hand, had extensions with glittering rhinestones. It was too bad Cedric was blind to the truth. Slowly, I stood up, a groan escaping my lips. "Ugh..." I had fallen so many times yesterday while searching the mountain that my body was covered in bruises. And I nearly broke my back on the coffee table too. Hearing my voice, Cedric glanced at me and, surprisingly, began to walk toward me."Rach—" But the next second, Laura cried out. "Ced, will my face be disfigured? I'm a beauty consultant. If my face is scarred, I'll never be able to work again." She sobbed uncontrollably. I stormed to the bedroom, grabbed the bag I had packed earlier and Stella's newest doll, then walked out. "You haven't even apologized to Laura and you're thinking of running away? You really think I'll fall for your act?" Cedric said, displeasure evident on his face as he blocked my path. "Out of my way. I need to get to Stella. She's waiting for me," I replied coldly. Cedric frowned. "Stella isn't home? Where did you leave her? And now you're going out to look for her in the middle of the night?" My eyes reddened as I glared at him. "Do you really not know where she is?" Impatience flashed across Cedric's face. "How would I know where she is? Stop acting. It's obvious you told her to hide just to scare me." He started calling out, "Stella! Stop hiding! Come out and see how awful your mother is!" He grabbed my arm, trying to drag me into Stella's bedroom, determined to make me find her. In our struggle, something fell out of my pocket. It was Stella's death certificate. Cedric picked it up, read it, and his expression fell. "What is this?"