I held Margaret’s hand,still warm on the hospital bed.
Soon,she’d lose all signs of life,a cold corpse.
At least I could ensure that she passed away peacefully.

With that thought,I contacted the crematorium.
Waiting there,I recalled Margaret’s life.
Never married,she adopted Ethan,raising him on her own.
During the time we spent together,she treated me like her own daughter,healing my painful childhood.
With a kind mother-in-law and what I thought was a loving husband.I thought my future was bright.
Until Emily Ward showed up,and Ethan started staying out late.

At first,it was just one night.Red-eyed,he hugged me,explaining,“It was a class reunion.Drank too much,crashed at a friend’s.”
I nodded,trusting him.
One night turned into two,then a week.
Then,claiming he had overtime work,he only came home twice a month.

Margaret sensed something was wrong and took me to his apartment one night.
In the dark,we saw him holding a beautiful woman in a tender embrace.
We caught them kissing by the floor-to-ceiling window.
Margaret slapped Ethan hard across the face.
He shielded the trembling woman,unfazed.
Looking at me,his eyes were filled with determination.
“Mom,don’t blame Emily.”
“Hit me if you want.I’m divorcing Sarah.I owe Emily a future.”
His words froze me,my heart ached as if pricked by countless tiny needles.
Margaret slapped him three more times,his face swelling.
He stood firm,eyes resolute,as the woman sobbed behind him.
As his mother, she couldn’t bring herself to go any further.
She decided to leave me most of her estate as compensation.
Threatening to disown him,she forced Ethan to stay married.
I chose to trust him again.
No one could have predicted that Emily would disappear in the community pond the next day.
Security footage only showed me being there.
Naturally,I became the prime suspect.
Although Emily’s body was never found,Ethan built her a tombstone.
He forced me to kneel by the pond.
“Sarah,if it weren’t for you,Emily wouldn’t be dead!”
“You’re so cruel.She was too innocent to fall victim to someone like you!”
“I should’ve divorced you a long time ago.”
No matter how much I explained,he wouldn’t listen.
The pond was small—no body ever surfaced.
No evidence pointed to me.
Consumed by grief, he had lost all sense of reason, blinded by hatred and convinced that I had killed the love of his life.
He pinned me down,my forehead scraping bloody.When Margaret saw my wounds,she collapsed,furious.
Now,the woman who had loved me was dead.
Her body was reduced to ashes and placed in a small urn.
I held it,couldn’t stop the tears from flowing.
Never had I felt so powerless.
I handled her funeral in a daze.
Before burial,a cry stopped me.