Gone Was Her Spring

Dragging my weak, unsteady feet, I finally made it back home after dark. However, the moment I pushed the door open, I was met with the sight of Owen naked and Susan pleasuring him.

Even when she heard the door open, she didn’t bother to look up. She just continued what she was doing with absolute focus. It wasn’t until Owen let out a satisfied groan that she finally stood up, wiping her face with total indifference.

“Owen has been holding back and suffering for a long time. He’s moving in starting today, so it’s easier for me to take care of him. You will act as his servant until you realize what you did wrong.”

I didn’t even bother to say anything. I simply turned around and walked toward the stairs.

My heart had long since grown numb. All I wanted was to grab my late child’s memorial plaque and leave this house—a place where I had lived for five years yet always felt like a total stranger. However, the table that used to hold my late Juni’s memorial plaque and teddy bear was gone. In its place, the table was piled high with baby supplies.

I searched every corner of the room, but there was still no sign of it. A sharp, agonizing pain flared from my stitches again, but I couldn’t care less. Driven by panic, I rushed back downstairs and demanded answers from Susan like a madman.

“Where is our child’s memorial plaque?”

Susan looked slightly startled. “Myles, why is your face so pale…”

My voice shook as I asked her the same question again.

“I threw it out,” Owen smirked from the couch, acting completely nonchalant. “I tossed it right into the fire pit, burned it to ashes, and scattered it. Look, your stillborn baby had the same name as my child. Keeping that around is basically a curse on my baby, isn’t it? I was just protecting my own flesh and blood. If you have a problem with that–”

Before he could finish his sentence, I slapped him across the face with everything I had.

“Myles!”

Susan rushed forward, shoving me out of the way to shield Owen behind her back.

“Owen isn’t wrong. That memorial plaque shouldn’t be kept in this house anyway.”

I clenched my stinging hand, my eyes burning red. “Susan, that was your child, too! Do you not care at all?”

A flash of hesitation crossed Susan’s face, and she reached out as if to grab my hand. “I–”

Right at that moment, Owen clutched his swollen cheek, his expression grim. “Susan, my face hurts so much.”

Susan immediately snapped her hand back and cupped Owen’s face in her hands, her eyes overflowing with worry.

“Myles, no matter what, it’s not right to hit someone! Owen went a bit too far this time, I admit, so I’ll apologize on his behalf.”

“I don’t want your apology! I want him to get down on his knees and beg God for forgiveness!”

“In your dreams,” Susan replied, her eyes growing cold. She looked at me as if I were a lunatic.

Behind her back, Owen shot me a deeply provocative smirk.

Fine.

I let out a bitter laugh and whipped out my phone. “Isn’t Owen a popular livestreamer? Why don’t you both repeat everything you just said live to the internet? Let’s see if Owen gets banned by tomorrow, and let’s see if your precious reputation gets ruined!”

“Myles, you are out of your mind!”

Susan snatched the phone out of my hands. Losing my balance from the force, my lower body hit the sharp corner of the table. A sharp cry of pain escaped my lips, but she acted deaf to it, focusing entirely on shutting down the livestream.

Owen began to cry miserably. “Mr. Myles, by ruining my career, are you trying to force me to kill myself?”

Susan’s face sank as she ordered, “Security! Lock him in the basement! If you refuse to admit your mistake, don’t ever think about coming out.”

She turned her back to me, missing the trail of blood dragging behind me on the floor.

With a harsh click, the door to the basement locked. An agonizing pain spread from my surgical wound, each bout more excruciating than the last. I curled up on the cold floor and gave up on struggling.

Just as I was quietly waiting for death to claim me, my phone suddenly rang. It was a call from Grandma. However, it wasn’t her voice on the other end.

“Hello, is this Mr. Myles Thompson? Your grandmother has suffered a massive shock. She’s currently in critical condition and requires emergency surgery. We are at…”

A loud ringing filled my ears, and I couldn’t quite make out what was said after that. So, Grandma was never sent away to that peaceful retirement home. Susan had lied to me again. She had never cared about a single word I said.

I desperately asked the doctor what could have shocked Grandma so badly. There was a heavy silence on the other end of the line for two long seconds.

“Someone came to the hospital and told her that her granddaughter-in-law had a secret child with another man.”