Thanks for Making Me Hate You

The funeral attendees who knew Gabriel were all shocked that he wasn't present. Gabriel was known for loving his daughter dearly. They called his number, but only I knew that he'd never answer any of these calls.

Sure enough, Gabriel didn't once turn up at the funeral, even after it came to an end.

I held back the sorrow in my heart and held Annabelle's cold, lifeless hand one last time.

Maybe it was a good thing that Gabriel wasn't here to interrupt Annabelle's funeral. He was a heartless, good-for-nothing monster, after all…

Right before Annabelle was laid to rest in the ground, a cemetery staff member suddenly ran over to me.

He looked incredibly upset as he clutched my hand and said in a trembling voice, "Something bad's happened, Ms. Vaughn! Someone is causing trouble at the plot you chose for your daughter's burial!"

It felt like a jolt of lightning had struck me.

I immediately stumbled over to the cemetery plot. The moment I arrived, I saw Suzanne standing there, gesturing and yelling at the staff members.

"What is this? I've already had a medium determine that this burial plot is the best one for my dog, Oscar. If any of you interfere with Oscar's burial, you're dead meat!"

The staff members looked helpless as they explained, "I'm so sorry, miss. Someone's already reserved this burial plot. Plus, it's only for human burials. It wouldn't be appropriate for your dog to be buried here."

"It's not up to you to decide what's appropriate or not. I want you to call whoever it was that reserved this plot and have that person come over right now," Gabriel said coldly to the staff while consoling Suzanne. "We can compensate that person for this plot."

He then snapped. "Well? What are you waiting for? Get me your manager!"

She grew bolder with him backing her up.

She curled up in his arms before slapping one of the staff members. "Didn't you hear us? Either let us speak to your manager, or call the person who reserved this plot over! Or else…"

"I reserved this plot," I said. Slowly walking out of the crowd, I headed toward Suzanne and Gabriel.

Gabriel shoved her out of his arms the moment he saw me before coming toward me.

I saw the faint panic in his eyes as our gazes met.

"What are you doing here in the cemetery, Rhea? Why aren't you looking after Annabelle in the hospital? Oh, did you just say you reserved this burial plot? Why do you need it?"

I looked at Gabriel, forcing back the tears that threatened to fall from my eyes. "How dare you still mention Annabelle at this point? This burial plot is for her…"

"Gabe, come and take a look at Robby! Why does he look so pale?" Suzanne cried out suddenly.

The panic in Gabriel's eyes dissipated instantly. He went over to Robert Quinn—that would be Suzanne's son—without hesitation.

While checking up on Robert, Gabriel gently consoled the boy. "Don't be scared, Robby. I'm here."

Suzanne smiled smugly before slowly walking toward me. Though she had a provocative look in her eyes, she still spoke in a faux apologetic tone.

"I'm so sorry, Rhea. I didn't know you'd reserved this burial plot. You don't look like you need it now, so why don't you let Oscar have it?

"Oscar sadly passed away after eating something that it shouldn't have had the other day. Look—even Robby is so upset that he's gone pale."

"Scram!" I spat out.

Seconds later, Suzanne's loud and theatrical sobs filled the air.

Gabriel instantly straightened up and marched over.

There was a coldness in his tone that I'd never heard before as he said, "I know you're upset about what happened with Annabelle, but that had nothing to do with Suzanne. You saw how pale Robert was. Don't you have any sense of empathy, being a mother yourself?"

Turning to the staff members, he instructed, "My wife is forgoing her reservation of this burial plot and letting Ms. Byron have it instead. Go and handle—"

"No! Get the hell away from here, Gabriel Turner! Take your whore and that little bastard of yours and leave!" I snarled.

Gabriel slapped me harshly across the face right after I spoke. "That's enough, Rhea! I've tolerated your antics for long enough!"