The Last Christmas

Jennifer had been waiting at the airport early in the morning. The moment she saw the urn in my hands, she got choked up.

After sitting silently in the car for a long time, she finally said, "Don't worry. I won't let Ivana get away with this."

I nodded and moved into Jennifer's villa. I was planning to scatter Noelle's ashes into the ocean the next day.

However, early the next morning, I heard arguing downstairs. It was one of the maids and a woman. When I looked down through the window, I saw that it was Ivana.

She was shouting furiously at the maid, "Tell Jeremiah to come out!"

The maid blocked the doorway. "My employer said you are not allowed inside. Please leave."

Ivana refused to back down. "I'm here to see my husband! Why would I need your employer's permission to do that?"

She shouted toward the house, "Jeremiah, I know you're in there! You came all this way just to fool around with another woman! Have you no shame? Come out now! Bring Noelle out too!"

The neighbors nearby began gathering around to watch. Not wanting to drag Jennifer into this mess, I quickly changed my clothes and went downstairs.

Jennifer grabbed my arm. "You don't have to deal with her."

I sighed and said, "We're not divorced yet. This has to be settled eventually."

When the door opened, Ivana frowned at me. "You finally came out. Are you done fooling around with your mistress?"

She was the one who strayed from our marriage first. How could she have the audacity to shamelessly accuse me?

Without another word, I raised my hand and slapped her across the face.

I asked, "How did you know I was here?"

"How could you hit a woman?" she responded incredulously.

She hadn't expected that I would hit her. Her face instantly flushed red.

Then, she lowered her head and sneered. "Don't forget that I was the one who bought your phone. I always know where you are."

As she spoke, she leaned sideways to look behind me. "Where's Noelle? Tell her to come out and go home with me!"

At that moment, Charles stepped out of the car parked outside.

He had an awkward look on his face as he said to Ivana, "Maybe we should forget it. I don't blame Noelle for this."

Ivana pointed at me and snapped, "If Noelle did something wrong, she needs to admit it. I refuse to let Noelle grow up uncultured like her father!"

Hearing that, Jennifer strode out from behind me. She grabbed Ivana by the collar and slapped her hard across the face. Blood trickled from the corner of Ivana's mouth.

Jennifer roared, "Noelle is already dead! How inhumane can you be? I thought you came here to apologize to Jeremiah. Instead, you brought your lover here just to humiliate him! You're not fit to be a mother, and you're even less worthy of being a part of the Gilder family!"

Ivana's head snapped to the side from the blow.

It took her a long moment to recover before she shouted back, "What gives you the right to hit me? Who are you?"

Then, as if realizing something, she sneered, "Oh, I get it now! You're Jeremiah's mistress! How dare you curse my daughter and say she's dead?"

I pulled the two of them apart and said coldly, "This is my biological sister, Jennifer Gilder."

"Jennifer?" Ivana froze for a moment before crying out in shock, "You mean the CEO of Gilder Group, Jennifer Gilder?"

At that moment, a maid walked over carrying Noelle's urn. "Mr. Gilder, it's time."

I took the urn and said, "Noelle is right here. If you still have even a shred of conscience left as her mother, then come with us."

Ivana stared at the urn in my hands in disbelief. "How ridiculous! That's impossible! Maybe you can fool other people with these tricks, but you can't fool me."

As I walked outside, I said, "That night, the funeral home sent you a text message too. If you don't believe me, check your phone."

Panic instantly flashed across her face as she hurriedly looked at her phone. The anger on her face gradually faded, and it was replaced by intense unease.

Charles came over and read the message too.

Then, he exclaimed, "I read some news reports a long time ago about such text messages. They can easily be faked."

I stared at them coldly. My heart was numb from the pain. I removed Ivana from my blocked contacts and sent her the video of Noelle's final moments in the hospital.

In the video, Noelle hugged the Santarina, who should have been played by her mother, as she slowly closed her eyes forever.

Ivana stood there with her mouth open before collapsing to the ground in agony. Then, she suddenly jumped up and tried to snatch the urn from my hands, but I kicked her away.

I got into the car with Jennifer, and we drove all the way to the seaside.

Ivana stumbled after us. When she realized that I was going to scatter the ashes into the ocean, her eyes instantly reddened.

"No! How could you scatter Noelle's ashes?" she shrieked.

I shot her an icy glare and said, "The deeper the ocean is, the deeper your sins are. Ivana, I want you to spend the rest of your life living in hell!"