But there was no way she’d let any security cameras catch her wherever she went.
She was watching him when his gaze suddenly darted after a flash of white in the distance.
He spotted the tulips she’d placed there.
His hand brushed the leaves–still damp–and, losing control, he grabbed the head bodyguard by the collar. “My wife was just here. Find her. Now.”
“Yes, sir!”
Suddenly, a baby’s cry broke out behind him.
Blanche pressed her hand over Mamie’s mouth, her eyes flicking to Eddy.
But Eddy didn’t see her. All he caught was a glimpse of white as a woman slipped
out the back door and into a black sedan.
He staggered toward the exit.
He could only watch as the car disappeared at the intersection. The pain of losing her when she’d been so close was unbearable; he dropped to one knee, his voice raw with anguish. “Please, don’t go,” he pleaded, “Give me one more chance…”
Half an hour later, the bodyguards returned. “Sir, their driver knows these roads
inside out. We-”
“We lost them.”
Eddy collapsed to the ground, face twisted with regret.
A bodyguard shouted for help, and soon he was being loaded into an ambulance.
He could hear the bodyguards talking nearby.
“In the security footage, she’s wearing a ring on her left hand.”
“The baby in that man’s arms looks about a year old.”
“Guess she left our boss, got married, and had a kid.”
“Looks like she’s really done with our boss.”
“Shh, keep your mouth shut.” The head bodyguard cut them off.
As those words reached Eddy, his hand slipped from his chest and his eyes drifted.
ד
shut. A single tear rolled down his cheek, and his face contorted with heartbreak.
At last, he’d tasted the same bitter pain she once felt.
The heart monitor let out a single, piercing beep–the sound of a heart stopping.
Blanche held Mamie close and walked away without looking back.
“Healy, let’s go home with Grandma.”
A few days later, Loraine showed up at the orphanage. “Your father’s in critical care now. He can’t come for you anymore.”
Healy’s cool, stony face was streaked with tears. His fists clenched tight, he shoved Lara to the ground. “Don’t call me your brother!”
“You made my mom leave me. My dad left me, too. Now my dad’s dying!”
Lara burst into tears and grabbed at Loraine’s sleeve, which only made Loraine snap at the caretaker to take her away.
“Healy, your father’s not going to die. Be good and come home with Grandma,” Loraine pleaded, squeezing his small hand. “Even if your mom and dad won’t have you, you still have me.”
At those words, Healy yanked his hand away, glaring up at her. “Grandma, Lara says her mom did nothing wrong–that it’s all your fault! You didn’t like my mom because she was sick, so you made Lara’s mom come and have a baby instead.”
“Grandma, I don’t want a sister. I just want my mom back!” Healy’s crying grew harder, his tears soaking his face. “Please, Grandma, give me back my mom!”
“I don’t want to be a kid without a mother. Everyone bullies me and laughs at me.”
“I just want snacks, I want ice cream, I want to play outside every day. I never said I didn’t want my mom.” Healy clung to Loraine’s sleeve, sobbing, his tiny voice. breaking with grief. “Grandma, I miss her so much. It hurts right here.”
He pressed his hand to his chest, and Loraine, pale with fear, hugged him tight. “Healy, come home with Grandma. No one will dare laugh at you or hurt you if you’re with me.”
She remembered how Eddy had abandoned Healy at the orphanage, ordering bodyguards to keep everyone else away.
She’d seen how other children bullied him every day, how he’d come home battered and crying, and her heart ached for him.
Chapter Tub
Now that Eddy was In the ICU, she was determined to take Healy away.
But Healy shook his head. “No, Dad said as long as I stay here, Mom will come. back one day.”
“She’ll come get me. I know she will.
“It’s been 733 days…” He tilted his tear–streaked face up, his eyes glistening with hope. “She’ll be here for my birthday, Grandma. She promised.”
He’d done everything she asked.
When the other kids mocked him, he never answered back.
When they hit him, he didn’t hit them in return. He tried to reason with them.
Healy was determined not to be a troublemaker anymore.
Mom, please come back.
Exhausted, Healy slumped into Loraine’s arms, just as a familiar voice called out softly, “Healy.”
