I threw myself to the floor, trying to gather the shattered pieces.
The broken glass scratched my fingertips. No matter how I tried, I couldn’t put the phone back together.
I broke down completely, tears spilling without end.
“Mother, please don’t leave me again!”
Graham pulled me into a tight embrace, ignoring the mess all over me.
“Lily, don’t be scared. Trust me. I’ll get the data back.”
I grabbed his shirt and shook my head desperately.
“Graham, that was the only thing Mother left me!”
Tessa hid behind Maya, her eyes red and her voice trembling.
“Lily, I’m sorry. I really didn’t mean to. I thought you’d catch it.”
Maya frowned at me reproachfully.
“Lily, seriously? It’s just a phone. I’ll buy you the latest model to make up for it. Will that make you happy?”
Evan folded his arms, his expression cold.
“Maybe it’s better that the phone’s broken. Now you won’t spend every day clinging to those recordings. You’ve got to move on sometime. Tessa’s helping you break a bad habit. You should thank her.”
I opened my mouth, but my throat tightened.
Darkness clouded my vision. I nearly passed out.
Graham went pale.
“Lily! Are you okay?”
He scooped me into his arms and hurried into the bathroom.
Only when warm water began washing over me did I slowly come back to myself.
The water rinsed away the red stains, but it couldn’t touch the hurt inside me.
I leaned against Graham, trembling uncontrollably.
My mind was filled with memories of the day Mother died.
Mother had gone to a hillside lavender farm to pick flowers for my favorite lavender shortbread cookies. She hadn’t had time to make dinner for my father, who’d run up gambling debts.
He took his anger out on her.
He lashed out at her again and again, shouting that he wanted a divorce.
Mother said nothing. She bent down to pick up the lavender blossoms scattered across the floor.
But as my father grew more agitated, he threatened to hand me over to settle what he owed from gambling.
Mother couldn’t take it anymore. She fought back.
“Don’t you dare! Nobody’s going to hurt my daughter!”
My last memory of her was of her throwing herself over me to shield me.
Lavender blossoms scattered across the floor as the scene blurred into a frightening shade of red.
With the last of her strength, Mother covered my eyes with her hand.
“Don’t cry, Lily. I’m okay. It doesn’t hurt.”
In the end, Graham was the one who burst in and rescued me.
He was badly hurt while protecting me.
“Lily, run!”
Maya grabbed my hand, and together we fled to the police station.
Evan held me and sobbed.
“Lily, we’re all the family we’ve got left.”
There had been so many times I’d felt unable to go on. But whenever I thought of everything they’d sacrificed for me, guilt stopped me.
And now, step by step, those very people were pushing me toward despair.
A knock sounded at the bathroom door.
Tessa’s voice came from the other side.
“Graham, hurry up and bring Lillian out! There’s only one step left before she’s cured!”