Seven Years of Silence: A Mother's Last Wish Chapter 2

Asher hung up.

I knew he wasn't coming for Lily.

Seven years, my eighth cry for help, and I had failed again.

I smiled a bleak, tragic smile, leaning weakly against the wall. Half of my body felt burning hot.

Steam seemed to rise from the fresh blood.

I glanced upstairs. It was dead silent. Lily hadn't woken up yet.

Or maybe she was awake, but she was too terrified to come down. She was probably curled up under her blankets, shivering.

Thinking of that, my heart twisted in agony. I tried to crawl up, but my strength was completely drained.

What should I do?

My tiny, innocent daughter was trembling in bed, and I couldn't help her at all.

After I died, if no one came to take her away, she would be left alone to face that demon.

How was she going to survive?

My phone suddenly buzzed. An Instagram DM notification popped up.

I gasped for air, struggling to focus my eyes on the screen.

It was from Mia, the girl they had adopted.

[Harper, today is my 23rd birthday party. The whole family is here celebrating with me, so nobody has the time or energy to deal with you.]

[Honestly, I don't get it. You've already lost so completely, why won't you just give up?]

My lips moved, the metallic taste of blood spreading in my mouth.

It wasn't that I hadn't given up. I just couldn't let go of Lily.

I don't know where the last burst of strength came from, but I desperately pressed the microphone icon to send Mia a voice memo.

I begged the person I hated the most.

"Mia... I'm sorry. I was wrong... I shouldn't have been hostile to you... I shouldn't have fought for their love... I'll beg on my hands and knees... Please, just come get my daughter..."

Through broken, stuttering breaths, I bled, and I cried.

All the dignity I had clung to for years completely shattered in that moment, ground into the dirt by my own hands.

I had never bowed my head to Mia.

Because I always believed that I was the true daughter of the Bennett family, and she was just a cuckoo in the nest, a fake taking up my space.

But now, I bowed my head.

I surrendered.

"What?"

Mia was clearly stunned, but then she laughed loudly. "No way? You... that's hilarious. You're going to beg on your knees? Seriously? Then let me hear you bang your head!"