He sounded like he was trying to make peace, but there was still that hint of blame like I was overreacting.
I stared at him coldly. “You should stay with her. Let’s just get a divorce.”
At the word “divorce,” Cody finally panicked. He rushed over and grabbed my hand.
“Riley, don’t be like this. I’ll call the best doctor right now. We’ll get our daughter the treatment she needs.”
He dialed a number, “Hello, Dr. Clark, My daughter’s sick, and I need you to see her right away. Hold on, let me check which hospital she’s at.”
Cody glanced at me, waiting for a response, but I stayed silent, dragging my suitcase toward the door.
Sensing I wasn’t stopping, he quickly said into the phone, “Dr. Clark, my daughter was taken to the hospital by someone else. Can you check which one for me? Her name’s Alice Luke. I’ll make it up to you later. Thanks, talk soon.”
After hanging up, Cody stepped in front of the door, trying to act reassuringly.
“See? Now you can’t be mad anymore. Once Alice is out of the hospital, we’ll all be together again as a family. This was just a misunderstanding. Yara just got back, she’s not familiar with the area. I couldn’t leave her alone. But from now on, I’ll be with Alice every day, okay?”
He looked at me like he expected everything to magically be fine, like he could fix it all with empty promises.
I stared at him, feeling nothing but disgust. His fake, apologetic smile only made me angrier.
“No, Cody. You’ve run out of chances.”
He frowned, clearly confused. “What do you mean, run out of chances? Once Alice is better, everything will go back to normal.”
In the past, his groveling and apologies might’ve worked.
But not anymore. I didn’t care about him or his excuses. Not after everything that had happened.
My daughter’s ashes hadn’t even been laid to rest, and I wasn’t going to waste my time playing his games.
“Move,” I said, my voice cold and sharp.
Cody’s patience snapped. He pointed at me, his voice rising in anger.
“Fine, Riley! Walk out that door and don’t come back!”
“Gladly.”
I didn’t even look at him as I walked out, slamming the door behind me.
My daughter always loved the wild chrysanthemums on the mountain. She said they symbolized freedom.
So, I took her ashes up there. It was a quiet, secluded spot. I set the urn aside and went to pick some flowers.
I only stepped away for a few minutes, but when I came back, the urn was gone.