Chapter 5

Sylvia's POV

I sat alone in my room, one side of my face burning with pain.

After a while, the door opened.

Julian walked in holding a tube of ointment.

He crouched in front of me and gently cupped my face in his hands.

The moment his palm touched my swollen cheek, his brows furrowed.

Charles Hayes hadn't held back when he slapped me.

Half of my face was already swollen, much worse than Chloe Hayes's.

“Does it still hurt?”

I turned my head away and refused to look at him.

Julian Vance sighed and opened the ointment.

Julian Vance used to care about me deeply, too.

Once, I had been pruning roses in the garden when a thorn pricked my finger.

It was barely an injury. The bead of blood that appeared wasn't even as big as my fingernail.

The next day, Julian Vance hired a professional gardening team.

He told me that from then on, they would take care of the flowers, and all I had to do was enjoy looking at them.

But just now, in the hallway, my own father, Charles Hayes, had slapped me across the face.

Julian had been standing right beside us without reacting at all.

His eyes had been filled with nothing but concern for Chloe Hayes.

Compared to Chloe Hayes, the concern he had once shown me was apparently worth nothing.

And I didn't want this kind of second-choice affection.

Even less did I want the scraps of concern Chloe Hayes had left behind.

Julian's fingers, coated with ointment, moved toward my cheek. I slightly turned my head to avoid him.

“Don't dodge.”

Julian Vance clicked his tongue, his tone neither harsh nor gentle.

“If you don't put some medicine on it, it'll swell even more tomorrow.”

Without giving me a chance to refuse, he firmly gripped my chin and turned my face back toward him.

His movement was forceful, but the pressure of his fingers was gentle.

He carefully spread the ointment over my cheek as he spoke.

“You really did go too far today.”

“Chloe is still young. She just put her things in the wrong place. You could have simply told her. Why did you throw all her belongings out?”

He patiently lectured his unreasonable wife.

“Sylvia Hayes, you should make allowances for her. No matter what, you shouldn't hurt Chloe.”

I clenched my teeth and said nothing.

“Charles Hayes was a little too heavy-handed, but what he said was right. That room was empty anyway. Now that Chloe is back, she needs somewhere to stay.”

He closed the lid of the ointment and softened his tone.

“The living shouldn't have to keep making room for the dead.”

I shot to my feet.

“What did you just say?”

Julian Vance froze. Only then did he realize that mentioning my mother, Eleanor Ward, had been a mistake.

He reached out, wrapped an arm around my waist, and pulled me back into his embrace.

“Don't be angry.”

He rested his chin on my shoulder and coaxed softly into my ear.

“I missed you. We haven't really spent any time together in so long.”

His hand moved to unbutton my pajamas.

“We still want to have a child, don't we?”

My entire body went rigid.

I thought of the baby growing inside me.

Then I remembered the words I'd overheard outside the club.

I forcefully pushed Julian Vance's hand away.

“I'm tired.”

I lay down without another word, turned my back to him, and pulled the blanket over myself.

Julian Vance's hand remained suspended in midair.

He said nothing else, turned off the light, and went to bed.

In the middle of the night, I woke up choking.

The air was filled with a sharp, acrid smell of burning.

Julian Vance was nowhere to be seen.

I suddenly sat up and saw thick smoke seeping through the gap beneath the door.

There was a fire!

I threw off the blanket and rushed outside.

Most of the hallway had already been swallowed by gray smoke. Flames were shooting up from the direction of the staircase.

My first thought was my mother's room.

Without thinking, I ran barefoot toward it.

The closer I got, the thicker the smoke became and the larger the flames grew.

The heat blasted against my face, my skin feeling as though it were being scorched.

But I didn't stop.

The door to my mother's room was wide open.

Fire was pouring out of it, and the doorframe had already been burned black.

I rushed inside.

The flames were raging. One of the ceiling beams had already collapsed.

More than half the room had been destroyed.

I was on the verge of breaking down.

The last things my mother had left me were being reduced to ashes right before my eyes.

I frantically searched through the flames.

The smoke made my eyes stream with tears, and I burned my hands several times.

Finally, inside a drawer that hadn't been completely burned through, I found a handkerchief.

It was embroidered by my mother herself.

One corner had been scorched, but most of it was still intact.

I clenched the handkerchief in my palm and turned to run outside.

When I reached the doorway, my foot caught on a piece of broken wood.

I fell heavily to the ground.

Julian Vance appeared at the other end of the hallway.

He saw me lying on the floor.

He stopped for a moment, conflict flashing across his face, a brief flicker of concern appearing in his eyes.

Then he turned decisively and ran toward Chloe Hayes's room.

I watched his back as he disappeared down the hallway, my chest feeling as though I'd been struck by a heavy blow.

When Julian Vance and I had first gotten together, we'd once gone on a road trip.

We encountered a car accident along the way.

Both of us were trapped inside the mangled vehicle, unable to move.

When the rescue workers arrived, Julian Vance desperately shouted for them to save me first.

Back then, I thought I'd finally found true love.

I thought this man was truly willing to risk his life for me.

But at this moment, he hadn't even thought about saving me.

He had given up on you, I told myself.

But don't give up on yourself.

I struggled to get back on my feet and stumbled all the way outside.

Charles Hayes rushed toward me and pulled me into his arms.

“Are you all right? You scared me to death!”

My entire body trembled.

How long had it been since Charles Hayes had hugged me like this?

My eyes instantly grew hot.

Was Charles Hayes still concerned about me after all?

“Chloe, let me see if you're hurt!”

So he thought I was Chloe Hayes.

“You've got the wrong person.”

I suppressed the bitterness rising in my heart.

“I'm Sylvia Hayes.”

Charles Hayes froze.

Then he abruptly released me.

“Where's Chloe?”

Charles Hayes grabbed my shoulders and shook me hard.

“Chloe is still inside! How could you leave her behind and run out by yourself?!”

He turned and was about to rush into the fire.

Regina Cole was crying nearby, calling Chloe Hayes's name.

The firefighters stopped Charles Hayes.

“Sir, the structure inside is already unstable. It could collapse at any moment. You can't go in!”

Two firefighters held Charles Hayes back as he struggled violently, the veins on his forehead bulging.

At that moment, Julian Vance came running out with Chloe Hayes on his back.

His face was covered in soot, and he had several burns and scalds on his body.

But Chloe Hayes, on his back, was completely clean and unharmed.

Charles Hayes broke free from the firefighters and rushed over.

“Chloe! Chloe, are you all right? Are you hurt?”

Regina Cole rushed over as well, and mother and daughter embraced each other, crying.

Chloe Hayes climbed down from Julian Vance's back and obediently wrapped her arms around Charles Hayes and Regina Cole.

“Dad, Mom, don't worry. I'm fine. I'm not hurt at all! It's all thanks to Julian for saving me.”

The three of them embraced each other in a heartwarming scene that could bring tears to anyone's eyes.

Julian Vance stood nearby, looking at Chloe Hayes with tenderness in his eyes.

He didn't look in my direction even once.

I stood alone a few steps away, clutching the handkerchief tightly in my hand.

After the warmth of the moment faded, Chloe Hayes lifted her head from Charles Hayes's arms.

“Sylvia Hayes, why did you set the house on fire?”

[Paid cliffhanger]