He stood over me with a cold expression, looking down as if I were nothing. "Ian, I finally came back from abroad, and you keep getting in the way of me and Nora. Let's see how you're going to stop me now. "
My face was drenched in sweat from the pain. I glared at Julian through the gaps between my fingers. "You scumbag, seducing my wife, hurting my daughter, and now you're trying to kill me. Even if I die, I'll haunt you forever!"
Julian slowly raised the knife, his eyes wild. "Then die. "
I couldn't let him strike the knife in me. I used all my strength to grab his wrist, but my hand caught the blade instead, splitting my skin open. Just then, the door to the room burst open.
At the sound, Julian quickly slashed his own arm.
Nora stood frozen in the doorway, shocked by what she saw. She rushed over to Julian's side, panic in her voice. "Julian, how did you get hurt so badly? Who did this to you?"
Julian, sweating and trembling from the pain, stammered, "It was him! I just wanted to make peace and shake hands, but he tried to kill me!"
Nora shot me a furious glare. "Ian, haven't you done enough? Now you're trying to hurt Julian too? He's innocent!"
I wrapped my hand tightly in the bedsheet, glaring back at her. "Nora, are you blind? Do you really think he came here to apologize?"
Caught off guard by my words, Nora looked at Julian, but he just kept whining, trying to earn her sympathy. Without saying anything more, she helped him out of the room. Before they left, Julian turned back, his eyes full of hate.
After that, Nora kept coming back, asking me about our daughter's whereabouts. But the exhaustion on her face showed that deep down, she'd accepted the truthour daughter was gone, even if she couldn't bring herself to admit it.
On the day I was discharged, I found Nora in our daughter's room, alone. Her hair was a mess as she packed up our daughter's clothes and toys. She was a far cry from the woman who used to be so put together, like she was two different people. She muttered to herself, almost like she was possessed, "My daughter can't be dead, she just can't be. "
I named the Pomeranian my daughter loved Shell. My mother-in-law had been taking good care of it while I was in the hospital. When I squatted down, Shell licked my hand, and I felt a deep pang of longing for my daughter.
Then, I handed Nora the divorce papers.
She brushed her hair out of her face, staring blankly at the papers. But then, in a sudden fit of anger, she tore them to pieces. "You're not divorcing me until you find our daughter!"
She practically shouted the words, but I didn't sense any love for our daughter in them.
"Nora, when we found out our daughter might have a heart condition, you were right there, but you didn't even show the slightest concern. If you had just made one phone call, you'd have known she was gone. You don't deserve to be a mother. "
With that, I walked away