Tears of RegretChapter 3

I used a broken piece of furniture to shatter the attic window and escape.

Down in the yard, I found Sophie's empty urn. Clutching it to my chest, I ran, all the way to the live event.

Macaulay was on stage, about to be presented with the "Top 10 Entrepreneurs of the Year" award. Isabelle and her daughter stood beside him, preening like peacocks in their designer clothes.

I shoved my way through the crowd, a wild, blood-soaked apparition. I held up the empty urn.

"I am Eleanor Vance, Macaulay Vance's wife!" I screamed, my voice raw. "And I am here to tell you that this man is a fraud! He and this woman, Isabelle, this manipulative snake, they murdered my daughter!"

My voice broke. "My daughter needed that specialty drug too. But he wouldn't spare a single dose for her. The doctor said that just one dose… just one… and she would still be alive."

A shocked murmur ran through the crowd. All eyes turned to the stage.

I met Macaulay's panicked gaze and raised the urn higher. "And now my daughter has no grave, because he took her ashes and fed them to Isabelle's child as some kind of twisted medicine!"

"That's absurd!" Macaulay finally found his voice. He rushed off the stage and pulled me into a corner.

"Eleanor, stop it!" he hissed. "Whatever it is, we'll discuss it at home. If you embarrass Isabelle in public, I'll—"

His eyes fell on my swollen face, on the deep, bleeding gash on my arm. He faltered, the threat dying on his lips.

Suddenly, Isabelle ran over, her eyes red, and dropped to her knees in front of me, bowing her head again and again. She dramatically pulled up her sleeve, revealing a series of horrific-looking burns and welts on her arm.

"Eleanor, please don't say these things," she sobbed. "I never, ever wanted to come between you. If you don't want Macaulay helping me, I'll disappear. I'll go far away. Please, just leave me alone. I can't take it anymore. I'll just take my daughter and end it all!"

The crowd gasped. Then, in a theatrical gesture of despair, Isabelle stood and ran toward the ballroom's balcony, dragging her daughter with her.

"Isabelle!" Macaulay screamed, chasing after her and pulling her back from the edge. Then he whirled around, grabbed the back of my head, and slapped me, over and over, more than a dozen times. All his composure was gone. He looked like a rabid animal.

"You did this to her, didn't you, Eleanor!" he roared. "You've been hurting her behind my back! You're a sick, jealous monster! You couldn't take care of your own daughter, so now you can't stand to see Isabelle's daughter get better! Ashes? Medicine? You say one more crazy word and I'll have you committed to a psychiatric hospital!"

His words hung in the air. The way people were looking at me changed.

My head was spinning from the blows. "He's lying," I pleaded, shaking my head. "Please, believe me, I'm not crazy. I funded his company. He used my money to carry on with her behind my back! He really did feed my daughter's ashes to her child!"

But they just stared at me with a mixture of pity and scorn.

"Ashes as medicine? Maybe she is crazy, like he said."

"Even a monster wouldn't do that to his own child. Mr. Vance is a good man."

"I recognize you. You're the one from the Feng family, the one they disowned. If your own family doesn't want you, there must be something wrong with you."

They started pushing me, shoving me. I fell to the floor, clutching the empty urn. Someone stepped on my injured arm, and a fresh wave of agony shot through me. I was on the verge of passing out.

Macaulay just stood there, watching with cold indifference.

A tear of pure despair slid from the corner of my eye.

And then, from the edge of the crowd, came Isabelle's terrified scream.

"Macaulay! My daughter is throwing up blood!"

He whipped his head around. The little girl was collapsed on the floor, blood trickling from the corner of her mouth. Panic seized him. "What's happening?" he cried, his voice cracking.

My gaze drifted down to the empty urn in my hands. A slow, knowing smile spread across my face.

Now, your karma has arrived.