Chapter 7
884 Words
Flora's eyes widened in shock.
Rage surged through her like a wave.
"Nina, what did you do?" she shouted.
Nina gave a cold laugh.
"Take a good look for yourself," she said lightly.
Flora's eyes turned red. She lunged forward like she had lost control. Two men in black rushed out and pinned her hard to the ground.
"Why are you doing this?" Flora screamed.
"Why?" Nina sneered. "If it were not for you, I would have been on the team! I would have been Jonathan's partner. I would have been the one winning championships.
"You are just the adopted daughter of a servant. What makes you think you deserve any of this?"
She slapped Flora across the face. Then she turned and walked away with her men.
Flora knelt alone in the rainy night.
Her shaking hands dug into her adoptive mother's grave. Her broken nails tore as blood mixed with rain and soaked into the small box.
She opened it with trembling hands.
Inside were ashes. A dog tag lay among them.
It was not her mother.
It was a dog named Lucky.
A mouthful of blood burst from her lips.
"Mom... where are you?" she whispered in a broken voice.
Flora staggered to the funeral home.
The staff told her everything had been handled by Nina. The cremation papers were all signed by her.
Flora ran straight to the training base and found Nina.
She lost control completely.
"Give me back my mother's ashes!" she screamed.
Nina hid behind Jonathan with a pitiful face.
"Jon, is Flora going crazy?" she said softly. "What would I even do with her mother's ashes? Everyone saw it. She was already buried."
People gathered around them. Whispering filled the air. More and more of them started to believe Flora had lost her mind.
Jonathan looked annoyed. He grabbed Flora's hand and dragged her back to the cemetery.
"Look carefully," he said coldly. "Are you sure you didn't just imagine it? Why do you keep targeting Nina?"
The grave looked perfectly restored.
No dog tag. No ashes. Nothing remained.
It looked like that rainy night had never happened.
Flora went mad. She dropped to her knees and dug into the ground with her bare hands.
Jonathan forced her into the car.
"Flora, please stop," he said. "Let us just get married. Everything will be fine after that."
He even took her to take wedding photos.
She sat there like a doll. Silent. Empty.
"Flora, I already apologized. What else do you want from me?" Jonathan exclaimed in frustration.
Flora looked at him with hollow eyes.
"Can you bring my mother back?" she asked quietly.
Jonathan snapped in anger.
Flora was locked inside a mansion.
It was meant to be their future home. Now it felt like a cage.
She lost all contact with the outside world.
Every day, the servants found new ways to hurt her.
They gave her spoiled food. They poured salt water over her wounds. When she had a high fever, they made her beg for medicine until she almost collapsed.
She could not take it anymore.
"Where is Jonathan? I want to see him!" she cried.
The servant laughed coldly.
"Ms. Keenan, just wait for the wedding," she said. "Mr. Lane is training at the rink with Ms. Sawyer. He has no time for you."
Days passed one after another.
One night, Flora finally used her diamond ring to bribe a guard. She got supplies and one chance to make a phone call.
She called Maria, the woman who once abandoned her.
"If you want the marriage to go through," she said coldly, "send someone to get me out. If I die, you get nothing."
More painful days passed.
The night before the wedding was the planned rescue time.
Jonathan came back.
Flora stayed very calm. That made him feel relieved. He held her hand gently.
"Flora, get some rest," he said softly. "I will come get you tomorrow morning."
Flora calmly pulled her hand away.
"Okay," she said quietly. "I will wait for you."
That night, before Maria's people arrived, the servants came.
"Ms. Keenan," one of them said, "do you not want your mother back? She is right here."
A paper with an address was thrown in front of her.
Flora's heart tightened.
She had to bring her mother home.
The mansion guards were strangely relaxed that night.
Flora prepared quickly and slipped out.
It led her to an abandoned ice rink.
Her mother's ashes sat alone on the ice.
Flora rushed forward and hugged the box like a child holding onto her only family.
"Mom, I am here," she whispered.
The door behind her slammed shut.
A loud click echoed.
Silence filled the rink like death.
No matter how she screamed, only echoes answered her.
The rink was freezing. Her body shook hard.
Flora curled up in a corner, holding the ashes tightly. Her mind slowly faded.
Snow filled her memories.
Jonathan appeared during the avalanche.
"Flora, I am here," he had said. "I will not let anything happen to you."
She reached out in her memory.
The image shattered like glass.
In her fading awareness, she heard the iron door slam open.
Dark figures rushed in.
"Ms. Keenan, we finally found you!" someone shouted.
"Ms. Keenan, wake up..."
- Writer
