After You Betrayed Me, I Never Looked Back

Chapter 6 I Failed You

After bringing Natalie's ashes back from the cemetery, Whitney placed the urn in the family chapel in the Cole Villa. Then she went out to meet with the cemetery manager to arrange for the plot transfer.

She looked at that small urn, and the pain welled up in her eyes again.

By the time she finished the paperwork and came back for the ashes, what she found made her blood run cold.

"Where's my baby?" She searched every corner of the chapel. Natalie's urn was gone.

"Whitney? What are you looking for?" Brenda asked.

Whitney turned around. Her blood started boiling. "Brenda! What are you doing?"

Brenda clutched the urn to her chest, pretending to look innocent. The ashes inside were gone—she'd dumped them down the drain and turned the urn into a planter.

"Whitney, look at my new pot. Isn't it pretty?" She held up the urn, now filled with flowers, like she genuinely didn't understand.

"Where's what was inside?" Whitney grabbed her shoulders hard.

Brenda winced. "Ow, you're hurting me. I don't know what you're talking about. I just thought this jar was pretty..."

Whitney was losing it. She'd already lost her child. Why did Brenda have to take away the one thing she had left?

"I'll ask you one more time. Where's what was inside?" she questioned.

Brenda must have seen something in Whitney's eyes, because her voice got small. "I... I washed it down the drain..."

Whitney slapped Brenda's face, hard. "How dare you!"

The slap echoed through the chapel. By the time Sebastian got there, Brenda was sitting on the floor crying.

"Brenda!" He stepped in front of her, his eyes cold as ice. "What's wrong with you, Whitney? You can't just hit a pregnant woman!"

Whitney was shaking. "She dumped Natalie's ashes. Every last bit of my daughter. Gone."

Brenda sobbed, her voice hitching. "I didn't know they were ashes. I thought the pretty jar had trash in it..."

Whitney nearly passed out from rage. She raised her hand again, but Sebastian caught it. "Enough. She didn't mean to. Why are you so set against her? Just because you couldn't keep your child alive doesn't mean someone else can't have theirs."

Whitney couldn't believe her ears—she couldn't fathom that the man before her would show such blatant favoritism toward Brenda.

"Sebastian, Natalie was your daughter, too!" Her cry came from somewhere so deep it tore through her. Sebastian went quiet for a moment.

Then he said, "Fine. I'll deal with her later. But she didn't do it on purpose. And honestly? You shouldn't have left it there."

But this was the family chapel. Where else was Whitney supposed to leave it?

Sebastian picked Brenda up without another look and walked out.

Whitney was left holding the empty urn. The tears wouldn't come anymore.

'Natalie, I'm sorry. Mommy couldn't protect you. Even after you were gone. I failed you.'

Sebastian and Brenda stayed out until late. Right before bed, Whitney's phone lit up with a message from Brenda.

The photos told the whole story. Brenda, her body filled with traces of love, stood in front of a mirror, Sebastian behind her.

Brenda: See? Even pregnant, Sebastian can't keep his hands off me. So pathetic. Lost your baby and still trying to go after mine. What Natalie? That was just a pile of burned-up meat. Totally insane.

Whitney stared at the screen. Each word stabbed deeper than the last. Her hands shook as she dialed Arielle. "You awake? I need to talk to you."