Rebirth Into My Second Chance

I stood behind Helen, barely recognizing the man Richard had become.

I couldn't help but ask, "Richard, so you knew all along that the child was Max's, and it was you who lured me to that infamous bar, using me to frame Max. You thought if Max had an illegitimate child, his family would turn against him, right? And you hoped to drive a wedge between Claude and me, making him despise and hate me. This whole elaborate scheme, it was all your doing, wasn't it?"

I wanted to ask him if his betrayal, spanning over two lifetimes, was genuine.

But then I thought, if I revealed my rebirth to him, would he drag me to a psychiatric hospital, curious if there was something wrong with my brain?

"Claire, I admit I planned all of it," Richard said, no longer bothering to hide the truth.

Tears blurred my vision as I said, "So, you never genuinely saw me as your sister. Your kindness was just a ploy to harm me, to gain my trust, making it easier for you to manipulate me without ever raising my suspicion." My heart felt like it was tearing apart at that moment.

Hearing his admission, all I wanted was to collect my parents' ashes and get as far away from him as possible: "Give me my parents' ashes. I'll forgive everything you've done to me, but there's no future for us."

Richard, without further argument, hung his head low and slouched, signaling his aide to hand over my parents' ashes.

The aide, while passing the urn to me, muttered, "These were hard-won from the Hilton family elders by our young master..."

Before he could finish, Richard sharply cut him off, "Enough!"

Holding the urn, regardless of how Richard obtained my parents' ashes, it marked the end of any relationship we had. "Take care, Richard."

As I turned to leave, the sound of a vase shattering on the floor echoed behind me, but I didn't look back.

Richard, who had been a part of every memory since my childhood, protecting me yet plotting against me under the guise of love and affection, had done nothing but harm.

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He claimed to shield me from storms, yet he was the storm.

With eyes closed, I held my parents' urn close. Their lives had been turbulent, and even in death, they were manipulated and threatened.

The Hilton family elders coveted my parents' ashes merely to coerce me, to drive me away from Max. But in this life, I had chosen to stand and fight alongside Max.

"Let's head to the beach," Helen suggested, glancing between me and the urn I cradled. "Are you sure about this?"

I smiled, "Yes. Rather than living with

vulnerabilities that enemies can

exploit, it's better to let go. My parents wouldn't want their

existence to be a source of constant disturbance. They didn't live for that, nor should they be fought over in death."

As we drove towards the beach, I rolled down the window, letting the summer breeze caress my face and lift my hair, as if my parents were softly comforting me. Standing atop a cliff overlooking the sea, Max joined me, taking one of the urns from my hands, "You made the same choice as me."

I turned to him, puzzled, "The same choice?"

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He gazed out at the vast expanse of

water and said, "Yes. The year my

mother passed, I was on the opposite shore, releasing her ashes into the sea. She loved freedom, and the sea could carry her to distant places."

The year his mother died, Max must have been just a teenager, likely enduring a pain even greater than mine at the moment.

Silently, we scattered the ashes into the sea, and it felt as if a weight had been lifted from our hearts.