Encore of the Avenging Muse (Sylvia and Rupert)

Chapter 1

According to the rules, relatives were not allowed to view the process at crematorium.

Supported by the icy steel bed, Sylvia Lloyd paid her way into the crematorium's inner sanctum.

The air was tinged with the scent of burning, intermingled with the ash that danced in the sunlight. Perhaps it was someone's ashes. Soon, her precious daughter would become just that.

Sylvia was clad in a long black dress that barely covered her gaunt frame even in the smallest size, her eyes, swollen and red from crying, now held a serene calm.

She reached out to touch the cold, stiff hand that protruded from beneath the white shroud, and into her daughter's palm, she placed two pink paper stars. "Wait for me, Stella."

Time seemed to stand still until a worker approached, pulling Sylvia away to reveal Stella's face under the shroud.

At eight years old, Stella was frail and thin, her ribcage starkly defined, with a noticeable dip at the bottom.

welled up again as she gazed at that dip. She had failed to

your loss. At least your daughter's kidney saved another child, who will now live a happy life

happens to be my husband's illegitimate son. Right now, they're celebrating his grand birthday party. Did you know? Today is also my daughter's birthday." The worker was taken aback, unable to comfort the despairing woman before

forced a pale smile, "Go ahead, let's not delay. I hope my daughter finds a

a sigh and a shake of his head, the worker prepared to move the body

at peace, no longer

Daddy like me,

Daddy like Ms. Simpson's

mean to you because of me?

daughter, destroyed by

day with her father. Instead, he had put her in a

body. The ironic thing was that a blood-stained children's watch lay beside her, dialing her father's number. And yet the

held back tears and hugged her daughter, fearing

ever since Bridget Simpson returned from abroad with her son, boldly accusing Sylvia of harming them, Rupert had made her