I didn't listen any further.

Because I knew that body wasn't mine.

I had just been killed by the kidnappers last night.

And my body had been cut into pieces and thrown into the river to feed the fish.

All that remained was that heart.

The heart that was kicked away by him.

5

But I didn't understand why Dad acted so... officially?

Did he really see me as just another random victim?

Wasn't he even a bit relieved to find out the body isn't mine?

Wasn't he even a bit worried when he learned I was missing?

When I was five, he had taken me to his office once.

I didn't cry or fuss. I quietly hang around by myself.

He looked at me with such tenderness.

"Betty, are you exhausted?"

I often smiled sweetly at him.

"Working with Dad isn't boring at all!"

His colleagues envied him.

"Robert, you are so lucky to have such a thoughtful daughter!"

"Betty is so sweet. I wish I had a daughter like her!"

"I'm seriously jealous of you, Robert!"

Whenever he heard this, he laughed proudly.

"Get out of here! Get yourself married first before you start dreaming about having a daughter."

After everyone left, he would pick me up and kiss my chubby cheeks.

"Betty, you are really my angel.

"I love you."

Was he really?

Or was this just a self-deception?

Ever since my sister was born, your eyes and your heart were all drawn to her.

You installed a car seat, saying kids' necks are fragile so she needed extra care.

You worked so hard and rarely took breaks, yet you would drop all the works and go to early education classes with Sarah. Because "Dads must be around their baby girls in their childhoods."

You hired a nanny and a child nutritionist for her health.

When she was old enough, you sent her to the best kindergarten in the city, where tuition started in five figures.

You even bought a house in a good school district early on and changed her identity information, just so she can have the best education.

But you left my identity information back in the old house.

Everything my sister had was something I couldn't even dream of.

I felt envy, but not jealousy.

After all, I had also felt your fatherly love.

And what was there for me to envy?

That she wasn't your biological daughter?

6

Since Sarah got pregnant, my dad has almost pampered with her, treating her with the utmost care.

But I saw a man often coming over after he left for work, hugging her closely.

I angrily said I would tell my dad, but Sarah lied to me.

"Betty, that guy is my brother."

I was young and naive, truly believing he was her brother.

Sarah told me it was a secret between girls and I couldn't tell my dad.

She said it was because my dad didn't like her brother.

But he was her only brother, and she didn't want to lose him.

So I agreed with Sarah.

She even gave me a piece of delicious chocolate.

But after eating that chocolate, I felt so sleepy.

Later, I often ate that kind of chocolate and frequently fell asleep.

Until one time, I hadn't even gotten a chance to eat it when I found that man was back.

They thought I was asleep and went to the bedroom.

I secretly leaned at the door, peeking through a gap.

He pinned Sarah to the bed, kissing her and saying strange things.

Sarah hit his shoulder, saying, "You're squashing our baby!"

He laughed and touched her belly.

"Robert is indeed a good guy to help me look after my son!

"Cuckold looks good on him!"

Sarah playfully pushed him, and their laughter was even more bizarre.

I thought those words didn't sound right, and I told my dad that day.

But my dad didn't believe me. Instead, he scolded me for lying at such a young age.

Sarah cried, snot and tears running down her face.

"I've been so good to Betty! How can she slander me like this?

"Is it just because I didn't give her chocolate today?

"But chocolate is bad for kids' teeth..."

She cried, and I was so upset that I cried too.

Yet my dad comforted her, holding her close, and shoved me into the closet.

"You're grounded! Get in there and think about what you've done wrong."

From that day on, Sarah's attitude toward me changed.

She was nicer to me in front of my dad, but once he left, she would hit and insult me.

I cried to my dad for help, but she always cried louder, threatening to divorce him and get rid of the baby in her belly.

Later, my dad sent me to a boarding school.

From then on, he ignored me, only sending a meager allowance.

It wasn't enough at all.

Only when I slowly figured things out did I understand that the man wasn't Sarah's brother.

He was her lover.

The child in her belly wasn't my dad's.

7

The DNA test results came out quickly.

The body wasn't mine.

My dad kicked the chair in anger after hearing this, extremely agitated.

"Beatrice! You better be really dead!

"Don't come back to cause more troubles!"

He paced around the office in a rage, like a caged beast.

I thought he must be contemplating how to kill me.

But I was already dead.

He had no chance now.

I wandered nearby because I didn't want to see him like that anymore.

I overheard a few people whispering around me.

"I heard Mr. Mitchell really liked Betty. How come they end up like this now?"

"When Betty was little, Mr. Mitchell married a new wife and had another daughter. Since then he never paid attention on his daughter."

"But he shouldn't treat her like an enemy!"

"I heard his daughter was jealous of her stepmother and sister. When she was young, she nearly caused her stepmother to miscarry, and later always secretly hit her sister and even pricked her with needles."

"Really? She looks so quiet. I didn't think she could be so malicious!"

"Of course it's true! It caused quite a stir back then!"

I floated in the air, looking at these people who blindly spread rumors, not recognizing them at all.

I wanted to shout at them.

"I didn't do those things!

"It wasn't me!

"It was Sarah who slandered me!"

But they couldn't hear my pleas.

It was just like my dad, who had been blind and deaf for so many years.

What I said when I was alive, he chose to ignore, so how could he hear my defense now that I was dead?

It was all in vain.

Soon, my teachers found out I was missing.

They called my dad to inform him I hadn't been to school for two days.

He clenched his phone and sneered. "Don't worry about her!

"She's just opposing me!

"Let her fend for herself!"

The teacher tried to persuade him.

"Sir, Beatrice is a very hardworking girl. She wouldn't just skip two days of class for no reason!

"She has been missing for two days! If this continues, she will probably be in danger!"

"Then let her die!" My father remained unmoved.

"Her being alive is the largest trouble to the world! She never stops causing problems for others.

"It would be better for her to be gone!"

My teacher was so angered by his attitude that her voice trembled.

"You are a police officer. You should know many similar cases!

"Do you really want her to die?

"Do you really want to see her dead body?"

I floated in the air, watching a flicker of uncertainty in my father's eyes.

Sarah approached behind him, gently tugging at his sleeve as usual.

"Robert, go look for Betty, okay?

"No matter how many mistakes she made, she is still your daughter.

"I've already said I don't care about her pushing me down the stairs then.

"I'm still alive, and our daughter just has a few scars. It's nothing...

"Just forgive her."

Her words seemed to press a button.

For a moment, my father's gaze wavered, but then he hardened again.

He replied coldly into the phone.

"She is 18 now.

"Her life or death has nothing to do with me.

"If she is really dead, then she deserves it!"

Seeing him so stubborn, my teacher finally hung up the phone.

I felt a pang of discomfort inside.

Was I supposed to feel this way? It didn't make any sense.

My heart had been ripped out. How could I still feel anything?"

Sarah leaned against my father, sighing.

"I just wanted you to spend some time with Betty that day.

"She never liked our child. Seeing her celebrate her birthday with you would have made her sad.

"If her mother knew she was suffering, she would be upset too."

"Don't mention that wretched woman!" My father's expression turned sharp in an instant.

"She and that horrible woman run the same blood!

"They would be better off dead! I don't want to see them again!"

Sarah immediately fell silent, but I saw her smiling faintly as she leaned against him.

8

I wanted to leave this home far away.

Yet my soul felt trapped here.

More precisely, it was trapped around my father.

When I was alive, he pushed me far away, sending me to boarding school and not picking me up on weekends.

Now that I was dead, I was stuck hovering around him.

I thought, "How ironic, how ridiculous.

If he could see my soul, it would surely infuriate him."

During this time, he hadn't searched for me.

His colleague George, however, was particularly concerned about my disappearance.

After half a month, things finally took a turn.

The kidnapper was caught.

He was arrested for killing a young couple.

As I looked at the demon who had tormented me for so long, the memory of his knife slicing through my flesh and tearing out my heart made my entire soul tremble.

I clenched my fists, wanting nothing more than to rush over and strangle him!

But even if I grasped his neck, I couldn't hurt him.

I had heard about evil spirits harming people, but even in death, I was just a useless ghost.

Perhaps I couldn't even call myself a ghost. I was merely a soul not bound to heaven and hell.

The kidnapper sneered at my father.

"Mr. Mitchell, is your daughter's heart beautiful?

"She is the most perfect piece of art I have ever seen!

"Her hair is so smooth that I pulled out each strand, watching them dance between my fingers.

"Her skin is so soft that I preserved it in formaldehyde. It can last a long time.

"I want to keep her beauty forever!"

My father frowned deeply, scolding sharply.

"Stop your nonsense! Your lies could never cloud my judgment!

"Tell me why you killed that couple!"

The kidnapper leaned back casually in the interrogation chair.

"I'm not lying! Why don't you believe it?

"No wonder your daughter kept saying you don't like her, don't believe her.

"So, how can I prove myself?

"Oh, your daughter has a red mole on her left elbow, in the shape of a drop of blood hidden in a diamond.

"Her second toe is long, and her toenails are cute and pink. I cut them off to keep them separate.

"She likes to wear checkered underwear, but I think it's a bit childish.

"Her figure..."

"Shut up!" My father slammed the table, his face contorting.

"Oh right!" The kidnapper was unfazed, leaning forward, eyes locked on my father, his laughter chilling.

"Do you know what your daughter said before she died?"

I saw my father's eyelids twitch suddenly.

"She said, 'Dad, why don't you ever believe me?'"

The kidnapper's laughter grew more brazen, filling the interrogation room with his twisted chuckles!

My father's cheeks twitched, gritting his teeth, asking.

"You really killed her?"

"Of course!" The kidnapper's eyes turned bloodshot.

"I called you!

"I warned you!

"But you didn't believe me!

"Yet I followed your orders!

"You told me to dismember her, and I did just that! I did what you wanted!"

9

The narrow, dimly lit interrogation room suddenly fell silent.

The atmosphere was eerie, like the calm before death.

My father's expression shifted from rage to numbness, finally settling into stillness.

I saw him slowly raise his hand and turn off the cameras.

He walked to the door and locked it.

For the entire afternoon, the room echoed with horrifying screams and curses.

No matter how many people outside knocked, my father didn't come out.

I lost track of time until the door finally opened, and my father walked out, covered in blood.

He stared at a point in the air as if talking to a colleague or perhaps to someone invisible.

"I killed him."

I had no idea what happened inside.

Because at the moment he shut the door, my soul was drawn away by an angel.

All this was later recounted to me by the angel.

On my last day in the human world, the angel asked if I wanted to go back and take a look.

I hesitated for a moment and then nodded.

When we met again, it was in prison.

My father seemed to have aged overnight.

He sat on a flatbed, tilting his head to look at the small window on the wall, squinting slightly.

I didn't know what he was thinking.

He sat there motionless, like a statue.

I sat at his feet, looking up at the only light together with him.

After some time, I heard a weak sigh from above, mixed with a hint of choking.

"Betty, I'm sorry."

After I left the prison, I remained calm.

The angel asked me, "You have a choice. You can choose to be reborn without any memories as another person, or to live again as Beatrice with all your memories?"

Without hesitation, I replied, "I want to be reborn."

The angel was surprised. "Many who died untimely want revenge in their next life. Don't you want that?"

I smiled bitterly. "Of course, I want revenge!

"But I don't want to be family with him again."

While I was waiting to be reborn, the angel delivered a message.

He said my father was convicted of murder and received a suspended death sentence.

Once he was inside, all his past misdeeds came to light.

The amount of money he embezzled was staggering, explaining he bought a villa and luxury cars, letting Sarah and her daughter live in extravagance.

Sarah fled with her daughter that very night but was detained at the airport.

Their house was seized, and their bank accounts were frozen.

In a fit of anger, Sarah hit a policewoman and was arrested, too.

The shady deals she made, taking advantage of my father's position, were also exposed...

I couldn't help but laugh at that.

What a sweet retribution!

But it no longer mattered to me.

I looked at the guiding angel, and without hesitation, I followed him away.