I had scrimped and saved to send Lily to the city’s most elite preschool.
But then, a spoiled brat in her class shoved her from the top of the slide.
My daughter fell like a broken doll, lying before me, covered in blood.
By the time I frantically rushed over, her small body had gone still.
The teacher, Ms. Peterson, eager to please the powerful Sterlings, purged the security footage.
The family offered me a five-million-dollar check to buy my silence. She was just a girl. Why let her ruin our son’s future?
I shredded the check. I knelt, begging only for justice for my daughter.
But Ms. Peterson pointed a finger at me. “Why did he push?your?daughter and no one else? Perhaps you should look at yourself.”
With no one to turn to, I ultimately died of grief and rage right outside the school gates.
When I opened my eyes, I was back on the day my daughter died. My first act was to pull Lily out of school and bring her home.
But this time, the Sterling boy still killed a child!
And this time, the child was…
I had just settled Lily in the car. Before I could drive away, a dull thud echoed from the playground.
Thump!
The sound was a fist around my heart, squeezing it still.
I spun around. At the base of the three-story slide, a small form lay twisted, utterly still.
The child was face down. Her pink dress was being swiftly, silently swallowed by a dark, spreading stain beneath her.
Chaos erupted. Screams shredded the air, one after another.
I was frozen, watching in horror. Brandon Sterling poked his head out from the slide and spat down with a gleeful, jagged cackle. “Serves you right! Should’ve stayed outta my way, you worthless trash! Just die!”
Ms. Peterson rushed over. A single glance at the ground and her face went sheet-white, legs buckling.
Then she saw the pink dress.
Her frightened expression softened into clear relief. She patted her chest and let out a long breath. “Thank goodness. It’s only Chloe. That useless child.”
Putting on a sweet smile, she called upstairs. “Brandon, honey, come down. You don’t need to see this.”
Brandon slid down and prodded the girl with his foot. “She’s not moving. Lame.”
Don’t look, baby,” Ms. Peterson cooed, covering his eyes. “It’s nothing. Just a little accident. Kids like he…their lives don’t cost much.”
I stood trembling in the nearby shade.
In my previous life, she’d been exactly the same.
A human life, yet in her words, it was just “cheap,” just “poor trash.” Her disregard for the child’s death was absolute.
To win favor with the Sterling family, she did not hesitate to hide the truth, pushing me to my limit.
I stared at the child lying in the pool of blood. That dress was exactly like my daughter’s, the one given for school performances.
Ms. Peterson had clearly mistaken her.
I took a deep breath, then stumbled forward toward the scene.
“An accident! Quick, someone help! Call 911!”
Ms. Peterson heard me and frowned in disgust, immediately blocking my path.
“Ms. Sarah, what are you screaming about? It’s just an accident. Do not disturb the other children or Brandon!”
I pointed at the child on the ground, my eyes burning. “Ms. Peterson, that is a child! Get help now!”
Ms. Peterson scoffed and crossed her arms. “Your daughter must have fallen on her own. Brandon is only five. What could he possibly understand? You better not try to use this to extort money.”
Brandon hid behind Ms. Peterson and stuck his tongue out at me. “Haha, I pushed her! What are you going to do? My dad is rich. He will just pay you off!”
That vicious tone was exactly the same as in my past life.
I clenched my fists, fighting the urge to tear them apart.
Now, save her! My hand trembled as I pointed at Brandon. “You admit you pushed her? From such a high slide, you’re trying to kill someone!”
Ms. Peterson slapped my hand away, shielding Brandon like a mother bear protecting her cub.
“Watch your attitude! This is the heir to Sterling Industries! You could sell your daughter and still not be able to afford a single one of Brandon’s hairs!”
“Kids playing rough is normal. Why didn’t your daughter stand steady? Whose fault is it when someone has poor manners and is weak?”
As she spoke, she quickly pulled out her phone, not to call an ambulance, but to dial the monitoring room.
“Hello? The playground cameras broke just now, right? Yes, all the cameras are down. Delete… I mean, fix them quickly.”
Hanging up, she looked at me triumphantly. “Hear that? The cameras are broken. No one saw Brandon push her. This was just an accident.”
I watched her skillfully carry out these actions, a chilling dread, colder than the winter wind, piercing through me.
In my last life, she had deleted all the evidence just like this, leaving me with nothing but empty words.
Just then, the Sterling family’s nanny, Doris, and driver, Nick, also arrived, having heard the commotion.
The burly Doris glanced at the blood on the ground, covering her nose in disgust. “Ugh, how unlucky. Why did she have to die here?”
Ms. Peterson quickly scurried over, bowing and scraping. “Doris, you’re here. This is all a misunderstanding. The child accidentally…”
Doris waved her off haughtily, cutting her short, then turned to me, her eyes filled with disdain.
“Alright, stop howling. Since it’s happened, let’s talk price.”
“I know you types, poor families sending your kids here just to climb into high society, right? Well, you might not have climbed, but you’ll get your money.”
Nick pulled a stack of checks from his bag, fanning them with a rustling sound.
“One million. Enough for you bottom-feeders to live on for a lifetime. Take the money, sign a release form, take the body, and this whole thing is over.”
I stared at the flimsy check and suddenly laughed.
A bitter laugh escaped me, close to tears.
“One million? Is that the price of a life to you”
Doris’s face turned to stone. “Not enough? Know your place, Sarah. Your daughter’s?life?isn’t worth a million. The Sterlings are just being generous.”
“Push this, and you’ll lose the money and face a lawsuit!”
Brandon cut in, impatient. “Stop wasting time! Get her out! I want the slide, and this dead body is blocking it!”
That childish voice held a chill that ran down my spine.
I took a deep breath, trying to make my voice sound desperate and furious.
“I’m not doing this for money! I’m doing this for justice! I’m calling the police!”
At the word “police,” Ms. Peterson and Doris’s faces both changed.
Ms. Peterson rushed forward, trying to snatch my phone. “Calling the police for what! It’s such a minor thing, why call the police! Are you trying to ruin the preschool’s reputation, or Brandon’s future?”
Doris gave Nick a direct look.
The hulking Nick didn’t hesitate, rushing forward and grabbing my arm, twisting it violently.
“Ah!” I cried out in pain, and my phone “smacked” onto the ground, its screen shattering into a spiderweb.
Nick stepped on the phone, grinding it with his foot, and snarled, “Had enough? Want to get hit again?”
I was pushed to the ground, my knees scraped and burning.
But inside, I felt a cold surge of satisfaction.
Go on, make a scene. The bigger the scene, the worse your downfall will be.
Ms. Peterson looked down at me, her eyes full of mockery. “Ms. Sarah, don’t blame us for getting rough. You brought this on yourself.”
“Is the Sterling family someone you can afford to mess with? Crushing you is as easy as crushing an ant.”
“Just get the body out of here. Don’t make our place dirty. Important officials are coming to inspect later.”
She glanced with disgust at the motionless child on the ground, then waved to the security guard, Jeff. “Go, find a black plastic bag, put this… *thing* in it, and throw it by the kitchen’s garbage bin. Don’t let other parents see it; it’s bad luck!”
Jeff hesitated. “Ms. Peterson, this… this is a body. Shouldn’t we notify the family or call an ambulance?”
Ms. Peterson’s eyes widened, and she shrieked, “Call an ambulance for what! She’s been dead for ages! I’m the homeroom teacher; what I say goes! The family is right here! This lunatic won’t claim her, so just treat it as trash!”
“If anything happens, Mr. Sterling will handle it! What are you afraid of! Don’t you want your job anymore?”
Jeff recoiled, his neck shrinking back, not daring to argue further. He could only force himself to go find a bag.
I picked myself up from the ground, staring fixedly at Ms. Peterson. “You’ll get your comeuppance. Throwing a child away like trash, aren’t you afraid of retribution?”
Ms. Peterson burst into laughter, as if she’d heard the funniest joke. “Retribution? I have the Sterlings covering me; who can bring retribution on me? God? God only helps the rich!”
She crouched down, patted my face, and whispered, “Ms. Sarah, accept your fate. This is class. Your daughter being born into a family like yours was a mistake. It’s better she died; next time, try to be born into money.”
I slapped her hand away, looking at her coldly. “I hope you can still laugh like that in a minute.”
Just then, Jeff returned with a huge black trash bag.
He and Nick, like dragging a dead dog, pulled the child by her legs and roughly tried to stuff her into the bag.
The child’s body was covered in blood, her small face obscured by it, making her features unrecognizable.
But I knew, that was definitely not my Lily.
My Lily was in the car right now, eating the lollipop I bought her, completely unharmed.
Nick grumbled as he lifted the bag. “So heavy. What did this dead girl eat to grow so big?”
Brandon was still clapping his hands and cheering. “Throw it away! Throw the trash away!”
Ms. Peterson adjusted her clothes, smiling obsequiously at Doris. “Doris, are you satisfied with how it’s handled? And Mr. Sterling…”
Doris nodded approvingly. “Good, you’re efficient. Don’t worry, Mr. Sterling won’t forget you. I’ll mention to him later that you should be the preschool director.”
Ms. Peterson’s face instantly flushed with delight, her excitement palpable. “Thank you, Doris! Thank you, Brandon!”
Just as they were about to throw the body bag into the dirty, smelly garbage truck behind the kitchen, there was a sudden screech of brakes at the preschool’s main gate.
Followed by a series of heavy, synchronized footsteps.
Several black Audi cars drove directly into the compound, even knocking over the gate barrier.
Ms. Peterson jumped, about to erupt in anger. “Who is it! So rude! Daring to cause trouble at an exclusive private school!”
Car doors opened, and a group of men in black suits quickly exited, lining up in two rows.
Finally, a middle-aged man in a suit stepped out of a car.
His face was so grim it looked like it could drip water. His gaze swept across the scene like a hawk, exuding an intimidating aura that commanded respect without a word.
Ms. Peterson’s curses instantly caught in her throat.
She had seen this face countless times on TV news.
This was… Mayor Thompson?!
Ms. Peterson’s knees trembled. She quickly put on her most fawning smile and scurried over. “Oh, Mayor Thompson, sir! How wonderful that you’ve come in person! Is this an inspection? You didn’t notify us in advance, so we couldn’t prepare…”
Mayor Thompson didn’t even glance at her, pushing her aside directly. His voice trembled as he asked, “Where is my daughter? My driver said after dropping Chloe off, her phone has been unreachable! Where is she?”
Ms. Peterson froze, her mind?a white noise of panic.
Chloe? Mayor Thompson’s daughter?
She?forced a brittle laugh. “Mayor Thompson,?that’s impossible.?We have no student by that name, and?no transfers were processed today”
The mayor’s secretary?stepped forward, a photograph already in hand.?He thrust it inches from her face. Look. Closely.?Transferred today.?Wearing pink.”
Ms. Peterson’s eyes locked onto the image of the little girl in the pink dress. All the color drained from her face.
Pink dress.
Transferred today.
Not on the roster.
Her head turned,?stiff and mechanical,?toward the black trash bag waiting near the garbage truck.
In that instant, she felt as if she heard the sound of her own doom descending.
↓ ↓ Download the Novel Master app, Search 【 317412 】reads the whole book. ↓ ↓
NovelShort
