What Doesn’t Kill You Makes You Stronger novel Chapter 5

"Hektor, she tried to kill me!" Laria wailed, tilting her head back dramatically, displaying her throat where the faintest pink mark was barely visible.

"Your psycho mother-in-law tried to murder me! If I hadn't defended myself..." Her voice trailed off into delicate, hiccupping sobs.

Hektor's face transformed with protective rage as he gathered her into his arms, his eyes burning with cold fury when they landed on me.

"That's not what happened!" I cried desperately, my hands slick with my mother's blood.

"Laria deliberately provoked her—called her crazy over and over—then smashed that vase over her head when she reacted!"

No matter how hard I pressed, blood continued pulsing between my fingers, the crimson pool beneath my mother's head expanding with each passing second.

Ice flooded my veins as the gravity of the situation crashed over me.

"Hektor, please," I begged, my voice breaking. "Please... I'm begging you... call an ambulance. She'll die without help."

My mother had already slipped into unconsciousness, her breathing shallow and ragged.

Hektor seemed to hesitate, reaching for his phone. Before he could dial, Laria let out another perfectly timed whimper.

"It hurts to talk," she whispered, her voice deliberately raspy. "I can barely breathe, Hektor."

Something in Hektor's expression crystallized into ice as he looked down at me cradling my bleeding mother.

"Fascinating timing, isn't it, Yunifer?" he said coldly. "I go out of my way to bring your mother home for your birthday, and she immediately attacks Laria."

"Since she's clearly strong enough to assault someone, she can't be that badly injured. Let her sleep it off here—maybe she'll learn to control herself."

With that, he scooped Laria into his arms and turned to the housekeeper.

"Get the car ready. We're going to the hospital."

He paused at the threshold, adding with chilling finality. "And make sure Yunifer doesn't leave the property."

I screamed until my throat was raw as they disappeared down the driveway, but Hektor never glanced back.

I eventually managed to get my mother to the hospital anyway, but it was too late.

"I'm so sorry," the ER doctor said, genuine regret etched across his face.

"If you'd arrived even two minutes earlier, we might have been able to save her."

I collapsed beside my mother's body, her skin already cooling beneath my touch. I had no tears left—just an empty, aching void where my heart should have been.

My 26th birthday became the day my mother died.

Why? Even though I was already planning to leave, why did Hektor have to destroy the only family I had left?

In just four days, I'd lost both my unborn child and my mother.

I was completely alone in the world now.

I watched in hollow silence as my mother's body was reduced to ashes.