Chapter 47 Chapter 47. Chasing My Father’s Ghost
Zephyr was deeply obsessed with the idea of Zoria becoming pregnant, as if he were clinging to the shadow of their first baby who had already died.
In her dazed state, Zoria fell into a nightmare. She dreamed she was in prison and met her father again.
"Daddy!" Zoria ran forward, chasing after her father’s figure.
Kieran stopped and turned to look at her gently. There was a faint smile at the corner of his lips, "Zoria, live well. I have to go now."
He was smiling, yet to Zoria that smile looked unbearably desolate.
Soon after, Kieran’s body gradually faded, becoming transparent. Zoria’s eyes widened as she rushed forward, trying to hold him, but it was useless. Her hands passed straight through his half-transparent body. The scene was so eerie that it threw her into panic. She struggled desperately to hold on to her father, but all she could do was watch helplessly as his thin figure dissolved into the darkness.
Pain, humiliation, despair, everything crashed down on her at once, suffocating her until she could not breathe.
Zoria cried in her dream, crying until she was completely exhausted, her mouth repeating only one sentence.
Daddy… do not go… do not leave me alone.
Zoria woke up crying, her mind in chaos. Only after she regained a bit of clarity did she realize it had all been a dream. She clutched her chest, her heart aching as if it were being torn apart.
……
Zephyr was reading documents when the phone by his right hand suddenly rang. He glanced at it. It was a call from the prison.
Zephyr frowned and answered, "What is it?"
"Zephyr, Kieran has committed suicide in prison."
Zephyr sprang to his feet, his voice hoarse, "He committed suicide?"
"Yes. It was only discovered this morning."
"Do not let it get out. I am coming over right now."
Zephyr pulled open the drawer and grabbed his car keys. His hand trembled violently. He had never expected that the male who deserved punishment would choose to end his own life.
Kieran deserved to die, but not now. If Kieran were dead, what would happen to Zoria?
Zephyr had instructed the detention center to keep everything about Kieran tightly sealed. Even so, news of the former mayor taking his own life only needed the slightest leak to spread through the entire city.
Since the day Kieran went to prison, there had never been a lull in news about him. The media caught a whiff of it and did not care whether it was true or false. They rushed out articles one after another, pushing the story to its peak at the hottest possible moment.
All they knew was that “someone had committed suicide,” and they forgot that this male had once lived, had once been someone’s father.
Zoria dragged her exhausted body onto the bed. Even though her fever had gone down, her head was still spinning, her whole body drained of strength.
The moment she opened the bedroom door, she heard the television blaring in the living room. The volume was turned up painfully loud. Even from a distance, every word rang clear.
“Kieran, the former mayor, committed suicide in prison due to depression.”
It felt as if something exploded inside Zoria’s ears. Her face went deathly pale as pain tore through her heart and surged through her veins, so sharp that even her fingertips trembled.
She pressed herself against the cold wall to keep from collapsing. Her legs turned to jelly as she staggered into the living room, her terrified eyes locked onto the screen.
Faye was sitting leisurely on the sofa, cracking melon seeds and watching the television as if it were pure entertainment. When she saw Zoria, Faye brushed the shells from her hand and gave a thin smile. “Zoria, take a look. Isn’t that your dad?”
“How could your dad be so weak-minded that he killed himself?”
Daddy had committed suicide?
Zoria suddenly could not hear anything else. She stood frozen, staring at the glaring headline as her vision slowly blurred.
She clenched her teeth so hard it felt like her jaw might shatter. Impossible. She had seen her father just two months ago. He had been alive then. How could he suddenly kill himself?
It had to be fake. It had to be a lie.
Zoria lost her mind and rushed outside without even changing clothes. She stood by the roadside like someone who did not care whether she lived or died, desperately flagging down a taxi to take her to the detention center.
The moment she got out of the car, a group of reporters recognized her. Their eyes lit up as they shouted and ran toward her, instantly surrounding her.
Zoria’s small frame was squeezed in the middle of the crowd. She shoved and tried to push her way through, only to be yanked back again.
Her face was ashen, her eyes full of despair as she looked at them. Their questions were like knives, cutting into her heart again and again. She clenched her fists, her nails digging deep and leaving crescent-shaped marks in her palms.
“Can you stop asking?” Zoria screamed hoarsely, tears pouring down her face. Her bloodshot eyes glared at the reporters with pure hatred. “I just want to see my dad!”
The reporters closest to her were frightened by her gaze and instinctively stepped back. Seizing the chance, Zoria shoved aside those blocking her and slipped through the gap, sprinting straight toward the prison gate.
But just as she was about to enter, the police stopped her. Zoria grabbed onto their sleeves, her voice raw. “Kieran is my dad. I’m begging you. Let me go in and see him.”
Outside the detention center, everything was in chaos. Inside was no better. The police did not dare let her in, telling her she had to wait until the examination was finished and the procedures were complete. Only then would they inform her.
“Examination of what?” Zoria asked, her voice choking.
“The body examination.”
Zoria’s vision went black. Her head buzzed as if a swarm of bees were trapped inside. Her body swayed as she stumbled back a step, nearly dropping to her knees.