I must leave Seattle, or I'll be dead for sure if they find it out!

Kylie read the first line in a trembling voice. She raised her head at a slow pace, then looked at Ethan's eyes. "My mother escaped away from Seattle, not because of Michael, but your mother?"

​​

"It's impossible." Ethan denied it. "If she was escaping away because of my mother, she wouldn't accept the five thousand dollars."

"Then what had happened?" Kylie lost control of herself and shook Ethan's arm with great force. "Tell me what had happened to my mother?"

"Calm down." Ethan pressed her to his chest. "Don't worry. I'll find out the truth."

Kylie leaned against Ethan's chest, gripping his shirt. "Khloe said that my mother died because she had annoyed my mother to death. I never believed it. Please tell me the real reason why my mother died."

Ethan patted her back to comfort her. "Tell me, what do you know, and what have you seen?"

Kylie wiped her eyes, then said, "It was the first time that I had got a prize in my primary school. My mother should take a photo with me on the stage, but she somehow was absent that day, so I ran back home with my prize halfway through..."

***

Memories Flashed Back

Kylie knocked on the door of her home for a long time, but nobody answered it. With the help of her thin short body, she squeezed through a gap to the yard. However, her mother was nowhere to be found.

When she finally searched for the bathroom, she found its door was locked.

She walked to the back of the house and peeked inside through a gap of the window.

Her mother's body was hanging above the bathtub, and both of her wrists were cut, while the blood was still flowing in the bathtub.

Kylie ran out of her home in fear and great panic and encountered Laurence, who just came back to fetch documents. After that, they reported the case to the police.

Kylie was just six that year. In order not to leave a bad memory in her mind, the police didn't let her see the scene but just told her that her mother had committed suicide.

***

"I've always been thinking about whether my mother could be fine if I hadn't won that prize ever since." Kylie's eyes were full of tears.

"It has nothing to do with you." Ethan gently rubbed her hair and asked in a tender voice, "How did Laurence explain it to you?"

"He told me his mother was suffering from postpartum depression, but it's impossible that my mother was still in depression after giving birth to me for nearly six years!" Kylie said.

"Did you notice any unusual behaviors of your mother?" Ethan asked again.

Kylie compressed her lips, thinking for a while before she shook her head. "My mother wasn't in a good mental condition, and I had heard her crying in dreams several times."

Ethan tightened his arm around Kylie. "Don't bother yourself with it any longer. We'll figure it out by asking my mother later."

When they were back in the Parker family's spacious house, the dinner was ready.

Old Mr. Parker was delighted in heart seeing Ethan, but he still wore an expressionless face as usual.

Old Mrs. Parker, instead, held Kylie's hand and asked her many questions with concern, so Kylie didn't have the chance to ask the question.

Taylor seemed to be in a good mood, and she had gained a lot of weight after living the Parker's villa for a while. Knowing Kylie would stay here for dinner, she told the chef to add several of Kylie's favorite dishes.

When the dinner was over, Kylie seized the chance and walked old Mrs. Parker to her room.

"Mother, may I ask you something?" She handed over the photo.

"Of course, yes. We're a family..." old Mrs. Parker said with a smile, but her face soon changed when she saw the photo. "Where did you get this photo?" Old Mrs. Parker frowned and seemed annoyed.

"This is my mother." Kylie pointed at a woman in the photo. "You've given them five thousand dollars..."

"Nonsense!" Old Mrs. Parker stopped Kylie and threw the photo back to her. "I don't know your mother at all!"

Kylie tried again to show old Mrs. Parker, her mother, in the photo, but old Mrs. Parker moved her head away and refused to look at it once more. "Let me say that again. I don't know your mother at all!" Old Mrs. Parker shook her hand and chased Kylie away from her room."You can leave now. I want to have a rest."

"Mother, how can you..." Kylie was anxious.

Before Kylie could finish her sentence, Old Mrs. Parker pushed her outside. "Don't ask me such a boring question again. I need to rest now!"

With a loud sound, Kylie was shut out.

At this moment, Ethan was walking towards her from a corridor. He noticed Kylie standing alone at the door, and he sped up at once. "What happened?"

Kylie sighed and said with a resigned look, "Mother said she didn't know my mother at all and told me not to ask her that question anymore."

Ethan frowned, then gave a glance at the tightly closed door. "Well, why don't you go back to have a rest and leave it to me?"

"Fine, remember not to annoy mother," Kylie said, then went back to her room.

Ethan knocked on the door before he pushed it open, walking inside.

Old Mrs. Parker thought Kylie was back, so she raised her voice in anger. "I told you I don't know your mother, why... Ethan? What are you doing here?"

Ethan closed the door and supported old Mrs. Parker to sit down on a chair with his hands, then poured a cup of coffee for her.

Old Mrs. Parker's hands were trembling, and she didn't dare to meet Ethan's eyes. "If you want to ask the same question, I only can tell you the same answer. I don't know her!"

Ethan sat by his mother's side and opened his mouth. "Kylie's mother passed away when she was just six."

Saying this, Ethan noticed old Mrs. Parker's body stiffening all of a sudden. She gradually clenched her hands into fists.

"You know Kylie has been blaming herself for that throughout these years. She thinks she's the reason for her mother's death," Ethan said in a low steady voice. "After her mother died, Laurence soon got married again, but Kylie has never lived a happy day during her childhood."

Hearing that, old Mrs. Parker was breathing heavily with worry.

"Kylie is pregnant now, and she will be a mother. I hope I can help her solve that problem. Mother, will you help us?" Ethan held Mrs. Parker's hand in his big palm. Her hand was so cold, and her fingers were still trembling.

"Ethan..." Old Mrs. Parker's voice was so quiet that Ethan could barely hear it clearly. "Kylie is a good girl, and she will be a good mother too."

"You know her mother, right?" Ethan persisted in asking the question.

Old Mrs. Parker raised her head. Her eyes were full of tears now, and her lips trembled a little. When she was about to say something, old Mr. Parker pushed the door open and walked inside. "I haven't played chess for a long time. Why don't you play it with me?"

Old Mrs. Parker composed herself and said to Ethan with a smile, "Come on, play chess with your father!"