The Love I Buried With My Grandma Chapter 08

The Love I Buried With My Grandma Chapter 08

A month later, Chloe’s verdict came down.

Murder, aggravating circumstances. Life imprisonment.

Her parents were there when I went to see her.

Her father, hair gone gray, broke down crying in front of me, begging me to write a letter requesting

leniency.

“Chloe Sinclair? She deserved it.”

One sentence set her mother off-she leapt up, screaming curses at me.

I watched her calmly.

She looked exactly like I must have looked once, frantic and helpless, trying to save Grandma.

I walked slowly into the visitation room and shut the door behind me.

Chloe sat behind the glass, staring at me with empty eyes.

I picked up the phone. I heard her say,

“What are you here for? To laugh at me?”

I smiled and nodded.

“That’s right. And by the way-your exhibition’s thirty million dollars underwater. The creditors are

already circling.”

“Wonder how your parents will spend their golden years.”

I watched her eyes shift from empty to furious.

She smashed the phone against the glass, a heavy, hollow thud.

I set mine down and watched her lunge toward the barrier, only to be pinned down by a guard.

Her face twisted, mouth working soundlessly.

Probably cursing me.

I watched, cold, the corner of my mouth curling into something mocking.

That only made her angrier.

The visit was cut short. Chloe was subdued with a stun device.

Afterward, Daniel texted me

Nora, can you help me line up an investor?]

[I need it, or my studio’s going under!]

I deleted it, blocked him, all in one motion.

A few days later, Daniel showed up in person, carrying the sunflower painting.

“Nora- I was wrong!”

“Give me one more chance! I treasure you more than my own life!”

A crowd had gathered downstairs.

People who didn’t know any better started calling it romantic. They cheered from below, urging me to come

down.

To keep the neighbors from being disturbed, I went down.

Seeing me, Daniel lit up.

“Nora. You’re willing to see me.”

“I just wanted you to stop being so loud.”

His face fell, visibly crushed.

“I… I really do want to make things right with you.”

He sounded sincere. But all I could picture, was that text of his, asking me to line up an investor.

“Daniel. I thought I’d made myself clear.”

My eyes went cold.

“If it weren’t for the lack of evidence, I’d have sent you to prison right alongside Chloe.”

His face paled. He pushed the painting toward me.

“Nora, do you remember this one?”

“I painted it the day I proposed to you. We promised to be together forever-”

“Daniel.”

I cut him off, my voice icy.

“You keep saying back then. But you told me a promise only counts as long as there’s love.”

“I never said that!”

“You’re right, you never said it. But you did it.”

I went inside, came back with a pair of scissors, and shredded the sunflower painting to pieces.

Daniel tried to stop me and got cut for his trouble.

His eyes reddened, his expression full of grief.

“Nora, are you really this heartless?”

I laughed and asked,

“Daniel, do you know what sunflowers mean, in flower language?”

He blinked. “What?”

“Nothing else in my sight. Everywhere I look, it’s you. That’s what sunflowers stand for.”

I looked at him, and through him, I could see the version of him from all those years ago, sincere and

devoted.

He’d once handed me a sunflower and said, “My gaze will follow you forever-silent, and faithful.”

Now he’d broken that promise himself, and had the nerve to call me heartless for it.