They Granted Her 100 Wishes And Forgot I Was Dying Too Chapter 08

line by line?”

Molly looked at what they held. Knowing there was no way to hide anymore, she suddenly laughed.

“Ha, ha, ha…”

She straightened. “Fine. I did all of it. Took you this long to figure it out?”

“Why?”

Ben gritted his teeth. “Our family treated you well. Maya never did anything to hurt you.”

“Treated me well?”

Molly raised an eyebrow. “Why should Maya get her family back, have a brother who adored her, friends who loved her, a boyfriend who spoiled her, and a career of her own?”

“I was the Bennett daughter for more than ten years. The moment she came home, I was supposed to step aside. Why?”

She looked over the four of them.

“Besides, you four have your own stupidity to blame.”

“I cried a little and made up a story about a traveler with a countdown over her head, and you swallowed

every word.”

“All I did was name a wish. You raced to make it happen.”

“When she vanished, you even decided she’d sacrificed herself for me.”

Molly gave a contemptuous laugh. “Honestly, I didn’t expect her to disappear. It saved me a lot of work.”

“I had a hundredth wish ready. I was going to ruin her at the launch and make her leave on her own.”

Ryan lunged toward her, but Evan held him back.

“Don’t bother hitting her.”

Evan fáced Molly. “Lock her in the basement storage room. Once we’ve sorted out the company’s accounts,

we’ll hand her over to the police.”

Ben grabbed Molly and dragged her toward the basement.

She fought and screamed. “You can’t lock me up! You four idiots drove Maya to her death, and now you’re

blaming me?”

“You’re the ones who killed her! You’ll owe her for the rest of your lives!”

The closing basement door cut off her shouting.

The four returned to the living room, haunted by images of Maya.

They pictured her crouching by the coffee table to wipe glasses, carrying food from the kitchen in an apron, and curling up on the couch to revise proposals until she nodded off. They could see her smile as she called

their names.

All the memories they’d chosen to ignore came rushing back.

Ben went to the photo wall, now covered with pictures of Molly and the others.

He tore them down one by one and threw them to the floor.

Sophie crouched there, hugged her knees, and cried.

She’d been the first to tell Maya to give Evan up. She’d been the one to unfriend her.

Evan took out a cigarette but didn’t light it.

He used to be a heavy smoker. Maya told him it was bad for his health, and he gradually quit.

Back then, he thought he loved Maya so much there was nothing he couldn’t give up for her.

After they married, they’d get a cat, have a child, and spend their lives together.

Instead, on their wedding day he’d held someone else’s hand and given her the diamond ring Maya had longed for.

At last they knew the truth. At last they saw the con for what it was.

But the person they’d destroyed would never come back.

For more than two weeks, the four of them searched frantically for any way to bring me back.

Evan ate and slept at the office, poring over every technical note and encrypted document I left at my desk.

My brother shut himself in the house, hunting for any clue.

Sophie visited every place we’d once spent time together.

The college study room. The basement office we’d rented for our startup. Our favorite late-night diner. Even the foster home where I’d spent my childhood.

The director told her I’d donated everything I owned to the children when I left to join my family. I hadn’t kept anything there.

Watching the children run around, Sophie remembered how I’d told her that all I’d wanted as a child was a home. That was why I’d worked so hard to make a home for the five of us.

She crouched beside the wall and cried for a long time, but it did no good.

Ryan called in every favor he had and even sought out people who claimed to contact the dead.

Some said they needed to perform a ritual; others said they needed a stand-in. They demanded tens of thousands of dollars up front.

Ryan paid without hesitation until his last savings were gone.

Meanwhile, Molly wasn’t idle in the basement storage room.

After days of screaming at them, she realized they weren’t about to let her out and came up with another

scheme.

“I know how to bring Maya back. Want me to tell you?”

“Take turns crawling on your hands and knees outside this door for three days. If I’m satisfied, I’ll tell you.”

“What? I thought you wanted her back. You can’t do even that much?”

Sophie trembled with anger and grabbed a nearby iron rod, ready to strike.

“Shut up, you liar!”

My brother caught her and held her back.

“Don’t fall for it. She doesn’t know anything. She just wants to watch us lose our minds.”

“Then what do we do?”

Sophie’s eyes were red. “Are we supposed to stand here and do nothing?”