Chapter 18
Years ago, when Arlette Myers was imprisoned, Winnie Hughes burned her belongings. To appease Winnie, Maximo Myers not only chose not to take any action but also arranged for the erasure of all information about Arlette. Her academic records, accomplishments, daily photographs, and videos—every trace vanished.
Recently, Maximo had been desperately trying to recover any data, hoping to find at least one photo of them together. Unfortunately, he couldn’t find a single picture. All he had left was the old, shabby blanket Arlette had used after her release, still marked by rain stains. He couldn’t bring himself to wash it, clinging to the fading scent.
Maximo huddled up in the cramped storeroom, holding the blanket close. When Timothy Clark came to report on work, he found Maximo lying on the hard iron-framed bed, replaying the video of the car accident over and over.
“This is all I have of her,” Maximo murmured, his tears and snot mixing on his face as he gently touched the figure on the screen. “The quality’s bad; I can’t even make out her face.”
“Arlette…” he whispered, his voice shaking. “It was my own stupidity, being completely manipulated by Winnie, that destroyed both you and the child.”
Sobbing, Maximo kept muttering, “I dreamed of having a happy family. I was so close to happiness…”
“Arlette… I ruined everything with my own hands.”
Caught in waves of regret, Maximo grabbed the whiskey bottle next to the bed and took a long swig.
“Max, you had a kidney transplant two years ago. You can’t keep drinking like this,” Timothy pleaded.
“For your wife’s sake, please pull yourself together. She left nothing but her kidney with you in this world.”
After finishing the bottle, Maximo let it drop, smashing on the floor with a loud crash. He looked at Timothy.
“Where did Winnie scatter her ashes? I want to pay my respects.”
“This…,” Timothy hesitated, making Maximo’s eyes narrow as he suddenly sat up.
“What a fool I’ve been!” Maximo exclaimed. “How naive to think she’d actually scatter the ashes at sea!”
He stepped off the bed, not caring as his bare foot stepped on the glass shards, blood seeping from deep cuts. He approached Timothy, demanding answers.
“Tell me, where did she dispose of the ashes?”
Timothy hesitated. “Max, your wife… her ashes were…”
Maximo’s frustration reached a boiling point. “Did Winnie eat the ashes? That woman with her obsessive delusions would do anything!”
Maximo’s temple throbbed with anger. “Take me to the asylum now; I’m going to tear her apart!”
“Max, calm down!” Timothy implored. “The ashes… they were thrown into the sewer.”
An hour later, Maximo kneeled by the sewage drain. He stared numbly at the thick, repulsive sludge below, flies buzzing persistently around him. Maggots began to crawl from the edges, inching toward him.
Faced with the grotesque sight, Maximo broke down, crying out, “Arlette! You were so afraid of bugs…how could you be here? It’s so dark and cold…”
In life, he’d tormented her in countless ways. Even in death, she was condemned to such an undignified resting place.
Overcome with shame and despair, Maximo rose, intent on jumping into the pit, ending his own life.
“I’ll come down to join you!” he vowed.
“Max!” Timothy used all his strength to hold him back. “Max, get a hold of yourself!”
Though alcohol had left Maximo weak, his determination to die gave him a frightening strength, nearly dragging Timothy down with him.
Desperately, Timothy shouted, “Even if you want this, your wife wouldn’t want her resting place to be a sewer! Get her a proper burial place!”
Finally, Maximo calmed down.
“Yes! Retrieve Arlette’s ashes from here! She can’t stay with this filth.”
“She was such a tidy person; she’d never be able to stand it.”
Timothy was silent for a while, only able to order the sewage to be drained and cleaned, layer by layer. Eventually, they managed to extract what seemed to be bone fragments.
Maximo fashioned these remains into a pendant that he carried with him always.
“Max, Viviana Owens, the young heiress of the Owens family, has returned,” Timothy reported after his boss finally settled down. “Her parents divorced years ago, and she went abroad with her mother, having little contact with the Owens family until recently.”
“Viviana graduated from the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Italy. She’s just debuted in the art world and is taking major awards by storm.”
“They’re calling her a rising star, a brilliant new talent.”
“The tickets for her latest exhibition sold out in seconds,” Timothy noted, handing an invitation to Maximo.