My Birthday, My Downfall novel Chapter 42

I nodded slightly.

Today was Noah's birthday but also the anniversary of Rosy's death, and my one chance for revenge against those twelve people.

"Eileen..." Darlene called softly, but tears choked her voice.

I smiled at her one last time before leaving the hospital.

Once outside, I pulled out my phone and looked at the number the private detective had given me.

I sent a message to one of the twelve, then headed to a store to buy a set of toy bricks.

I remembered how much Noah used to love toy bricks and how he used to build them with Rosy.

But after Rosy passed away, he destroyed all of them.

I was approaching death myself. If my passing could bring Noah some happiness, maybe he'd go back to building those sets.

The cashier looked a bit concerned when he saw how pale I was as I paid.

I smiled gratefully at him, and as I left the store, I received a response.

I stowed my phone away and walked towards that alley from six years ago.

It was dark now, lit just by a faint streetlight,

but I could still see those twelve men with predatory eyes deeper in the alley.

I reached into my pocket and sent my pre-edited text, while simultaneously starting the recording and hiding my phone in a gap between the stones in the alley.

In these six years, I'd come here countless times and knew every inch of the place.

Once I completed all of that, I looked up and quietly observed the twelve men.

"Hey, why do you look so familiar? Are you the girl we couldn't play with six years ago?"

"Oh, she's grown up. That must feel even better now, right?"

"Tell me, how did you get my number?"

One guy with a sinister grin stepped forward.

I recognized him as the one who knocked me out, and I remembered his face all these years.

His name was Roger Egerton.

I smiled faintly. "I've been looking for you all these years."

My words provoked uproarious laughter among the men, especially Roger.

"Wow! You've been searching for me all this time, right? You must have been thinking about me ever since that day."

"Noah, it hurts so much. Did you feel this pain back then, too? Rosy, it hurts so bad. So you felt the same back then too. But it's okay, I'll be there with you soon. I'm off to hell, swearing I'll never reincarnate again. I just hope you walk safely on your path in the next life. In the next life, don't cross paths with me again," I murmured in my head.

Noah was at work, trying to focus on some documents, but he just couldn't get into it.

A sharp pain radiated from his heart, bringing back memories of when his sister Eileen had been hurt.

He frowned, trying to push the sudden wave of anxiety away.

"Hurt? Please, she is like a cockroach—hard to kill," he thought.

Feeling restless, he picked up his phone to text Marie, asking her to not stay out too late.

But out of the blue, he noticed a message from Eileen that must've come in earlier. His expression darkened, but a part of him felt relieved.

"Hurt? How could that be? She just messaged me," he said to himself.

He intended to delete it but, for some strange reason, opened it instead. The moment he did, his heart stopped. There were three messages from Eileen.

"Noah, happy birthday."

"I've avenged Rosy's death. She can finally rest in peace."

"This time, can you forgive me?"