04
At the funeral, I cried my heart out, with my best friend Rachel by my side.
We once had such high hopes for marriage, but in the end, we were left battered and bruised.
That evening, Rachel and I were called to the police station.
As soon as we entered, I saw the two Shaw brothers and Yvonne.
Seeing us come in, Ethan angrily walked over.
“Molly! When will you stop? How dare you report Yvonne to the police!”
His words startled me. These past few days, I had been emotionally and physically exhausted, dealing with our child’s funeral. I really hadn’t had the energy for anything else.
my death.
I had been planning to report to the police tomorrow, to find the culprit who locked me in and nearly caused
Unexpectedly, the police had been very efficient. After the fire, they conducted a series of investigations at the scene.
“Rachel, you must have instigated Molly to report to the police!”
Brandon stepped forward, similarly bombarding Rachel with accusations.
The police officer, unable to stand it anymore, reprimanded the two of them. Only then did they sit down quietly, though their eyes still showed obvious dissatisfaction with us.
An officer came forward to take our statements, and we answered truthfully.
However, Ethan still insisted that I had reported a false fire alarm. Eventually, they had to call in one of Ethan’s colleagues.
It was a female firefighter from his team.
When she saw Ethan, her eyes no longer held admiration for her captain, but rather disappointment.
‘Captain Shaw, when your wife told you about the fire, she had already informed you of the situation. But you didn’t report it immediately.”
“If you had reported it in time, there wouldn’t have been any casualties. That big fire not only cost your wife her child but also burned a five–year–old girl to death.”
“You always admonish us that whenever anyone reports a fire, we must take it seriously, regardless of the circumstances! We can’t make rash judgments based on personal feelings. But you actually…”
The female firefighter took a deep breath, her eyes reddening, with a sense of shattered illusions about her idol.
“After you went to save the cat, you took three days off from the squad. We all thought you were at the hospital with your wife after her miscarriage. We never imagined you’d leave your wife alone to accompany…”
left.”
The female firefighter’s gaze fell on Yvonne, leaving the rest unsaid. As an outsider, it wasn’t her place to judge.
Ethan was completely stunned, his body rigid.
“What… what did you say? There really was a fire?!”
The woman’s gaze was clear. “Captain Shaw, haven’t you been home at all these past few days? Your house has been burned to the ground. Nothing’s
The color drained from Ethari’s face instantly. His hands were shaking as he looked at me, his pupils seeming to quake.
“Honey….1…”
11:52 AM
“Honey… I…”
I cut him off. “Mr. Shaw, we’re already divorced.”
The female firefighter seemed unwilling to let Ethan off the hook. She continued, “We’ve checked. The door to your home was indeed locked from the outside. Luckily, someone broke down the door in time. Otherwise, your wife… I mean, Miss Grant, might have ended up like that little girl who was burned to death.”
Ethan had always thought I was lying to him. Now, his team members and the police were clearly telling him that while he was leading a group to rescue a kitten, his misjudgment had cost his son’s life and that of a little girl!
Even his wife had nearly been burned alive!
As someone who frequently rushed into fire scenes, he knew all too well the desperation one felt in a fire.
Suddenly remembering something, he frantically pulled out his phone and opened our chat. There were our messages from the day of the fire.
I had sent a voice message, still unread.
And what had he replied?
Cold, typed words.
“Working. What’s u
“Text me. No time to listen to your ramble.”
t
“Yvonne’s cat is stuck on the roof. I’m about to go rescue it. Can you not disturb my work if it’s nothing important?”
“I’m a fire chief, not a babysitter. I don’t have time to wait on you hand and foot.”
With trembling hands, he played the voice message I had sent him
My panicked and desperate voice came through the speaker.
“Honey, there’s a fire upstairs. Yvonne locked me in and I can’t get out. Please come save me. My stomach doesn’t feel right.”
The desperate voice echoed in the police station. Hearing it, the female firefighter and the police couldn’t help but tear up.
In an instant, it was as if all strength had been drained from Ethan. He collapsed into his chair.
Recalling scenes from their married life, he slapped himself hard across the face several times.
were on a mission. How could you have time to play with your
Seeing this, Yvonne immediately went to comfort him. “Ethan, this isn’t your fault. You inte
phone?”
Usually, when Yvonne gently comforted him, Ethan would be compliant. But this time, Ethan looked at her with anger in his eyes and pushed her away roughly.
Startled, Yvonne burst into tears on the spot.
Unable to restrain himself, Brandon stepped forward to support Yvonne. “Are you alright? My brother didn’t mean it.”
Yvonne nodded, looking at Brandon with tears in her eyes. “I won’t blame him, Brandon.”
Brandon glanced at me, averting his eyes guiltily, but still spoke up to advise his brother. “Ethan, no one wants a fire to happen. This was just an
accident.”
Rachel angrily spoke up, “An accident? Listen carefully, both the police and fire department said someone deliberately locked Molly in!”
Yvonne shook her head in panic. “I didn’t. It wasn’t me.”
Seeing this, Brandon said, “This hasn’t been fully investigated yet. We can’t wrongly accuse Yvonne. Rachel, I know you’ve always had issues with Yvonne, but this is a serious crime of intentional harm. You can’t spread rumors carelessly.”
The police officer stepped forward and said, “We’ve already completed our investigation.”
The residential complex where we lived had excellent property management with no blind spots in the surveillance. Although the fire had damaged a lot of equipment, there were backups at the main control center.
When the surveillance footage was shown, we saw Yvonne sneaking around my front door, using a chain to lock it from the outside,
As she left, she smiled smugly at the door and spat on it.
That demeanor was completely different from her usual dignified appearance.
Everyone who saw it was stunned.
Yvonne desperately tried to cover the screen. “This… this is fake. It must be edited. Molly, even if you don’t like me, you can’t frame me like this!”
The police wouldn’t let Yvonne make a scene. Someone immediately restrained her.
“We’ve already verified that the video is complete and shows no signs of editing. Moreover, we’ve found the arsonist.”
When the police brought out the arsonist, both Ethan and Brandon were stunned.
“Yvonne! You have to save me! I only set the fire because you told me to. Didn’t you just want to scare Ethan’s wife? How was I supposed to know the fire would spread so quickly?”
The arsonist was Yvonne’s brother.
“Don’t talk nonsense! When did I ever tell you to set a fue? Don’t frame mel Yvonne frantically defended herself.
Her brother became agitated, “Didn’t you say it? That day was Ethan and his wife’s wedding anniversary You said you wanted to steal Ethan away right in front of his wife, to anger her to death!”
11:52 AM O
Yvonne raised her hand and slapped her brother, “Shut up! I never said that!”
Yvonne turned to Ethan, hurriedly explaining, “Ethan, don’t listen to his nonsense. He must have taken money from Molly to slander me.”
As she spoke, she started to act pitiful again, “Ethan, you know me best. I could never do something like this.”
Angered by the slap, Yvonne’s brother exclaimed, “Yvonne! You did tell me to do this! Not just this, but before, you also had me arrange for people to get close to Rachel and take fake intimate photos from various angles. We anonymously sent them to Brandon! Have you forgotten all the things I’ve done for you?”
Brandon was surprised to hear something related to him.
”
Back then, after seeing those photos, he had become estranged from Rachel, and their relationship had started to crack from that point on.
It turned out he had misunderstood Rachel all along.
“Rachel, I…”
Brandon tried to explain, but Rachel didn’t even give him a glance.
At that moment, one of Brandon’s hospital colleagues came to pick up her husband after work. She was surprised to see Brandon at the police
station.
“Dr. Shaw, why are you at the police station? Didn’t you take three
Brandon’s mind was in chaos. He simply nodded at his colleague.
His colleague was used to Brandon’s quiet nature and continued talking.
“Oh, Dr. Shaw, your time off couldn’t have been worse! Three days ago, a pregnant woman was rescued from a fire. She had inhaled a lot of smoke. If
you had been there, you definitely could have saved the baby.”
“It was truly tragic. Her friend was crying, begging us to save them. But none of us had the skills you do!”
“Interestingly, she claimed to know you. She even said she called you. After the call, she completely broke down.”
“That woman must have been out of her mind with worry, falsely claiming to know you. If she really knew you, with your medical ethics, you would
have rushed back immediately to save them, no matter where you were.”
This gossipy colleague rambled on, not noticing Brandon’s increasingly pale face.
Finally, the colleague noticed me and Rachel, pointing at us in surprise. “Aren’t you the pregnant woman and her friend from a few days ago? What a
coincidence!”
Those words caused Brandon to lose all vitality. He collapsed to the ground, his eyes full of remorse.
What had he said when he received Rachel’s call?
“Rachel, even unreasonable behavior has its limits! So what if I’m treating Yvonne’s cat? I’ve told you, there’s nothing between me and Yvonne!”
“You actually encouraged my sister–in–law to lie, cursing her child to die? How could you do such a thing? You’ve really disappointed me!”
“Don’t think you can scare me with divorce threats. I won’t fall for that. If you want a divorce, then fine!”
If he had believed Rachel then, would the child still be alive?
Brandon looked at his trembling hands. It was he who had directly cut off his brother’s child’s chance at life!
