Chapter 8
My mother was gasping for breath. Seeing the firefighter lowering his head in silence, she turned around. She rushed at Jacob, pounding his chest with her fists like a mad woman. “This is all your fault! Why did you lock Lily in the room? She was already so badly burned. The fire was the thing she feared most! How could she have started the fire herself? Give her back to me! Give me back my daughter!“} Jacob was like a zombie, numbly taking the blows. Several people rushed in to pull her away. Her mother broke down completely, sobbing until she lost consciousness from the overwhelming grief. The man slowly lifted his head, eyes fixed on the raging fire not far away. It was like something finally snapped into place. Ever since she was rescued from that sea of flames, even the flicker of a lighter would send her into a panic. How could someone like that possibly commit arson? As someone so terrified of fire, why would she have barrels of gasoline stored.in her room?
Just then, a firefighter walked up, holding out a dirty, scorched voice recorder. “Mr. Todd, we found this in your wife’s room, right on the nightstand. I think … she might’ve left you a message before the end. See if it still works.”
Jacob snatched it up in a panic, mumbling his thanks as he fumbled to press play. The moment the recording started, it felt like all the strength drained out of his body. It was his and my mother’s voice, speaking outside the operating room. Then, their discussion outside the hospital room about drugging me with sedatives so the reporters could tear apart my dignity at Kimberly’s celebratory banquet. The last part was the truth of what happened before I died: Kimberly was in my room, starting the fire to provoke me and frame me. He clutched the recorder tightly, his heart twisting like it was being stabbed. So, Lily had known everything all along. While enduring the agony of being burned alive, he was still carving one fatal wound after another into her heart. That sadness and helplessness beneath her calm wasn’t her being understanding; it was her heart completely dying. That was the girl he had loved for over a decade, the girl he had promised a lifetime of togetherness to. Twice, he had pushed her into a sea of fire. How much pain and despair must she have felt? What had he done?!
In an instant, it was like someone had shattered Jacob’s spine. He doubled over in agony, curling into a ball. Night fell and the fire was finally extinguished. The air was thick with the smell of burning. The firefighters searched the entire house and finally handed over a single diamond ring with regret.”
His assistant arrived in a rush, holding a thick stack of investigation reports. He hesitated before saying, “Mr. Todd, you might want to prepare yourself.”
Before Jacob could take them, my mother, who had arrived unnoticed, snatched the documents away. All these years, all the truth about how Kimberly had humiliated me and the secrets Kimberly had hidden for so long were finally laid bare before their eyes. Kimberly’s biological parents were human traffickers who died in a car accident while trying to escape arrest. Kimberly recognized the arresting officer as my father. She orchestrated the whole bullying and victim act, almost getting herself caught in an illegal establishment. My father couldn’t bear it and ended up adopting her.”}
She actually was a poisonbus snake that had been lying dormant for a long time. During my father’s undercover mission, she deliberately shouted on the street that he was a cop. My father was shot dead by criminals, but she innocently teared up and twisted the story, saying it was my vanity and desire to show off having a police officer dad that made me encourage her to do it. My mother didn’t say it, but she always harboured resentment towards me.”
When she had leukaemia, I secretly donated blood and marrow to save her. Meanwhile, Kimberly swindled away the compensation money my father earned with his life. Later, when she found out my mother had recovered and I was going to marry Jacob, she suddenly claimed she had depression and didn’t want to burden us, so she moved back home.
D
