**Chapter 12**
When Max, the assistant, arrived, he found Julian tearing the marriage certificate into shreds like a madman.
The only piece left intact was the photo of the two of them, which he had carefully torn from the certificate.
He cradled the photo to his lips, kissing it repeatedly, tracing Riley’s silhouette with his fingers.
Finally, he couldn’t stand it anymore and collapsed in despair.
“Mr. Fuentes!”
Max rushed over and caught him.
Julian was still consumed by immense pain, and suddenly he began to laugh hysterically.
was wrong from the very beginning…”
“I was terribly wrong!!!”
*I personally killed the woman I loved most. I let her die in despair and helplessness…”
Max, seeing his boss in this state and recalling his instruction to re–examine the pet store surveillance, Immediately understood everything.
In truth, he had felt a certain degree of sympathy for Riley these past few days.
9:22 AM J
د
“I personally killed the woman I loved most. I let her die in despair and helplessness…”
Max, seeing his boss in this state and recalling his instruction to re–examine the pet store surveillance, immediately understood everything.
In truth, he had felt a certain degree of sympathy for Riley these past few days.
This woman gazed at one man with her entire being.
But this man not only concealed his identity but also used her as a mere tool!
However, Julian was his boss, so he could only follow orders and not disobey.
But now that the truth was revealed, his
“Riley…” Julian’s voice was so hoarse he cou
also reddened slightly. “Mr. Fuentes, you must still compose yourself.”
barely hear it himself. “Did she… leave anything behind?”
Even if wolves had consumed her, they wouldn’t eat clothes or hair.
Max immediately understood his boss’s meaning
“Wait,” Julian slowly stood up. “I’ll go myself.”
Driving back to the familiar spot, Julian’s state of mind
said, “I’ll send people to search right away.”
was entirely different.
Last time, he had been filled with anger and resentment, seeking revenge for Chloe.
But this time, his heart held only endless pain and sorrow.
Max searched the desolate land and shook his head. “Mr. Fuentes, this area seems to have been disturbed by villagers. We can’t even find any bloodstains. This morning, I could clearly see a human–shaped bloodstain…”
“Human–shaped bloodstain?”
Max bit his lip and nodded. “Yes, sir. That day, you ordered us to nail through her hands and not leave a single piece of good flesh, so… she bled a lot. Even after being washed away by two days and two nights of heavy rain, a human–shaped bloodstain remained.”
Nailing through her hands.
Not leaving a single piece of good flesh.
Those words he once spoke now felt like poisoned boomerangs, all embedding themselves in his heart.
At the time, she seemed to have tried to explain.
She said she hadn’t hit Chloe.
But he hadn’t believed her. He ordered his subordinates to brutalize her, making her endure endless suffering…
Riley, Riley!
You weren’t unloved. I loved you!
But I kept mistaking you for someone else!
“Mr. Fuentes, what should we do now?”
“Search.”
“What?”
“This plot of land, this village, no matter how deep you have to dig, you must find anything related to Riley. If you truly can’t find anything, then find those wolves that ate her. I want to grind their bones to dust and scatter their ashes to the wind!”
9:22 AM
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“Yes, sir!”
Max brought in excavators and dug up every inch of the disturbed land.
No corner was left untouched.
Every single item would be sealed in a bag
na bag and taken back for careful examination.
Even if there was a tiny trace of Riley’s DNA, he would deliver it directly to Julian.
…Unfortunately, after digging extensively, he only found a small amount of blood–stained soil.
When Max returned with the soil, Julian
was
the car, gazing at the red–backed wedding photo.
white
MM Shirt, and Riley in a white dress.
Both of them were wearing white clothes; he in
Riley smiled beautifully.
“Max, why is it that even though the two sisters looked different, I still mistook them?”
Max didn’t know how to answer.
To him, the twin sisters really did look identical.
But the difference was, Chloe always smiled, and Riley was always understated.
She’d faded into the background, a muted shadow of a person, accustomed to being ignored, to being abandoned.
But in this photo, she smiled so brightly.
Julian took the soil Max handed him and asked, “Is this all?”
Max nodded. “Yes, sir. But the search isn’t over. I’ll continue to have people look.”
He held the soil in his palm, closed his eyes, and lowered his head in anguish.