6
The officer on duty, seeing Caleb’s furious state, dared not speak, fearing that a wrong word would cost him his job.
Several officers wiped sweat from their brows. Finally, the officer who had initially handled Caleb’s car accident spoke up.
“Mr. Shen, the victim’s next–of–kin is indeed named Harper Lin. She was here that day too, but you refused to see her.”
Caleb collapsed to the ground.
“How is that possible? How could the victims be Mom and Chloe?”
Caleb clutched Ms. Davies’s arm. “You handled this! Tell me! What exactly happened?”
Ms. Davies tremblingly found the photos on her phone and showed them to Caleb, on the verge of tears.
“Mr. Shen, isn’t this next–of–kin your wife?”
Caleb instantly saw me sitting in a pool of blood, then my lifeless mother, and finally, Chloe, whose arm had been severed by the impact.
He incredulously zoomed in on the photo. When he saw that the face of the little girl in the picture was indeed Chloe, he couldn’t stop himself from retching.
His drunken memories slowly surfaced. Caleb clutched his head, roaring in agony.
“How could I have done something like this?!”
But then, as if something else suddenly occurred to him, he looked up.
“Then my identity? Did any of you tell Harper?”
Ms. Davies and the police officer both lowered their heads. Caleb’s face was ashen. He pounded the ground with his fists.
“I’m an animal!”
Victoria and I stood elevated, watching everything unfold.
She crossed her arms, glancing at me sidelong.
Seeing Caleb like this, it must feel good, right?”
But I answered her with a question of my own. My eyes remained fixed on Caleb.
“You were the one who hired me that day, weren’t you?”
Victoria didn’t deny it. She shrugged.
3:24 PM d
<
“I just felt it was too pathetic for you to stay in the dark. It was better to tell you the truth. Maybe you’d give up and leave on your own. It seems I thought correctly.”
Victoria’s gaze swept over the luggage in my hand.
“But you’re too foolish. Why didn’t you take this opportunity to ask Caleb for more money?”
I looked at Victoria’s face, feeling that this woman was terrifying.
“Do you think I’ll thank you for letting me know the truth? You’re Caleb’s accomplice!”
Victoria burst into laughter, walking around me, sizing me up.
“Tsk, I didn’t do any of this for your thanks. I just wanted to eliminate trouble for the Shen family and pave the way for myself.
“I should be thanking you. Thank you for giving up on Caleb. His family has already received the news. Soon, you might receive my wedding invitation to Caleb.”
I thought I would never feel pain again because of Caleb. But hearing that news, my heart still felt as if a large hand had tightly squeezed it, making it difficult to breathe.
Caleb and I hadn’t even had a wedding back then, just a small marriage certificate.
To save all our money for Caleb’s medicine, we hadn’t even afforded ourselves a decent meal that day.
Victoria seemed to read my thoughts.
“You still don’t know, do you? Your marriage certificate with Caleb is fake!”
