13
“I know you won’t admit it,” I said calmly. “It’s been too long. My brother is dead. His mother is dead. My uncle is dead. Compared to them, I suppose you were merciful to me and my mother. You didn’t kill us outri-
ght.”
He looked at me, his expression a complex mess of emotions. ‘I’m your father. Why are you trying to destroy
me?”
I pulled another file from my bag and held it out to him. He wouldn’t take it.
I I
“This is a complete file of everything I’ve found,” I told him. “I had hired a lawyer for you, to try and get you at reduced sentence. But it seems that’s no longer necessary.
I handed all my evidence to the police.
The lead officer looked at me, impressed. “What’s your major?”
“Education.”
He flipped through the file, looking at me with new respect.
My mom was weeping, still demanding to know where her first child was.
The officer turned to my dad. “Your daughter has a very strong case here. You’d better start talking. If you. don’t, I can’t guarantee you’ll make it out of this alive. And I’m not bluffing.”
My dad’s eyes were glazed over. After a long moment, he spoke, his voice hollow. “Catherine’s first child… was a girl. I threw her in a dumpster. She probably froze to death.”
My mother fainted. I caught her, but she clutched her chest, gasping for air, pointing at my father. “You’re a monster,” she wheezed. “A monster!”
My dad looked at me, his voice devoid of all emotion. “Are you satisfied now? You had to destroy me. Your mother is sick, she won’t live much longer either. Soon, you’ll have no father and no mother. Is that what you wanted?!” The last part was a roar, the veins in his forehead bulging.
I asked him calmly, “You didn’t want to pay for Mom’s treatment. Is that why you had Mandy start these rum- ors?”
Then I answered my own question, a cold, bitter laugh escaping my lips. “No, that’s not it. You orchestrated this whole thing so you could be with Laura openly. Just like you killed your first wife so you could be with my mother.”
Chapter 2
1545
Then I answered my own question, a cold, bitter laugh escaping my lips. “No, that’s not it. You orchestrated this whole thing so you could be with Laura openly. Just like you killed your first wife so you could be with
my mother.”
My mom sobbed. “No wonder you would never take me back to your hometown. You monster. You ruined
my entire life.”
Laura and Mandy were both stunned. They had no idea about the first wife either.
I pulled out one last document from my bag and held it up for everyone to see. “The person with terminal cancer isn’t my mother. It’s Mandy.”
Mandy stared at me, her face a mask of shock. “That’s impossible! You’re lying! You’re the one with cancer! Sharon, I hope you rot in hell!”
My mother, furious, snapped at her. “At the hospital, you saw the report said ‘cancer‘ and asked whose it was. I was afraid to scare you, so I lied. All these years… I really did raise a snake. You deserve whatever fate has in store for you.”
Mandy froze. Laura snatched the report from my hand, her eyes scanning the page. She burst into hysterical tears. “My Mandy will be fine! She’ll be fine!”
At this point, the live stream had over a hundred million concurrent viewers. The screen was a blur of com- ments.
“This guy is terrifying. Gets a mistress, kills his wife. Doesn’t even spare the child. He belongs in the deepest pit of hell.”
“So the bitchy sister has cancer. Serves her right. Karma’s a bitch, ain’t it?”
“Sharon is a total badass. If it weren’t for her, her mom would have been in the dark forever. With scum like that, you have to burn it all down.”
Later, the police took my father and Laura away.
The verdict came down not long after. For premeditated murder, they were both sentenced to death.
Two months later, Mandy died. I heard she couldn’t take the pain
- ng.
of her Illness and jumped from a tall build
Three years later, Ethan and I got married. My mom finally moved on from the shadow my father had cast over her life and found a new partner.
On warm days, Ethan and I go grocery shopping and visit them. We all have dinner together under the setting sun, talking and laughing about everyday things.
Life is simple. And happy.
