“Don’t touch her!”
He punched the closet door.
“Get a cryogenic coffin, temperature
controlled. Empty the villa in the south. Seal
all the windows.”
He hugged her clothes, his eyes crazed: “With me here, no one can touch you.”
The villa was prepared. Sarah’s coffin was placed there. Refrigeration units maintained a
く
frigid temperature.
The mist clung to his eyelashes. Sarah’s face
was lifelike. As if she would open those
smiling eyes.
The servants knew he locked himself in,
forbidding anyone to approach the coffin.
His assistant tried repeatedly to discuss work,
only to be rebuffed.
He forced the door open, finding Ethan
carving a sixth scar into his arm.
“Mr. Reed, you need to let her rest…”
“Get out!”
Ethan laughed, his bloody fingertip tracing the
edge of the coffin.
“Look, Sarah’s hand is still warm. She made
me tea yesterday…”
- 8.
<
“Mr. Reed,” the assistant said, “Madam
suffered so much, let her rest in peace.”
Ethan paused, looking outside. He seemed to
see Sarah, telling him her pain.
“She must have been in so much pain. I’ve
carved so many scars, shed so much blood,
it’s nothing compared to her.”
“She must hate me. I’m sorry.”
“Sarah, do you want to leave too?”
A gust of wind blew leaves onto the coffin;
they withered instantly.
Ethan picked them up, crushing them.
“Find the best cemetery. Bury her.”
The assistant happily agreed. Everything
would be the best.
Days later, Ethan visited Willow.
く
She was in a basement cell, covered in blood,
her skin rotting, cursing.
She was injected daily with those agents; the
dosage was enough to cause pain but not kill
her.
“Ethan, you killed Sarah, you’re the true
murderer!”
Ethan remained unmoved, ordering the
dosage to increase. He wanted her baby to
suffer the same fate.
“Kill me! Just end it!”
Willow writhed, hitting the wall. She’d be
revived with adrenaline each time she passed
out.
She would neither live nor die.
Ethan announced Sarah as his only wife. He
held a press conference, admitting their
L
three–year secret marriage and exposing
Willow.
The news caused chaos. The company’s
stock plummeted, employees panicked.
Public opinion was against them. Willow’s
parents were targeted too.
At the funeral, Ethan knelt at her grave,
tearing up the divorce papers.
He told everyone he had only one wife, Sarah.
After the funeral, he remained, kneeling in the
rain.
He wiped the headstone repeatedly.
His assistant came at dawn and took him
away.
Gu’s Corporation went bankrupt. His servants
left, except a few who were close to Sarah.
His assistant came to say goodbye, but
く
couldn’t find him. He was in the greenhouse.
“Mr. Reed, it’s over, I’m leaving.”
Ethan ignored him, pruning roses.
The assistant hesitated, then spoke.
“Mr. Reed, Madam liked climbing roses, not
these.”
His hand stopped; the shears fell.
He chuckled softly.
“She didn’t like roses.”
He picked up the shears, wildly cutting the
roses, destroying them.
The assistant left his resignation.
When the roses were gone, he stopped,
looking at the branches. He saw Sarah,
covered in blood, among the roses.
“Ethan, what was our child’s name?”
- 9.
<
That night, the greenhouse burned. The
servants discovered Ethan had started the
fire.
He survived, but the scar on his arm read
“atonement.”
He often spoke irrationally, saying he saw
Sarah.
Willow faced her judgment.
She died of sepsis in the basement. Similar to
Sarah’s condition.
She called Ethan, her voice weak, cursing:
“You’ll…never be forgiven.”
Ethan was consumed by guilt and madness.
Unforgiveness was his only peace.
Six months later, Ethan was diagnosed with
severe depression. He refused treatment. He
sat at Sarah’s grave daily.
