Chapter 5

I gripped the handle tighter. "I don’t need to prove anything to you."

"If you truly believe there’s a body in there, get a proper warrant."

"But smashing my house without a shred of real evidence? You’re acting like thugs, not law enforcement."

I pressed the knife a little deeper.

Pain flared, and more blood dripped down my collar.

I wasn't fearless. I didn't want to die.

But some things in this world are far more terrifying than death.

Even if it cost me my life today, I had to stop them.

Marcus silenced himself.

He knew I was right legally.

Without a search warrant or solid forensic evidence, relying solely on a teenager's essay and some vague neighbor gossip to destroy a citizen's home was a massive legal liability.

If I actually killed myself on a live broadcast, Marcus wouldn't just lose his job—he could go to prison.

For a long, agonizing fifteen seconds, the room remained at a complete standoff.

But just as Marcus was about to back down, Tyler suddenly snatched a sledgehammer from an officer's hand.

He charged into the master bedroom like a madman, raising the heavy hammer high above his head.

My pupils dilated, and I screamed at the top of my lungs:

"Tyler! Don't do it! You'll regret this for the rest of your life!"

Tyler turned his head, his eyes wild and bloodshot. "Regret?"

"Mom, the only thing I regret is not stopping you ten years ago!"

"I’ve waited ten years for this day."

"If I don't break this wall and bring you to justice, that is what I’ll regret forever!"

With a guttural scream, he swung the hammer with all his might against the brick wall!

"CRASH!"

With a single blow, the bricks fractured, and a cloud of white dust billowed into the air.

The wall was open.

But as the dust settled, everyone in the room froze in absolute shock...

Plaster and debris rained down.

The silence in the room was so thick you could hear a pin drop.

Every single eye was glued to the dark cavity inside the shattered wall.

But there was no body.

No bones.

No rotting clothes, no bloodstains, not even a speck of dark discoloration.

It was completely empty. Just a hollow space between the studs, some old backing bricks, and a thin layer of grey dust.

Nothing.

Tyler stared, paralyzed.

"No... that’s impossible."

"I saw it. I saw her seal my dad inside this wall."

"How is it empty?"

He muttered to himself, shaking his head in denial. Then, like a man possessed, he raised the hammer again and began frantically smashing the rest of the wall.

He swung again and again.

Within minutes, the entire partition wall lay in a pile of rubble on the floor.

But even with the wall completely demolished, there was absolutely nothing inside.

The heavy hammer slipped from Tyler’s limp fingers and clattered onto the floorboards.

He collapsed to his knees among the debris.

He stared at the broken bricks, his chest heaving, his eyes wide with terror.

The ten years of hatred and vengeance he had built his entire life around began to crumble into dust.

"No way."

"This can't be happening."

For ten years, he had relived that night in his nightmares.

The blood on the floor, his father lying lifeless, my cold posture, and the overnight brick construction.

He was absolutely certain his father was sealed inside this wall.