Chapter 3

I glanced at the phone on the ground.

Grace must have dropped it when she ran over.

I bent down to pick it up, and a message popped onto the screen.

It was from a gray profile picture.

We already went to the mansion. We couldn’t get anything. Mom, find a way to squeeze more money out of Ethan.

I clenched my fingers.

Vivian and Noah really had planned everything perfectly. They knew I wouldn’t abandon her only remaining family member, so they were using my love for her to drain me of money.

After Vivian “died,” the victims’ families had pressured me until I could barely breathe.

Even so, I had sent Grace five hundred dollars every month for living expenses.

Whenever I had a little extra, I gave her more.

Now I realized that all of it had ended up in the hands of that shameless couple.

“Mr. Parker, please calm the family members down. You’re interfering with the rescue effort.”

“We’ll do everything we can to find your wife.”

“I’m sorry.”

I quietly returned the phone to its original position, then hurried over and helped Grace up from the ground.

“Mom, don’t interfere with the rescue. Anyone who didn’t know better would think Vivian was already dead and that you were holding a funeral here.”

Grace lifted her red-rimmed eyes. A trace of surprise flashed across her face.

“Ethan, what’s wrong with you today? Why are you constantly cursing my daughter to die?”

“No. Every second matters during a rescue. I’m just worried about Vivian.”

She seemed only half-convinced and stood up.

I reached out to support her, but Grace suddenly stumbled and fell toward the wreckage.

“Mom!”

I shouted and grabbed her.

“Are you okay?”

I caught her in time, but instead of thanking me, she glared at me.

“Don’t touch me.”

Grace shook off my hand, wiped her tears, and marched beyond the police barrier.

She was angry because I had ruined her plan.

She had wanted to secretly slip Vivian’s phone into the wreckage. During the rescue, someone would have found it.

Vivian’s phone contained countless photos of her, along with memories that belonged only to the two of us.

In my previous life, I had been consumed by grief. The first thing I did after getting the phone was take it to a repair shop and recover its data.

That was when I found a recording.

It had been left behind by Vivian before her death.

The moment I heard it, I collapsed to the floor and sobbed uncontrollably.

The phone was filled with Vivian’s love for me. She said she knew she was leaving this world and that she couldn’t bear to part with me. She hoped we would meet again in our next lives.

Every word felt like a blade dragging across my heart.

Because of that recording, I had believed completely in her love. I spent my entire life taking responsibility for her crimes, supporting her mother, and never remarrying.

But this time, I stopped Grace before she could place the phone in the car.

The rescue lasted an entire day.

Finally, a police officer approached Grace and me with a bag of Vivian’s belongings. He regretfully told us that her body still hadn’t been found.

The crash had been devastating. Her body might have been blown apart or burned beyond recognition.

He told us to prepare ourselves for the worst.

The moment I heard the news, I panicked. I grabbed the officer’s hands and let tears pour down my face.

Grace fainted on the spot.

I knew she was pretending, but just as I had in my previous life, I took her to the hospital.

Last time, after arranging for someone to care for Grace, I bought an urn and returned to the crash site to collect some ashes.

This time was no different.

But after collecting the ashes, I didn’t go buy a grave as I had before.

I went to the hospital instead.

When I reached the hallway outside Grace’s room, I heard her bright laughter from inside.

“Vivian, you were right. The moment Ethan heard you were dead, he looked like he’d lost his soul. He’s such an idiot. Don’t worry. I’ll squeeze a fortune out of him.”

“I’ve already sent people to stir up the victims’ families and make them cause trouble. Ethan will be overwhelmed. You need to hurry and take anything valuable from the house.”

Listening to them, I twisted my fingers together.

After five years of marriage, I had never imagined the victims’ families had been manipulated by them from the beginning.

The truth struck me like a bolt of lightning.

But this time, they had miscalculated.

Since Vivian was supposedly dead, I would make it real—even if I had to turn a fake death into an actual one.

The Parkers’ good days were coming to an end.