Chapter 2

I'd left in such a hurry that my son's clothes were still in the changing room.

I told him to wait in the car while I went back to get them and inform the pool manager about the safety hazard.

The moment I stepped into the swimming facility, I heard bursts of mocking laughter.

"Look at him—he's like a dead fish! Move! Why isn't he moving? Hahaha..."

Three boys were laughing shrilly. The tallest one, Derek, was stepping on something blue beneath the water.

Seeing the same blue swimsuit my son wore and the faint red tinge spreading through the water made my heart seize with terror.

If I wasn't certain my son was in the car right now, I couldn't bear to face this scene again.

In my previous life, Derek had targeted my son because he'd beaten Derek in academic rankings. Derek wanted to crush him in extracurricular activities too, so he'd murdered him.

But who was this boy? And why?

I didn't dare think too much. Saving him was urgent. I shouted sternly.

"Stop! What are you doing?!"

When Derek saw me, he raised an eyebrow and slowly stepped back half a pace.

"Well, well. The old dog's here to protect the little dog. No more fun."

The other two boys jumped away like startled rabbits, not daring to look at me.

Due to the powerful suction, even though they'd released their feet, the boy's face remained pressed tightly against the drain outlet, his limbs floating with the current.

In my previous life, this was how my son had been. I'd plunged into the water to save him, but the suction was too strong—I couldn't pull him free.

By the time the staff arrived and shut off the system, it was already too late. My son had died in my arms.

The blue swimsuit before me, the short-medium length hair, the body shape...

I kept telling myself this wasn't Ashton, that he was safe in the car right now. But my hands still trembled violently.

With my experience from the previous life, I turned to the staff member nearby.

"What are you standing there for? Can't you see someone's stuck on the drain down there? Call someone to shut off the water circulation!"

The manager finally snapped out of it and hurriedly contacted the control room.

A few minutes later, I pulled the boy's limp body out of the water.

His face was swollen and deformed—completely unrecognizable.

He'd stopped breathing. His pulse was gone too.

Derek stood to the side with his arms crossed, a faint smirk on his lips.

"He said he could hold his breath for three minutes. We were just helping him practice."

"Helping him?"

My eyes burned red as I slapped him across the face.

"You call pressing him against the drain 'helping him'?"

Derek clutched his face and glared at me.

"We were just playing around! How were we supposed to know he couldn't take it!"

"You actually dare hit me! Do you know who my mom is? Believe me, I can make your whole family pay!"

I knew exactly who she was. That's why I wanted to tear that indifferent face of his to shreds.

I had no idea what kind of taste his mother had—marrying a worthless leech like Cameronas her live-in husband and raising such a monstrous child.

"Playing? You call this playing? This is murder! Do you understand?!"

The chubby boy beside them finally showed fear, his voice trembling.

"Are we in...?"

Before he could finish, Derek cut him off.

"In what? You were pressing just as hard as anyone a minute ago."

The other boy had already started crying.

"I... I want to go home..."

I had no time for them. I laid the boy flat on the ground, performing CPR while instructing the staff to call an ambulance.

"Call 911 now! Maybe we can still save him!"

As I lifted the boy's chin to give rescue breaths, I noticed a plum blossom-shaped birthmark behind his ear. Something flashed through my mind.

The coach exhaled his last puff of smoke and walked in slowly with Derek's father, Cameron, through a side door.

Seeing the scene by the pool, they instantly panicked.

"What... how did this happen?!"

Derek immediately put on an innocent expression and ran over.

"Dad, we were competing to see who could hold their breath longest. He said he could last three minutes. Who knew..."

"This is outrageous!" The coach's face went pale.

"How many times have I told you—no one goes in the water without me there!"

"Sorry. Won't happen again. But that uncle can't just hit people, right?"

Derek lowered his head but curved his lips into a smirk aimed at me.

Cameron, seeing the handprint on his son's face, pointed at my nose and cursed.

"What gives you the right to hit my son?"

He glanced contemptuously at me and the boy on the ground.

"The kid didn't follow the rules. As his parent, you should've watched him better. When something like this happens, you can't blame others, right?"

In my previous life, the surveillance footage showed my son doing warm-ups by the pool when Derek pushed him in from behind. Then three of them dragged him to the drain and held him down.

This boy's ordeal must have been similar to what happened to my son, Ashton.

I understood that bone-crushing pain of losing a child all too well. So regardless of who this boy was, he was innocent.

Saving him was urgent. I didn't want to waste words on Cameron. Without stopping my compressions, I glanced at the coach.

"Coach, you're also responsible for what happened here. You should notify the child's parents first."