Micah’s legs gave way for a moment, and at that moment, it seemed as though he was experiencing auditory hallucinations…
Not long after he had left, Elisa had divorced Hamish; it was because his father had perjured himself in court, claiming she was mentally ill and had secretly transferred eight hundred million in marital assets. Elisa couldn’t divorce because of that?
Buzzing filled Micah’s ears, and his body swayed. While he had been working tirelessly abroad to save Elisa, his own family had been pushing her into a corner, making it a luxury for her even to seek help.
In an instant, Micah thought of many things. He didn’t want to believe Ivan’s words, but when he thought about his parents’ evasive looks upon his return and their attitude of avoiding the topic of Elisa, everything became clear.
Ivan grabbed Micah by the collar, his eyes like those of an enraged lion. “You’re right, I don’t deserve to be her brother because I never acknowledged her. But what about you, Micah?”
“But what about you, Micah? Do you think you treated Elisa well? When she was struggling on the brink of death, not only could you not save her, but your own family was pushing her towards hell.”
Elisa wasn’t afraid of hell; she was afraid of the people who were pushing her into it-not the despicable villains, but the ones who had once been sincere to her as family.
Ivan shoved Micah, leaving him staggering. He stood there blankly, tears drying and then welling up on his face, his soul already laid bare.
“I’m not human. I harmed her. I’m sorry. I had promised to take her away if she wanted, but what did I do…”
Micah wildly tugged at his hair, crouching on the ground, venting all the sorrow as if releasing the soul of grief, sobbing uncontrollably.
Elisa’s image of hitting her head in court, blood streaming, flashed through his mind.
She wanted to live, but she was forced to commit suicide by hitting the wall.
They were all accomplices in Elisa’s death.
Micah’s face was ashen, his lips a faint bluish color. In a daze, he wondered, did he have any right to blame Ivan?
Ivan wasn’t feeling much better; he was evading responsibility, but could he really evade Elisa’s death?
He had wished for Elisa’s death, but only after she was gone did he realize she was the only family he had. With her gone, he was truly alone.
Ivan choked, crouching on the ground, crying uncontrollably, his left hand haphazardly wiping the tears from his face, his eyes stinging from the wiping.
Micah murmured, “I don’t believe Elisa is dead…”
Ivan took out his phone and placed it at Micah’s feet. “The first call on the display is the one I received yesterday. Check for yourself.”
“You didn’t check?”
Ivan didn’t answer, hanging his head, unable to speak through his tears. It was embarrassing, but he didn’t dare to check.
Since receiving the call yesterday, he had been in a daze, unable to even consider that Elisa might be dead.
Gritting his teeth, Micah trembled as he bent down to pick up the phone, then looked up the number. It was a call from the Chiwood Police Station.
Unconvinced, Micah checked for recent news about fires and deaths in Chiwood and indeed found a brief report from December 25th.
On the day of Hamish’s engagement, as the engagement video was playing on the large screen, there was a malfunction that unexpectedly linked to a surveillance video. In the video, a blaze filled the screen. In a closed room on the first floor, near the French windows, a slender figure was engulfed by the flames, struggling and pounding on the windows in pain. The blood on the glass was all hers.
Beneath the video was a headline.
On December 25th, at 12:30, a sudden fire occurred at the xx Island villa, and 27-year-old Elisa tragically perished in the fire.
Micah’s face turned ashen, as if the phone had burned him. He shrank back, and the screen faced Ivan directly.
Ivan lowered his head, his gaze falling upon the headline, and suddenly everything spun before his eyes. He collapsed to the ground without strength.
“Is it her?”
“Is it her?”
At these words, Micah burst into tears. The matching name and age could be a coincidence, but how could he explain the face reflected in the French windows in the video? And how could he explain the “live” video that had suddenly appeared at Hamish’s engagement?
Micah choked,”You’re right. None of us deserve… We are all her murderers…”
Micah’s words felt like a knife plunged into his chest, extracting his ribs. Ivan’s eyelids drooped, tears trailing down his cheeks.
He remembered two years ago when he had deceived Elisa into an underground gambling den, where Lukas had drugged her with spiked wine, the wine spilling from her lips like blood. Without hesitation, he had left her behind, running away while she trembled and called out to him from behind.
“‘Brother… are you really leaving me… alone?'” Elisa’s smile at that moment was more painful to see than her tears.
That was the last time she had called him “brother,” when he had abandoned her two years ago.
Elisa never easily admitted defeat; when faced with hardship and pain, she would rather swallow broken teeth than show weakness.
That had been her first time “asking” him, but he had abandoned her.
At the time of Elisa’s death, he hadn’t thought he would lose anything, but when she was truly gone, he cried until he couldn’t breathe.
His mother had passed away twenty-seven years ago, his father three years ago, and now his sister was gone…
He had lost his only family. There would be no one to tolerate his anger, no one to give him money, and no one to softly call him “brother” anymore.
Suddenly, Ivan remembered something from long, long ago.
His mother, with a big belly, had held his hand on her round stomach and asked softly, “Ivan, do you want a little brother or a little sister?”
“A little sister.”
“Then when she’s born, you must protect her. Don’t let her get hurt. If she cries, you should comfort her, if she’s hungry, you should feed her. If anyone dares to bully her…”
Little Ivan raised his tiny fist. “If anyone bullies my sister, I’ll make them cry!”
…
Tears streamed down Ivan’s face uncontrollably. Why had he suddenly forgotten all of this?
He, who had always been the one to protect his sister, Elisa, had let her die in a fire during the harsh winter without being able to return home… Ivan felt an excruciating pain in his chest, a despair so intense it left him unable to function.
He pushed himself off the wall, unsteadily standing. “I want to bring her back.”
In a hoarse voice, Micah said, “I’ll go with you.”
That day, they booked plane tickets. The midday flights to Chiwood were already full, so they had to wait until four or five in the afternoon.
Micah went home to gather his things. Seeing his hurried appearance, Mrs. Baker asked, “Son, you just got back, where are you off to now?”
Pulling his suitcase, Micah froze at Mrs. Baker’s question, his gaze darkening as he replied, “I’m going to Chiwood to retrieve Elisa’s body.”