When Hollie finally woke up, it was already dark.
Simon stood before her, backlit, his expression emotionless.
“Simon, what are you doing?”
Hollie tried to move her sore arms, but then realized her hands and feet were tied.
Simon didn’t speak, just tossed a bottle of glue at her.
The glue rolled to Hollie’s feet, and her smile froze on her face.
It was the same glue she used to kill me.
“Why did you do it?” Simon forced himself to remain calm, but the veins bulging on his hands betrayed his anger.
Hollie looked up and saw her mother lying in a pool of blood.
She screamed, terrified. “What are you going to do to me!”
“Why did you kill Laura?”
“What do you mean I killed her? She would have died even without me, wouldn’t she? Have you forgotten? You’re the one who locked her up! I only helped you…”
“Shut up!”
Before she could finish, Simon grabbed her throat, choking her.
He knew, deep down, that he was the real killer.
But he couldn’t admit it.
He was scared.
Hollie’s face turned red as she struggled to breathe.
“Let go… Simon, stop pretending! You never loved her. Stop lying to yourself!”
“Impossible! I loved her! I loved her!” Simon started to lose control, gripping Hollie’s neck even tighter.
“Loved her? She still died… You killed her with your own hands. Simon, you’re disgusting…”
“Shut up! Shut up!” Simon stood up and grabbed the glue, pouring it into Hollie’s mouth.
I jumped back in fear.
The scene reminded me too much of the way I died.
Before long, Hollie could no longer make a sound.
Her eyes widened, fixed on Simon, her body convulsing on the ground.
At that moment, the door to the warehouse was kicked open.
The police had arrived.
Hollie was rushed to the hospital.
But the glue was too strong, blocking her airway.
She died on the operating table before the surgery could even begin.
At the police station, Simon sat pale-faced.
“You’re suspected of two counts of murder. Do you have anything to say?”
Under the harsh lights, Simon’s lips trembled. “No.”
He wanted to explain, but what was there to explain?
He was the one who tied me up, locked the trunk, and ensured I couldn’t escape.
Even without Hollie, I would’ve died.
They were all the same.
Simon knew exactly why Hollie had approached him-to provoke me.
It just so happened that James returned during that time, and Simon, feeling bitter, allowed Hollie to get close.
Even he didn’t know how things had spiraled to this point.
He had only wanted to punish me a little.
Now, he had killed me with his own hands and destroyed everything I held dear.
Simon covered his face, sobbing uncontrollably.
He regretted everything.
Simon was charged in court. Two murder charges and corporate crimes ensured he would spend the rest of his life in prison.
On his first day in prison, he was beaten by a gang. The guards spat in his food.
The once-arrogant young master Simon had become pitiful and broken.
I knew it was James who arranged it all. He was avenging me.
The old Simon would have fought back, but now he endured it all in silence.
In less than half a month, he was reduced to a shell of a man, unrecognizable.
When James saw him again, he barely recognized him.
“Please, let me see her one last time.”
Simon knelt before him, begging without any dignity for James to let him attend my funeral.
James sneered. “Do you think you deserve it? Even if you died a thousand times, Laura wouldn’t forgive you.”
That was true.
I thought Simon would give up, but to my surprise, he bribed a guard and escaped, barefoot, still in his prison uniform, his feet bloody.
Half an hour later, he made it to the cemetery gates.
But as he crossed the street, a car slammed into him, sending him flying.
Even though I hated him, I couldn’t bear to see that bloody scene.
He lay in a pool of blood, his eyes fixed on the cemetery gates.
“Laura…” Blood poured from his mouth.
The sound of ambulance sirens drowned out his voice.
“I’m sorry…”
Simon didn’t die, but he was left in a vegetative state. He was placed in the hospital basement.
He would never see daylight again, a fitting punishment.
A heartless man must live on, burdened with all the hatred he’s caused.
I’ll make sure he never forgets how he betrayed me.
I’ll make sure he never forgets how he killed me with his own hands.