Chapter 3

Officer Zeller angrily snatched my phone away. "I'm the one who called the command center. I'm a police officer from Wimborne Police Precinct—"

Kyle cut him off before he could finish his sentence. "That's enough. Stop repeating yourself. Jay already told me there's no one by your name at Wimborne Police Precinct.

"Tell Kaitlyn to drop the act. I'm doing this for her sake too. I already cancelled the report for her. That's all."

Madison called me again. I could hear cries in the background.

"Kaitlyn, help us! Have you called Jared?"

"I already called him, Madison. He's not coming."

She started cursing me off. "You useless wench! I shouldn't have let Jared marry you back then. To think that you can't even handle something like this!"

Samuel echoed her sentiment. "Mom, how can you be so useless? If Mommy were here, she would've been able to call Daddy over to save us!"

Tears immediately trailed down my cheeks. This was the family I had given my all to maintain—a husband who only cared about his first love, a mother-in-law who nitpicked everything I did, and an ungrateful son who called another woman "Mommy".

Madison always preferred gentle housewives like Wendy, whereas I was a senior executive at a media company. I had my own career and needed to meet clients, which meant I was often in the spotlight. There was no way I could stay at home with Jared every day like Wendy could.

All these years, I shouldered their living expenses by myself, including the costs for the house and the car. I made sure they lived like kings, but I couldn't even receive their gratitude in return.

I wanted to leave peacefully with this family. That was why, when Madison had been hospitalized and bedridden, I took a long leave to take care of her every need.

But just as her attitude toward me started improving, Wendy suddenly showed up with Zachary. Not only did Madison rent a place for her near ours, but she also invited Wendy and Zachary over for meals every day.

Wendy easily won Samuel over with junk food. Then, he started to see me as his enemy. For a while, he only called Wendy "Mommy" and addressed me by my name.

Jared even used all our savings to buy Wendy and Zachary a house and said, "Kaitlyn, don't overthink it. This is what I owe Wendy. As my wife, you should carry this burden with me."

Although I was furious, I put up with it because of my ridiculous love for him and the three years' worth of happy memories we made before I gave birth to Samuel. I just hadn't expected to be repaid with death.

Suddenly, a rock hit my head. Warm blood trailed down my forehead.

The family members of the passengers on the bus were throwing whatever they could reach at me.

"My mom called me from inside the bus and said that your husband was the leader of the emergency response team. Why isn't he here yet?"

"How could he leave his post like this? Don't you know how precious human life is? If my mom dies, I'll make sure your family dies with her!"

I covered my bleeding forehead and got into my car. Then, I quickly video called Jared.

He immediately rejected my call and responded with a message. "Stop acting out! Keep this up, and I'll divorce you!"

Then, he blocked my number. I tried to call his team members and Wendy, but everyone had blocked me.

When I tried to call Madison, her phone was turned off, having run out of battery. I had done everything I could, but it seemed like dying was their fate.