Chapter 3

I clenched my fists tightly. I had to stay calm.

“Dad, I didn’t push Ethan. I was in my bedroom doing homework while Mom was watching Ethan on the second-floor balcony.” My voice carried just the right amount of trembling, sounding exactly like a frightened child.

Dad was holding the unconscious Ethan. His bloodshot eyes were fixed on me, like a wild beast on the verge of losing control.

Mary immediately rushed to speak first. “I clearly told Lucy to watch Ethan on the second floor, then I went downstairs to get some onions from Nancy next door. Nancy can testify for me!”

I sneered inwardly.

What a clever move. She had calculated Dad’s return time perfectly and deliberately gone to the neighbor to create an alibi.

Sure enough, Nancy, who had always been close with Mary, squeezed out of the crowd at once, her face full of righteous indignation.

“That’s right, Daniel. Mary just borrowed onions from me, saying she was going to cook your favorite fish. I personally watched her walk back into the yard!”

After that, she didn’t forget to point at me, adding painfully, “We saw your daughter standing on the second floor when we came over, just coldly looking down, with no reaction at all!

“Honestly, Lucy, how can you be so cruel? Last time something happened to Ethan, wasn’t it also because you deliberately didn’t close the yard gate?”

That single remark stirred up a storm.

The surrounding neighbors immediately started talking over one another.

“Exactly. That kid doesn’t look like a good one.”

“So young, yet already so jealous. What’ll happen when she grows up?”

Seeing this, Mary immediately covered her face and began to sob at just the right moment. Her body went limp as she leaned into Dad.

“Honey, don’t blame Lucy. What happened with the yard gate last time might’ve just been an accident. Maybe this time wasn’t intentional either…”

Those words, retreating on the surface, only nailed my guilt more firmly in place.

Dad’s gaze turned completely cold.

He had seen it—Mary anxiously rushing in from outside the yard, and me standing on the second floor like an indifferent bystander.

Seeing was believing.

“Last time, I saw you pull Ethan back, so I believed you,” Dad said hoarsely. “This time, I witnessed you pushing him down the stairs with my own eyes. What are you still trying to argue?”

The trust in his eyes shattered in an instant, replaced by disgust so thick that it couldn’t be dissolved.

“There isn’t a trace of fear on your face, Lucy. Was saving Ethan last time just an act you put on for me, too?”

I was so anxious that tears burst out immediately. I cried and shouted, “It wasn’t me! It was that man Mom brought home! The same one as last time! That’s why Mom had time to go find Nancy!

“Dad, don’t you believe me?”

Crying, I yelled with all the strength in my body, “Call the police! Call the police! The police on TV say that if you’re in trouble, you go to the police! Let them check the fingerprints on the wheelchair. They’ll definitely prove Lucy’s innocence!”

When I saw Dad’s arm around Mary loosen slightly, I knew my words had worked.

Choking back tears, my gaze fixed straight on the unconscious Ethan in his arms.

“Dad, if there really is a bad person hiding in our house who wants to hurt Ethan, what would he do?”

That sentence was like a needle, piercing straight into the softest part of Dad’s heart.

Mary’s face instantly turned pale. She bit her lip hard, then seemed to make up her mind. She suddenly lifted her head and looked at Dad through tear-filled eyes.

“That’s a question I should be asking you! Our family of three was living just fine. If this disaster weren’t here, how could our home ever know anything but peace?”

Her voice was full of sobs, every word squeezed out from deep in her chest.

“Honey, I followed you without asking for anything and gave birth to our son. How could I possibly harm our own flesh and blood?

“Every day I rack my brain cooking for you, keeping this house in perfect order. Have you forgotten all of that?

“Your misunderstanding of me doesn’t matter. What I’m afraid of is your being fooled by this ungrateful brat and regretting it for the rest of your life!”