Chapter 3

Orlando remained beside me in the ward until my IV drip was finished. After that, he left.

In this life, I did not instantly agree to his request to allow Catherine and her child to live with us, as I had in my previous life.

I believed Orlando must have gone out to inform Larrie about this, along with concocting countermeasures with his family.

After he left, I dialed two numbers.

Not only did I want to lodge a police report about Larrie’s case, but I also wanted to reach out to popular influencers to get them to draw more attention to him.

As soon as the influencers uploaded their videos, Larrie’s case instantly went viral on local social media.

The story of the captain giving up his very last life jacket to the passenger in a moment of crisis instantly gained the public’s attention.

They did not even need to take three days to find out Larrie’s whereabouts. Three hours was already more than sufficient.

Before I died in my previous life, I had already discovered his hiding place. In this life, he was bound to be hiding there again.

When Orlando received the news, he quickly rushed back to the hospital. The moment he entered the ward, he rebuked me angrily. “Michelle, are you deaf?! Why did you contact the social media influencers without my permission?!

“You’re a wicked woman! You deliberately did this to get Larrie killed!”

His chest heaved violently. His body shuddered with anger.

Meanwhile, I felt a wave of satisfaction. I kept my expression calm and feigned confusion as I asked, “Honey, what are you talking about? I’m doing this so that more people could join the search-and-rescue efforts to find out Larrie’s whereabouts. I’m doing this out of good intentions.

“Why do I get the feeling that you’re worried about Larrie being found? Do you actually want Catherine to become a widow and their child an orphan?

“Or do you actually have eyes on Catherine, and now you’re hoping to use this chance to claim her as yours?”

Orlando’s face turned as black as thunderclouds. He scolded me furiously, “Michelle, watch your mouth! If you keep spouting nonsense, trust me, I’ll divorce you!”

For the past eight years, whenever he lost his temper, he always used the threat of divorce to force me to give in and apologize to him.

I was not going to let them happen again. After all, I had already planned to divorce him.

I schooled my expression and stared at him calmly.

“Alright. Let’s divorce, then.”

Orlando had not expected me to say that. His lips parted in puzzlement, and he stared at me incredulously.

Before he spoke, my phone rang.

I picked up the call with one hand and put it on speaker.

“Ms. Michelle, here’s some good news for you! We’ve located Mr. Larrie’s whereabouts and are heading there right now!”

“Wonderful! I’ll have his family meet up with you right now.”

After hanging up, I sent the location to Orlando.

“Why are you still standing here? Are you too thrilled to know what to do? Let’s go and bring Larrie home now, hurry up!”

Orlando’s face turned dark. He pursed his lips tightly.

Without a word, he anxiously turned around and left the ward.

I sneered to myself. The only reason he was in such a rush was because he needed to reach Larrie’s hideout before the search-and-rescue team did.

As I expected, when Orlando came back at night, he looked sad. He said sorrowfully, “They found Larrie, but he’s already…”

Right on cue, a few drops of tears slipped down his face. His eyes were swollen.

“Darling, I won’t be able to accompany you for the next couple of days. I already hired a caregiver for you.

“I need to go back to my hometown to get Larrie a proper burial so that he could rest in peace.”

I frowned and forced a trace of sadness into my expression.

“Burial in the ground is illegal. They strongly encourage cremation these days, especially for families with public officials like you. How could you openly break the laws?”

But Orlando insisted on a burial in the ground. He said it was a custom in his hometown.

“Darling, this is going to be fine as long as no one reports it to the authorities. Besides, respect for the dead comes first. Who would actually go after a dead man?

“No decent men would stoop that low!”

The next day, before dawn, Orlando had already departed. Before the burial could take place, the police had already shown up.

Orlando had no choice but to curse under his breath as he dragged Larrie, who was playing dead, to the mortuary.

On the day of the cremation, I insisted on being there to see Larrie off.

Orlando refused to let me go. He rebuked me angrily. “Michelle, they’ve yet to discharge you. Why would you go and cause unnecessary trouble? Even if you want to make a fuss out of this, at least pick the right time and place!”

I turned his words against him.

“Larrie gave up his very last life jacket to me at the critical moment of life and death. As his sister-in-law, how could I not go and see him off one last time?”

Orlando was left speechless. He had no choice but to agree.

Inside the funeral hall, the Mendes family was already there.

After exchanging a few telling glances, Orlando prepared to send me away.

“Darling, Larrie definitely feels your presence and sincerity. You’re still recovering from your injuries, so you should head back and rest early.”

I frowned and said unhappily, “No way. I haven’t even seen his face for the last time. Where’s his coffin?”

Right after I finished my sentence, Orlando’s expression darkened.

“As I said earlier, Larrie has definitely felt your presence and sincerity. Get back to the hospital now. Once things get busy, I won’t have time to look after you!”

I lost my composure and shouted at him. “Orlando, what do you mean? Why are you stopping me from seeing Larrie for the last time?!

“Don’t tell me that he’s not inside the coffin at all? Are you planning to smuggle him out for a burial in the ground?”

Everyone turned around and looked at us. Even the workers caught wind of the commotion.

Orlando’s eyes turned cold and hostile as he fixed his gaze on me. After a moment, he said coldly, “Fine. I’ll take you to see him.”

He stalled for some time. After getting a phone call, he finally pushed me toward the innermost ice coffin.

I almost laughed out loud when I saw that Larrie’s lips had already turned purple due to the freezing temperature.

“Michelle, you’ve seen him. Can we leave now?”

I nodded. Orlando could not wait to get me out of there.

Just then, a few police officers came over and stood in front of the Mendes family.

“We were told that someone is planning to secretly smuggle the body away for a burial in the ground. That’s why we’ll need your cooperation to ensure that the cremation process is completed under supervision.”

Orlando’s expression turned pale. He quickly took out his phone to call someone.

But it was too late. Before he even finished dialing, I saw Larrie’s name appear on the display board as the next in line.

The Mendes family members standing behind the glass viewing area grew nervous. Orlando was so desperate that he immediately charged into that area.

“Wait, don’t cremate him!”

But it was already too late.

At the next second, they pushed Larrie’s ice coffin into the cremation chamber.

Immediately after, a noise came from the chamber and frightened everyone.