Chapter 4

Sinead still refused to back down. "Jesse, don't push me. Apologize first so Zachary will come down."

Sinead's parents kept trying to persuade us too. "That's right. At a time like this, life matters the most. Blame me if you have to, but please. I agreed to this. Zachary only wanted to fulfill a dream. No need to turn things into this?"

I was completely disappointed. I never thought Sinead's parents, whom I had respected like my own, would be like this, too.

I stood in front of my parents. "I'll agree to the divorce, but I won't apologize. We did nothing wrong."

Sinead's brows furrowed even tighter. "Jesse, do you understand what kind of situation this is? Why are you still making a fuss about this?"

She picked up her phone and said, "Pause the partnership and pull the funding."

That single sentence made it hard for me to stay calm. Even my parents panicked. My parents' company was in the middle of a restructuring, and they needed plenty of funds to keep it running. Sinead had suggested tying the two companies together. She said it would make things easier to handle if something came up.

Back then, my parents had worried that they would cause her too much trouble, but Sinead promised them that everything would be fine. "Don't you trust me? It's better to leave this to me than to someone else. It's fine. Besides, you helped me so much back then. I only managed to start my business because of you. Now, I can repay you."

That was how my parents finally agreed.

Now, it had become the knife she used to stab them in the back.

Sinead's parents knew this was serious and hurried to stop her. "Sinead, don't. You can't mess around with this. Call them back and cancel the order."

But Sinead simply stared hard at my parents. "Mom, Dad, I don't have a choice. Zachary's safety comes first."

My father soon got a call. "Mr. Howard, something has gone wrong, and the company is in chaos. You need to come back and take a look."

My father had been an honest businessman his whole life. All he had done was trust his daughter-in-law, and this was where it had led him. His hard work going down the drain was already bad, but Sinead hurting him was worse.

He suddenly clutched his chest and lost consciousness from sheer anger.

My mother kept calling his name in panic. "Honey? How are you feeling?! Don't scare me. I'll apologize. I'll apologize..."

I immediately took my parents to the emergency room. Whatever affection I have left in my heart was severed completely.

Outside the emergency room, my mother's eyes were red and swollen. "Sinead... How did Sinead become like this? We don't even recognize her anymore."

I held her and comforted her. Some people had started to rot long ago. We just had not noticed.

It was fine.

Everything would pass.

I stared hard at the emergency room doors.

As long as Dad was safe, nothing else mattered. Even though I kept telling myself that, my hands still trembled with fear.

The people on the roof gradually came down. Clearly, Zachary had been persuaded to come down.

Sinead looked as if a huge weight had been lifted. She protected him as they left, not paying any further attention to my parents.

That hurt my mother even more.

She could not understand why things had become like this. They had barely done anything wrong.

I stood beside my mother as I watched Sinead leave with cold eyes.

Sinead...

I would make sure you left with nothing.