Chapter 3

Luke's head snapped to the side as I slapped him.

The sound of my palm striking his face echoed through the hallway, leaving everyone stunned.

Ever since this whole thing started, I'd remained almost unnervingly calm. People had insulted me, shoved me around, and even punched me, and I'd barely reacted.

But now, for the first time, that composure cracked.

I stared at Luke.

"How could you say something like that about your own sister?" My voice was ice cold. "Claire would never do that."

Luke clutched his cheek. Whatever restraint he had left finally shattered. "Then, why the hell are you doing this to her?"

I didn't answer.

Ryan couldn't take it anymore. He stepped forward.

"Gary, we want to know too. There's a reason for all this, isn't there? Something you're not telling us?" He searched my face. "Just tell us what's going on. Whatever it is, we'll help you."

Another member of the team shook his head, completely baffled. "At this point, I'd rather believe you've lost your mind. Because the Gary we knew would never treat Claire like this.

"If she so much as coughed, you'd be already dragging her to a doctor. One time she nicked her finger cutting fruit, and you insisted she get a tetanus shot. And God forbid you were ten minutes late getting home. You'd text her immediately so she wouldn't worry.

"We all know how much you love her. So what happened to you? What could possibly make you treat her like this?"

Memories of the past came flooding back.

Claire and I had been married for seven years. At her parents' graves, I'd once promised that I would spend the rest of my life taking care of her. And I'd kept that promise.

Until the day I found out…

"Gary?" Ryan's voice pulled me out of my thoughts.

I blinked, and by the time I looked at him again, my expression was calm. "There's no secret reason. I just didn't want to save her."

Luke ripped the ice pack off his arm and hurled it onto the floor. Then, he turned away and refused to look at me again.

Ryan was getting desperate. He pulled me to the far end of the hallway and lowered his voice.

"This is blowing up online. It's only been an hour, and the video's already been shared hundreds of thousands of times. People are flooding the rescue team's official account with complaints. I just got a call from the director. He wants you to explain yourself immediately, or…"

I gently pushed Ryan's hand away. "Whatever. I've got something else to do."

I turned to leave.

Ryan stared after me. "Where are you going?"

"Fishing."

Ryan stared at me like I'd just said the most absurd thing imaginable. "If you walk out of here now, don't expect any of us to ever call you a friend again!"

I turned around and left the hospital without another word.

By the time I returned to the lake, a sizable crowd had gathered along the shore.

I went straight back to my old spot and set up my rod again.

The moment Frank saw me, he stood and began packing his things. As he passed me, he stopped. "Do me a favor. From now on, don't tell anyone we've ever fished together. I'm embarrassed to even know you."

Then, he walked away without looking back.

A few people in the crowd recognized me almost immediately.

"That's him."

"His wife just lost their baby, and she's still in the hospital, but he came back here to fish?"

"And this guy's supposed to be a rescue captain?"

"Too bad he didn't drown when they shoved him into the lake earlier."

Suddenly, a half-finished iced coffee came flying at me. The cup struck the side of my head, splattering coffee all over my clothes.

I didn't react. I simply baited my hook and cast my line back into the lake.

That was when my phone started ringing.

The moment I answered, an angry voice came through the phone, "Gary, you're the captain of a water rescue team. You watched someone drowning, refused to help, and kept fishing instead.

"The city has ordered an immediate investigation into what happened. Is there anything you'd like to say for yourself?"

I kept my eyes on the bobber floating on the water. "No."

There was a long silence on the other end.

"Fine. Effective immediately, you're fired."

I hung up.

Then, I pulled up the live stream on my phone. The viewer count was still climbing by the second.

I smiled.

Sunlight danced across the surface of the lake as I sat perfectly still in my fishing chair, watching my line.

A few minutes passed. Then, a burst of excited voices came through the live stream playing on my phone.

"She's awake!"