Chapter 3

I returned to the old house to grab only my personal documents and some certificates.

Since I was making a fresh start, I wouldn’t be taking any item carrying old memories with me.

I removed my key and set it down on the hallway cupboard.

As I pushed the door open, Andy was standing right outside.

“Ethan, what are you doing here?”

I cast a glance at him and walked straight past.

Andy hurried after me.

“I got lost again. Could you drive me to the kindergarten?”

“No.”

I turned him down point-blank and started the engine.

To my surprise, he jumped right on the hood of my car.

“Please, Ethan, today is my son’s first day of school. I promised Ruth I’d pick him up with her.”

Having no other choice, I let him into the car.

“Let me show you a photo of us taken a couple of days ago.”

Andy said, holding his phone up in front of my face.

My eyes remained glued to the road ahead.

“Don’t distract me while I’m driving.”

But he refused to back down, pressing on relentlessly from the passenger seat.

“Are you scared to see how happy we are? Worried you won’t be able to suppress your jealousy?”

His voice suddenly spiked in volume:

“Ethan, weren’t it for you, Ruth and I would have gotten back together ages ago.

“You’re just the rebound guy. It is me who she loves. This is proof.”

He thrust his phone in my face once again.

On the screen, Ruth was wearing a pure white wedding gown, kissing Andy beneath snow-capped mountains.

When we were preparing for our wedding, she had crossed wedding photos off the list without hesitation.

She had said then:

“Taking wedding photos is such a hassle, and a waste of time. They just end up collecting dust at home.

“We can generate some using AI. Nobody will be able to tell.”

I felt a momentary daze.

He was right. It was hard cold proof she had no love for me.

A blaring horn snapped me back to reality.

I nearly rear-ended the car in front of me.

I flipped the turn signal and pulled over to the curb.

“Get out!”

Andy stepped out, the corners of his lips curling into a smug, triumphant smirk.

That evening, I was packing at the hotel, preparing for the flight early next morning. I wanted to arrive early and settle in before school started.

A police officer knocked on my room door:

“Mr. Fuller, we received a report claiming Andy Schmidt’s disappearance is related to you. Please come with us for a little talk.”

Ruth stood behind the officer, her eyes landing on me with a bone-chilling coldness.

“Ethan! You knew damn well that Andy has zero sense of direction, yet you dumped him out of the car in an unfamiliar neighborhood and left him stranded!

“I can’t reach his phone, and we’ve searched everywhere in vain.

“If you have any issues, take them out on me. Why go after Andy?”

I knitted my brows at them.

“Andy was the one who insisted I drive him to the kindergarten so he could pick up his son.

“Where he got off was barely a hundred yards from the kindergarten.”

Sean let out a sneering laugh.

“If you’re going to lie, at least come up with something believable. School doesn’t start until next week!

“Ethan, haven’t you pranked Andy enough times over the years? How nasty of you!”

“I’m lying? I pranked him?”

My throat constricted, a sense of powerlessness spreading through my chest.

“Were it not for a guilty conscience, why would you hide out in a hotel?”

Ruth asked as she tried to suppress her rage.

“Stop arguing for a second. Finding Andy is the priority now.”

The police officer’s reminder jarred Ruth to her senses.

She grabbed me roughly and dragged me outside.

Her movement was so violent that it tore sharply at my surgical wound.

My foot slipped, sending me crashing to the ground.

As if completely blind to my deathly pale face, she shoved me toward the roadside.

“Before we can find Andy, don’t even think about going home!”

Enduring the stabbing pain, I dragged my weak, limping frame along the curb, inching forward one agonizing step at a time.