All Chapters of My Father Died Waiting, But She Saved Childhood Sweetheart’s Dog First: Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

10 Chapters

第1章

Vanessa glanced down at the mud-streaked notice. She didn't take it. She took half a step back instead, as if it were a piece of filthy garbage."Ethan, are you done throwing your tantrum?"She frowned impatiently, her flawless makeup absurd against the wreckage behind her. "You're trying to scare me with some fake document you had printed at a copy shop? I told you, Julian's dog is claustrophobic. It had to be moved first. Can't you even tell what matters more?"I looked at the page lying in the mud by her heel. My throat felt packed with broken glass.I didn't pick it up, and I didn't look at her again. I turned and walked toward the tent of the field medical station."Stop right there! I'm not finished!"Behind me, Vanessa laughed coldly. "Don't think threatening me with divorce will make me cave. When the rain lets up, I'll go get your father myself and put him in the best care home there is. Happy now?"She thought this was some jealous power game.She thought one small handout wo

第2章

I stared at that cold line of text, and whatever warmth was left in my eyes drained away.My father wasn't even cold yet. She wouldn't spare one question about how he was doing, and she was already rushing to strip away the last of his dignity to please Julian's dog.I didn't reply. I put the phone in my pocket, gathered my father's belongings, and walked out of the medical station.The next day it was still raining.The corridor of the funeral home was cold and damp.An attendant stood there with a clipboard, confusion and pity in his eyes. "Sir, is it just you at the viewing? This man was a fire hero. Isn't there any other family coming to see him off?""Just me."My own voice sounded so calm it was strange to me."Then please settle the funeral fee at the window, and confirm which urn you want."I went to the payment window and handed over the bank card that held my father's compensation fund.The money in it had been donated from all over after the fire. He had never been willing t

第3章

The top-floor ballroom of the Seine Grand Hotel was all colored lights and liquor, the heat turned up high.Compared to the drowning city outside, it was another world.In a black coat soaked through with rain, holding a plain black wooden box against my chest, I pushed open the heavy doors.Dead silence dropped over the room.The music cut off, and every eye turned to me, the uninvited guest who did not belong there.Vanessa was standing beside Julian with a glass of champagne.Julian had the golden retriever in his arms, washed clean, her coat fluffed out.Vanessa's face darkened the moment she saw me. She crossed the floor fast in her heels and hissed at me under her breath. "Ethan, have you lost your mind? Showing up dressed like that to embarrass me? And what's that ratty box you're holding? Who is the act for!"She didn't recognize it as an urn at all.I looked at her perfect face and felt like I was looking at a stranger."This is something Dad left for you."I freed one hand, t

第4章

I didn't look at the torn paper on the floor, and I ignored the mocking stares around me.Perfectly calm, I took the divorce papers she had already stepped on out of my inside pocket and held them out to her again."You'd better sign this now."My voice was flat, and it landed exactly on the nerve of her need to be in control.She blanked for a second, then went furious with humiliation.She snatched the papers, tore them in half in front of everyone, and threw them in my face."Big man now, Ethan? You really think I won't divorce you?"She jabbed a finger at my face and shouted, "You live off me, and now you have the nerve to hold divorce over my head?"Right on cue, Julian proposed a punishment of his own. "Vanessa, if he's so tough, pull his family pass for the joint rescue drill next month. Otherwise he'll just show up and cause trouble."She agreed coldly, her eyes full of the pleasure of handing down punishment from above. "And cancel every one of his supplementary credit cards."

第5章

The ballroom stayed silent for a full three seconds. Then Julian burst out laughing without any restraint."Vanessa, did the shock finally break his brain?""Aegis withdrawal? Does he think he's in a movie?" Julian doubled over laughing, and the dog in his arms barked twice along with him.The shock on Vanessa's face turned quickly into deep disdain. She folded her arms and looked at me coldly. "Ethan, you get more repulsive by the day. You'll put on a ridiculous show like this just to get my attention. Are you leaving or not?"I didn't look at her again and didn't explain a thing. I held my father's urn, turned, and walked back out through those gilded doors.As the doors closed behind me, the music roared back to life inside.Outside the rain was still coming down in sheets. I opened a black umbrella and walked into it.Cold water ran off the ribs of the umbrella, and my heart was strangely calm.Three years of lying to myself washed away in that moment.Ten minutes later I was in th

第6章

Over the next forty-eight hours, Vanessa's world came apart for real.She tried to work the contacts she had built over the years for any word from inside Aegis, and found that the partners who used to flatter her now avoided her like something venomous.Without Aegis funding and the exclusive equipment licenses, her title of rescue dispatch director became a worthless joke overnight.She had to move out of her luxury apartment, because the rent had been paid through the foundation's books, and the accounts were sealed.While she was scrambling and trying to blame it all on the cruelty of money, her phone rang again.This time it was an unfamiliar landline."Am I speaking with a family member of Mr. Warren Cole?"The voice on the other end was brisk and official. "This is the county Office of Vital Records. The hospital has filed Mr. Cole's death certificate, and we need a family member to come in and close out his records."Her breath stopped. Her pupils shrank to points."What did yo

第7章

Vanessa drifted back to the budget hotel like a ghost.She opened the door to find Julian shoving clothes into a suitcase.The golden retriever was shut in a crate, barking in agitation."What are you doing?"Her voice came out like sandpaper.Julian jumped, and when he turned and saw her, panic flickered in his eyes before he put on a righteous face. "Vanessa, good timing.""The hotel keeps chasing the balance for that party. Go settle it.""I need to take Baby out of town until this blows over. Your dispatch scandal is all over the internet, and I don't want it dragging me down."Vanessa looked at the childhood sweetheart she had sacrificed her savior and betrayed her husband for, and the whole thing struck her as absurd."You don't want it dragging you down?"She laughed coldly. "Julian, you were the one crying and screaming that your dog was claustrophobic. You pushed me into sending that medical boat for you!""Now that it's blown up, you want to just walk away?"Julian raised his

第8章

I saw Vanessa on the cemetery steps three days after my father was buried.She looked hollowed out, her hair stuck to her cheeks in strings, wearing a wrinkled coat, with nothing left of the polish and arrogance she used to carry.When she saw me coming down, she scrambled to me and dropped hard onto the stone, both knees hitting at once."Ethan! Ethan, I was wrong!"She clung to my legs and sobbed as if something inside her were tearing apart. "I swear I didn't know your father was that sick that day... I thought you were just picking a fight with me.""Julian lied to me. He used the fact that I felt sorry for him! Forgive me, please?""I'll spend the rest of my life making it up to you. I'll do anything, anything at all..."With trembling hands she held the taped-up letter out to me, as if it were the last thing that could save her.I stopped and looked down at her.Once, I had imagined this a thousand times, her bowing her head, actually facing what I felt.But now that the moment h

第9章

A month later the sky finally cleared for good.Under the lights of the downtown convention center, a national charitable rescue fund was formally announced.As its lead founder and the founder of Aegis Capital, I stood on the stage in a well-cut black suit and gave the address."Real rescue work should never be hijacked by anyone's private interests.""Every piece of equipment and every dollar has to go to the lives that need it most."Applause thundered, and countless cameras turned toward me.Meanwhile, outside, Vanessa stood in the packed crowd in faded old clothes, staring blankly at the composed, confident version of me on the big screen.She knew now that the mysterious owner who had given her every privilege and stripped it all away in one night really was the husband she had treated like dirt.The status she was so proud of had been nothing but a sandcastle I built for her without much thought.When she smashed its foundation herself, of course the whole thing blew away.The s

第10章

The car ran smoothly along the elevated freeway.I watched the skyline slide backward outside the window and let out a long breath.My assistant handed me a file. "Mr. Cole, this is the latest report on the Reid and Marsh cases."I took it and flipped through it.Julian had been formally charged with extortion and with taking part in the misuse of public funds.The relief party he had been so proud of was now hard evidence against him.Vanessa, meanwhile, was facing enormous damages for breach of contract, and criminal charges as well, for dereliction of duty with grave consequences.I heard that in the detention center she scratched my name into the wall with her fingernails every day, and that she was close to breaking down completely.But I didn't care anymore."File it. Don't bring me anything about them again."I handed the file back, calm."Yes, Mr. Cole."That weekend I drove back to my hometown alone.There was no city noise there, only green hills in every direction and clean

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