He Covered for My Parents' Killer, Then Lost Me

Chapter 3

The hospital room reeked of disinfectant, the sharp smell pressing on Freya's chest until she could barely breathe.

She looked at William, her voice full of despair.

"You did this, didn't you?"

Who else but him could have wiped the scene clean in such a short time?

Who else would have protected that vicious woman, Greta, no matter the cost?

William looked at her in silence, his gaze deep and unreadable, but he did not answer.

The next second, he turned and brought over a gift box.

When he opened it, a pink diamond necklace lay inside, dazzling and cruelly bright.

It was the very one he had once promised to give her on their wedding anniversary.

He lifted a hand and gently stroked Freya's hair. His voice even sounded tender.

"It's already been decided. No matter how much you make a fuss, you won't change the outcome. Your parents aren't coming back. Since things have already come to this, Freya, let it end here. From now on, we'll be each other's only family. Stay by my side, and I'll spend the rest of my life making it up to you. Don't keep fighting this, all right?"

Holding that heavy gift box, Freya felt as if a gaping hole had been torn open in her chest, with cold wind rushing endlessly through it.

Suddenly, she thought of what had happened two years earlier.

Back then, a stray cat she had taken in was killed by a corrupt pet hospital.

William had flown into a rage and forced that clinic to shut down.

That crooked vet had even dragged himself before her on a broken arm and knelt to apologize.

But now, the dead were her own parents.

And all he could say was, "Let it go."

Freya closed her eyes and fought to hold back the sob rising in her throat.

"William, let's get divor..."

But her hoarse voice and William's voice answering the phone sounded at almost the same time.

"Greta, why are you crying?"

He had not heard a single word she said.

In the next second, he turned and rushed out of the room.

He was in such a hurry that the button on his cuff caught in Freya's hair and ripped out a whole strand, roots and all.

A searing pain shot across her scalp.

But that pain was not even one ten-thousandth of what was tearing through her heart.

Numbly, Freya took out the divorce papers she had already prepared and followed him out.

From behind the corner of the wall, Greta's sugary voice drifted into her ears, every word perfectly clear.

"I just bought that emerald necklace worth eighty million dollars, and then I saw a beggar on the street corner. He looked so pitiful. William, when I think about how miserable people like that are, and then remember how I threw away the pink diamond necklace you gave me just because I was mad at you... was I being too childish?"

William chuckled softly as he coaxed her, his voice maddeningly gentle.

"Of course not. You've always been kind. That necklace wasn't worthy of you. That's its problem. Trash belongs in the trash."

Freya froze.

So this was the man she had loved for six years.

Even the gift he had used to compensate her was just discarded trash Greta did not want.

In William's eyes, fighting for justice for her parents made her unreasonable.

And yet Greta had two lives on her hands, and he could still call her kind.

Only at that moment did Freya finally understand completely.

The difference between love and not being loved was just that obvious.

When William hung up, Freya finally walked out calmly.

She turned the divorce agreement to the last page and held out the blank signature line to him.

William frowned.

"What's this?"

Freya smiled.

It was the kind of smile that came from someone whose heart had already died. The more she smiled, the more tears spilled from her eyes.

"I promise you, I won't make a fuss anymore. But one necklace isn't enough. I want you to transfer the mansion downtown, the one worth three hundred million dollars, into my name."

William visibly relaxed.

He did not think twice, and he did not suspect a thing. Picking up the pen, he quickly signed his name.

After signing, he even reached out and pulled Freya into his arms, his voice tinged with affection.

"Honey, I love you."

A tear slipped from the corner of Freya's eye.

'But William, I no longer dare to love you. All I want now is to divorce you as quickly as possible, erase my identity, and leave you forever.'

In the days that followed, William stayed by her side almost every moment, as though he were trying to make it up to her.

Even though her body was already fine, he still arranged a full physical examination for her and insisted that she remain in the hospital.