Death Demands Justice

On Valentine's night, my father-in-law, Robert Stone, was deliberately run over again and again until he died.

My wife, Vivian Stone, one of the city's top internists, was using every connection she had to produce a psychiatric evaluation for the killer.

When I took the killer to court, she finally answered my call.

"Julian's brother didn't mean to hit and run. He's young. Of course he panicked when something happened."

"Julian and I will take him to Dad's grave to apologize. Tell your father to transfer hospitals quickly. Don't let him die in my hospital and bring bad luck here."

I looked at Robert lying lifeless on the hospital bed and suddenly laughed.

No wonder she had refused to come to the hospital for surgery.

She thought the man in the accident was my father.

I had just hung up when my wife, Vivian Stone, arrived with Julian Blake and his younger brother.

Julian looked at the body under the white sheet with open contempt.

"Nathan, if you ask me, that old man wasn't going to live long anyway. You've been harassing Vivian over a dead man on purpose. You're just trying to make trouble for us."

Julian's brother, Caleb Blake, was even worse. He stepped onto the mortuary gurney without a hint of shame, then spat on the body.

"Exactly. If the dead thing couldn't stay alive, that's on him. I didn't do it on purpose. Why are you being so petty, Nathan?"

Fury surged through me. I tried to stop him, but Vivian stepped in front of me and said impatiently, "Julian and his brother are only telling the truth. The man's already dead. There's no need to drag this to court."

I looked at Vivian and suddenly felt as if I didn't know her at all.

From the moment my father-in-law, Robert Stone, was hit until now, Vivian hadn't asked a single question.

When I kept messaging her to come save him, she was busy forging a psychiatric certificate for the killer, Caleb Blake.

She had even used special channels to get Caleb released on bail after he had already been taken into police custody.

I thought she had lost her mind because she was obsessed with Julian. I thought that was why she could be this heartless.

I hadn't expected that she thought the victim was my father.

It was so absurd I almost laughed.

Caleb looked at me with smug provocation.

"Nathan, hurry up and sign the letter of forgiveness. That way, Vivian won't have to keep working so hard to get me cleared.

"Do you know how much she's sacrificed to help me? If you issue the forgiveness letter yourself, it'll be better for everyone."

When Vivian saw that I didn't respond, disgust filled her eyes.

"He's just jealous of Julian. He never thinks about me.

"Honestly, a man like your father deserved to be killed."

My fists clenched.

"My father never wronged you. Don't slander him with that filthy mouth."

Vivian ignored me completely. She took out the forgiveness letter and said, "Sign it. If you're smart, I'll give your father a decent funeral. Otherwise, don't blame me for being cruel."

Julian immediately leaned in with fake enthusiasm.

"Vivian, why don't we just dump the body near the hospital garbage site?

"It can be cremated with the trash. Maybe the ashes can even be reused. At least he'd still contribute something to the world.

"What do you think, Nathan?"

Vivian rolled her eyes at me.

"He should thank you for being merciful."

Then she paid someone to have the body transported beside the garbage site.

I tried to stop them, but Julian and Caleb pinned me to the ground.

I watched Robert's body being casually placed beside the trash and felt sorrow for him.

Vivian lost her mother at birth. Her father had raised her all by himself.

Even when he suffered heatstroke carrying bricks on construction sites, he still paid for Vivian to finish her doctorate.

And now?

Vivian wouldn't even give him a simple funeral.

There was a sharp slap.

Caleb actually kicked Robert's body into the garbage pile.

Pinching his nose, he pretended to be shocked.

"Oops, I didn't watch where I was stepping. You won't be mad, right, Nathan?"

I had just opened my mouth when Vivian glared at me.