I didn’t wait for Grace. Instead, I ran into a serial killer.
He wasn’t after money or desire; he only wanted my life.
I begged desperately, struggling and crying, asking him why.
He sneered, then smashed my head hard against the ground.
“Why?”
“Because you deserve it. You deserve to die!”
“You ruined someone’s family, and now you’ll pay!”
From his broken words, I slowly pieced together what had happened.
Zachary had spread rumors online, claiming I abused my power and bullied others.
He broke his leg on the way home from work.
He said I pushed him down the stairs on purpose because I was in a bad mood.
He cheated, and when his wife confronted him,
he claimed that I was jealous of his looks and hired people to humiliate him.
On top of that, he even wrote—
“The lady of that house glanced at me, and he thought I was trying to seduce her.”
“He not only threatened to kill me, but said he’d destroy my whole family.”
“I was terrified and didn’t know what to do.”
“Do the poor really deserve to be trampled like this?”
His story was full of flaws. Few people should have believed it.
But Grace stood up for him.
She said I had been spoiled and willful since childhood, growing worse with age.
Relying on the Whitman family’s power and her favor, I had done many evil things.
She even provided piles of so-called evidence.
I knew she was angry over our breakup.
I knew she never truly wanted me dead.
But it was this so-called evidence that cost me my life.
The murderer, who saw himself as justice incarnate, chose to avenge Zachary.
He grabbed my throat and snarled,
“I never kill the innocent. But you—your crimes are unforgivable!”
“Tonight, I’ll let you taste what it’s like to be humiliated and crushed!”
He didn’t kill me right away.
Instead, he tortured me slowly.
He smashed both my legs with a hammer.
He said he wanted me to feel the deepest pain before death.
So I could keep repenting in hell.
Blood streamed across the ground and into the silent night.
In the deserted villa, no one could hear my screams.
In fact, I once had a chance to live.
Because that day was my twentieth birthday.
Grace had promised me,
“I know your birthday is the day you miss home the most.”
“So I’ll spend every birthday with you.”
“Samuel, I’ll never leave you alone.”
When the clock struck twelve,
Grace knocked on my door, carrying a cake.
Inside it was a carefully prepared gift.
Hidden inside was the ring she planned to use to propose to me.
She wanted to apologize and make up with me.
But by then, nearly every bone in my body was broken.
I couldn’t open the door for her.
I couldn’t accept her love anymore.
The murderer saw Grace through the peephole and smiled cruelly.
“You rich people—every one of you is rotten.”
“If she hadn’t indulged him, he wouldn’t be so arrogant.”
“If she dares step through this door, I’ll kill her too and bury you together!”
He stood by the door, axe in hand, ready to strike at any moment.
If only I had asked her for help, then…
