My younger brother had just fallen into the flotation tank when I rushed to the control panel to find Olivia Carter for help.
I banged frantically on the glass door, but Olivia was immersed in playful chatter with her male assistant.
“Yes, that’s the right way to operate it. The machine will start running…”
She patiently instructed him, even indulging the assistant as he pushed the machine’s speed to the maximum.
That decision cost her brother his life on the spot.
I screamed until my voice went hoarse, but it wasn’t until half an hour later that Olivia finally walked out with an intern.
“Ms. Carter, someone’s dead!”
The assistant, drenched in sweat, dropped to his knees in panic before Olivia.
“Someone accidentally fell into the flotation tank, and that person is… is your husband’s younger brother!”
Olivia gave me a cold glance.
“He was short-lived. You can’t blame anyone else.”
I rasped at her, “Before running the machine, didn’t you think to check if anyone was below? I’ve been shouting for so long, and you didn’t hear a single word?”
The male assistant, Ryan Lee, instantly reddened with guilt.
“It’s all my fault. I was too clumsy…”
Olivia frowned in distress.
“Enough, Ryan isn’t to blame for this.”
She casually tossed me a check for one million dollars.
“Go buy a burial suit for your brother and handle the funeral arrangements.”
“But in pieces like this, I doubt you’ll even recover a body.”
She wrapped her arm around the young assistant and headed out shopping for new clothes. Watching her back, I froze.
No wonder she was so calm—she thought it was my brother who had died.
I sneered and handed the check back to the assistant.
“Tell Ms. Carter to prepare the funeral herself. I won’t be spending this money.”
…
With that, Olivia left the factory with Ryan.
They drove away in a luxury car, leaving clouds of dust in their wake, unaware that blood was already seeping from the industrial mixer they had just operated.
The assistant, sweating heavily, looked at me with sympathy.
“Sir, my condolences. Factories often have accidents like this—nobody ever wants it to happen…”
I shook my head. “Go back to work.”
The one who had died wasn’t my brother at all—it was Daniel Carter, Olivia’s younger brother.
Because I’d once brought him to the plant, and since he was timid and afraid of rumors about being his sister’s secret lover, he pretended to be my brother for convenience. Everyone believed it.
But Olivia, hearing of his death, wasn’t just indifferent—she even seemed a little gloating.
A man had just died in her factory, and all she could think about was strolling with her assistant.
My heart turned to ice. If she wouldn’t care about her own brother’s death, why should I bother?
When Olivia came back later, Ryan was right behind her in a see-through shirt.
“Ms. Carter, you really dared to bring me home in broad daylight. Aren’t you worried your husband will be angry? What game are we playing tonight?”
Olivia eagerly caressed his chest. “That depends on you.”
As they entered the house and leaned in for a kiss, they froze the moment they saw me sitting in the living room, sipping coffee.
“Michael Carter, what are you doing here?”
Olivia’s face twisted with embarrassment. She stared at me in shock.
“There’s been a death at the factory, and instead of handling it, you’re here drinking coffee?”
Why shouldn’t I drink coffee?
Since the funeral wasn’t my responsibility, and no one in her family cared, why should I, as the brother-in-law, shoulder the burden?
I shrugged.
“What else should I be doing, Olivia? Do you think I deserve to exhaust myself for your company while you flirt and cozy up with your assistant here?”
