“If you don’t want to admit your mistakes, then forget it, Yoseph. But why torture Janet like this? You know how much she suffered back when Mr. Gardner was around. He’s gone now and the Gardner Family’s assets have long been sold. What’s the point of dragging this out?”
After saying that, Hector gently held Janet’s hand and added, “Let them out, before something really happens to the child and we become actual criminals. I don’t think Yoseph has ever seen people like us as anything more than dirt…”
Hector’s words only fueled Janet’s fury.
Her eyes burned with rage as she cursed and barked, “Lower the cold storage temperature to minus 148 degrees! Now!”
The people behind her, stunned by her outburst, didn’t dare argue.
Without hesitation, they adjusted the temperature.
A sharp, freezing wind blew from the vent and slammed against my body like knives. I was so cold I couldn’t form full sentences, my teeth clattered uncontrollably.
As my mind started to blur, I suddenly noticed something was wrong. My daughter, curled in my arms, had stopped moving.
I forced myself to lean over and look at her face. The purplish tint on her skin had faded into a ghostly pale.
Her weak, shallow breaths had gone completely still, like the surface of dead water.
I let out a broken wail and slammed the ice wall in front of me with trembling hands, over and over.
Each strike reopened my wounds, sending fresh blood dripping onto the frozen floor.
Blood trickled down the ice wall. In the freezing cold storage, the crimson stood out like fire.
Soon, it melted the ice near me and seeped through the cracks.
I pointed at my daughter in my arms and screamed at Janet outside, “Janet! Let me out! My child, please!”
Janet was still glaring at me with anger, until the blood reached her feet. Her gaze dropped to the limp head of her daughter in my arms.
Panic consumed her. She grabbed the person nearest to her and shrieked, “The key! Bring me the key to the cold storage! Didn’t the doctor say it was safe? How did this happen?!”
Someone handed her the key, but her hands were trembling too much. It slipped and landed near Hector’s feet.
She clutched his arm, desperate. “Hector! Hurry! Open the door! Get Yoseph and my daughter out now!”
Startled by Janet’s breakdown, Hector didn’t even bother with his shoes. He bolted toward the door.
I watched as he reached the lock, his back to Janet. He inserted the key slowly.
Then he turned around, and in that moment, I saw it. A smile twisted with hatred and smugness flashed across his face.
