"I worry about her working so hard on the case every day, and in the end, showing concern for her makes me the villain!"
If this were before, I might have thought Caroline didn’t want to return to the old house just to protect me. But now, knowing the truth, I couldn’t feel anything at all.
She didn’t want to go home because she didn’t want to deal with Karl in the guise of being my sister. She didn’t want me to mention the murder case in front of everyone and risk embarrassing Karl.
A chorus of voices echoed, praising Karl for taking such good care of her. They marveled at how youthful she still looked, despite traveling the world and enduring all sorts of hardships.
I was left standing at the door, forgotten in the cold.
The wind swept past me just as Caroline arrived. She wrapped her arms around me and lovingly touched the tip of my nose.
"Why are you standing out here? Did your parents scold you again?"
When Caroline entered, my mother-in-law softened her tone immediately. "How could I scold the eldest son of the Crow Family? Your husband is too precious. Please, go upstairs and rest."
Karl, ever the actor, feigned concern. "Mom, I’ve booked dinner at the hotel. It should be here soon. You should rest, don’t worry about any of this."
Carol’s relatives surrounded him, praising his thoughtfulness, while I was left to fade into the background.
Caroline gently pushed me into the bedroom to rest.
I turned around to explain to my mother-in-law that I was feeling unwell, hoping she wouldn’t take my behavior the wrong way.
But Carol’s relatives couldn’t care less. They weren’t interested in me. They were too busy praising Karl for being such a good son-in-law. Every few moments, I could hear their laughter, each burst of sound making the air feel even more suffocating.
When I finally tried to leave and find some peace, Karl appeared out of nowhere, his smile growing more smug when he saw my pale face.
"Long time no see, old classmate," he said with a mocking tone.
"Five years have passed, and you still don’t recognize me?"
He paused for a moment before adding, "By the way, I have to thank you. If you hadn’t taken me home that night, I wouldn’t have found my enemy."
I clenched my fists, my entire body stiff with cold fury as I glared at him.
"Enemy?" I spat, my voice thick with rage. "What do you mean by that? What did my parents ever do to you that justified you going to such lengths to dismember them and kill them so cruelly?!"
In front of me, Karl dropped the pretense, his expression turning vicious.
"Sorry to you?" he sneered. "You should be asking them how they're sorry to me! If it weren't for them, my father's company wouldn't have gone bankrupt, and he wouldn't have been driven to jump off a building. You destroyed everything I had, and now I'm just taking revenge. Can't stand it?"
His words stabbed through me like daggers.
"Why," he continued, his voice dripping with malice, "are you so uncomfortable seeing the real murderer—the one who killed your parents—standing right in front of you, without retribution?"
He paused, a twisted grin spreading across his face.
"Speaking of which, I owe a lot to your fiancée and wife. If it weren't for them, I wouldn’t be living so well today."
The words hit like a freight train. Before I could process what he said, Karl added, "Before your father died, he was still thinking about you, his son. I even have a video of him begging for mercy. Want to see it? Kneel down and beg me."
The horrifying images of my parents’ tragic end flashed before my eyes. My heart raced, and a red-hot fury surged through me. Without thinking, I swung my fist at him.
The blow landed with a sickening thud.
But instead of anger, Karl only laughed—his laugh cold, detached. With the force of my punch, he staggered backward, falling hard to the ground.
Before I could even react, I felt a sharp pain in my chest.
Caroline, having rushed in, had kicked me squarely in the heart. The sheer force of her strike, honed by years of training, left me gasping and crumpling to the floor in humiliation.
She then crouched down, gathering Karl into her arms, her gaze full of fury as she glared at me.
"Victor, what the hell are you doing? Are you insane?" she shouted, her voice laced with venom. "Karl was just trying to call you to dinner, and you hit him?"
The sound of footsteps echoed, and Carol’s relatives appeared, eyes full of contempt as they glared at me, wishing they could stab me with their gazes.
Karl, weakly propped up in her arms, began to sob, playing his part perfectly.
"Caroline," he whined, "I'm sorry... I just wanted to apologize to Victor for the misunderstanding from five years ago... I never thought he'd suddenly... do this..."
