My grip twisted tighter, forcing him down. "Now you understand."
"Diego! Don't drag an innocent family into this!" Kianna shrieked.
"Oh? Then my mother deserved to be paralyzed, is that it?" I spat sarcastically.
Without a shred of mercy, I shoved Carlos into the pool. Blood from the knife smeared across Kianna's dress.
The sudden chaos left everyone frozen, too afraid to intervene.
She called me a lunatic, but behind her fury, those eyes... trembled with something else.
"Crazy?" I sneered. "Isn't this exactly what you've been pushing me toward?"
From the moment I stepped into this gathering, she had been provoking me.
I had fought against Kianna for so long that I could barely remember what it felt like when we once loved each other.
On the day she proposed to me, I sold her company's confidential documents.
On the day I agreed to marry her, she hired someone to pull the oxygen tube from my mother's mouth.
When I was in a car accident and sent abroad for treatment, hooked up to countless tubes, she came. She lifted my oxygen mask herself, bit down on the corner of my lips, and whispered:
“Diego, if you die... in the next life, marry me. Let’s stop tormenting each other, okay?”
My body almost collapsed from lack of oxygen, but her eyes searched mine, full of pleading.
I shook my head. "There is no next life for us."
At the hospital, she rolled up her sleeve.
"We're the same blood type. Take mine. If it's not enough, take it all."
When she finally staggered out of the blood-draw room, she was barely standing. She grabbed my shoulder, as if to force her sincerity into me.
"Diego, did you see? I know how to love now."
"Sis, you gave too much blood. You're not thinking clearly. Let me help you." Natalia reached out, but Kianna shoved her aside.
"Get lost! I'm not delirious."
She turned to me again, eyes blazing. "Did you see? I know how to love! I can pick anyone at random and love them with all I have! Don't you get it yet?"
...
Red and blue police lights flashed against our faces.
I pushed her toward Natalia, brushing at my shoulder where she'd touched me. My damn obsession with cleanliness was acting up again.
"The police are here. Go give your statement. His medical bills—I'll cover them."
Her voice softened, almost pleading. "Diego, I'll beg this once—let's let each other go."
I didn't answer.
Actually, I had already let her go, two years ago.
At the station, they separated us into two interrogation rooms.
After finishing my statement, I sat silently, listening to the muffled voices from the next room.
"Sis, you can fool others, but not me. This is just another trick, isn't it? You know he'll never marry you, so you chose to marry Carlos instead—just to disgust him."
"What about Carlos then? Oh right, Carlos is so obedient. Even if you made him the side piece, he'd still agree."
"I'm serious. But until he accepts me, I won't cut ties with Carlos. He's young. If I suddenly pushed him away, he wouldn't be able to take it."
"Sis... do you think Diego might overhear?"
Silence stretched for a long while before Kianna finally answered.
"If he heard us, he'd storm in and slap us both across the face. The fact that he hasn't come means he didn't hear a thing."
I lowered my head, lips curving in amusement, and made a call.
"Come pick me up."
Ten minutes later, a police officer opened the door.
"Diego, your family is here to take you home."
"Thank you." I nodded.
"Just sign here and you're free to go."
On my way out, I passed by their room.
"Family?" Natalia scoffed. "Isn't his only family a paralyzed mother? What, she miraculously cured now?"
"Probably a friend," she replied.
Natalia couldn't resist. She laughed, pushed open the door, and called out sweetly, "Officer, who came to pick up Diego just now?"
