A psychiatric patient from Rockville had escaped, kidnapping every child from my daughter’s kindergarten.
My husband, the chief negotiator, promised me again and again before stepping inside that he would save our daughter no matter what.
I waited outside, trembling with anxiety for three endless hours, only to see him emerge carrying his first love’s daughter in his arms.
“The negotiation failed. I only had time to save Cassidy’s daughter…” he said breathlessly, before rushing toward the hospital without sparing me another glance.
A deafening explosion ripped through the kindergarten. My daughter was blown to pieces, not even a whole body left behind.
I screamed and stumbled forward, only to be crushed beneath a collapsing wall that shattered my spine and stole my last breath.
When I opened my eyes again, I found myself back at the moment before the negotiation.
Aidan Lewis swore again and again that he would definitely save our daughter.
I slapped him across the face and dialed my mercenary brother, Samson Sullivan. “Brother, I agree to divorce Aidan, but right now your niece needs you!”
——
“Kendall, what kind of nonsense are you talking?!”
Aidan held his stinging cheek, eyes dark with fury, and struck my phone to the ground.
“I already told you I’ll save our daughter. What more do you want from me?!”
“Even now, you’re still jealous, still clinging to pettiness?”
“Cassidy is part of our negotiation team. Without her, none of this can move forward!” Aidan’s tone was sharp, his expression growing colder.
My hands clenched tight, and just as I opened my mouth, Cassidy Jimenez walked over, her tight skirt swaying with each step.
“Kendall, this isn’t the time for jealousy. Thirty-six children are trapped inside that kindergarten, waiting for us!”
“Look at those parents outside, do you think it’s right to argue with Team Leader Aidan at a time like this?!”
With faint disdain glimmering in her eyes, Cassidy bent down carelessly, the movement exposing a hickey on her neck.
“Kendall, my daughter is in there too. I hope you can trust in our team’s ability.”
“We have enough experience. We will definitely save all the children!”
The moment I saw that hickey, nausea surged in my chest.
In my previous life, I had already received photos and videos of her and Aidan in indecent acts, and I had prepared the divorce papers.
But before I could hand them to him, news of the kindergarten incident broke.
Back then, I swallowed my pain and begged Aidan to save our daughter.
Even when the news came that some of the children had been killed, I knelt before Cassidy and pleaded with her.
I begged her to save my daughter, even promising that I would let her and Aidan be together.
Her response was a cold sneer.
“Who needs your permission?”
“Team Leader Aidan has always been mine. For the past few years, you’ve only been keeping him warm in bed for me!”
Disgusting memories flooded my mind. I stepped forward and slapped her across the face.
“Get out!”
“I don’t agree to you joining the negotiation!”
“I demand a different team!”
After shouting, I bent down to pick up my phone, only to see that the call had already been cut off.
As I tried to dial again, someone seized my hand tightly.
“Kendall, you’ve gone too far this time!”
“Apologize to Cassidy immediately!”
My wrist was gripped so hard it flushed red. The pain stung my eyes with tears, but I refused to back down.
In my previous life, before my daughter was blown apart in the kindergarten, she had called me once.
Her voice was trembling, cautious, filled with fear.
“Mom, the bad man lit the explosives. He said we’re all going to heaven.”
“Mom, he told Dad to choose which child to save, but he didn’t choose me…”
“Is it because I wasn’t good that Dad doesn’t like me?”
That voice, I could never forget it, even after death.
She was just a small child, yet because Aidan didn’t choose her, she blamed herself.
