The smile on Howard's face abruptly vanished the moment Sue mentioned me.
"Why bring her up? If she needed money, she could've just said so instead of staging a kidnapping stunt to extort me. And to drag you into this mess—unbelievable! She owes that principal dancer role to you! Stay at my place for now. I'll make sure she and Xander apologize to you and take good care of you."
He wrapped Sue into a protective embrace, his voice turning gentle. "Don't worry. I won't let you suffer in vain. I'll make sure Marlena and Xander pay for everything!"
With that, Howard took Sue home to confront us.
Upon finding that the house was empty, he complained, "Not only do they pull this nonsense, but now they don't even have the guts to come home!"
Just then, the shrill ring of his phone cut through his grumbling.
"Howard, I saw the news about a murder at the resort. The clothes they showed looked just like what Marlena was wearing when she left… She hasn't contacted me in three days. Do you think… something might've happened to her?"
Her cautious tone, strained like a taut wire, only provoked Howard further.
Already an impatient man, Howard barked into the phone, "What could possibly happen to a conniving woman like her? She'll outlive us all!"
Then, as if struck by a sudden realization, his voice grew colder, dripping with suspicion. "Wait. You're not calling to fish for information on Marlena's behalf, are you?"
Caught off guard, my mother stammered, trying to deny his accusation, but Howard didn't give her the chance. With a single motion, he hung up and blocked her number without hesitation.
Agitated, Howard paced around the house.
Sue followed behind him, gently tugging at his sleeve. "Maybe Marlena and Xander got upset because you only brought me along, so they asked Mrs. Anderson to check in. How about… I stop being a bother here and leave?"
Her tearful, pitiful expression tugged at Howard's heart. He immediately rushed around to prepare toiletries for her, even taking down the wedding photo to let Sue move into the master bedroom.
Suddenly, Howard's face flushed slightly.
"If I remember correctly, it's that time of the month for you. I've already made ginger tea and left it downstairs, and I bought your usual brand of sanitary pads. Don't touch cold water, and let me know if you need anything…"
Who would've thought Howard had such a gentle and thoughtful side?
How did he respond when I was in so much pain during my period that I couldn't get out of bed and begged him to make me a bowl of ginger tea just a while back?
"Can you stop already? Every time I'm about to see Sue, you come up with hundreds of excuses. You're not going to die from the pain. Just make the tea yourself later!"
After yelling, he slammed the door and left, taking a large bouquet of lilies to Sue's performance.
While he and Sue were taking intimate backstage photos, I fainted from the pain and was rushed to the hospital by Xander in the middle of the night.
As I was lost in those memories, a knock came at the door.
It was the police.
"A heinous murder case occurred in the city. The victims appear to be your wife and brother. Could you take a look at these photos?"
The officers held out several photos of bodies matching my and Xander's descriptions. The top photo clearly showed the butterfly tattoo on my arm.
I was confident that Howard would recognize us after seeing that.
I became frantic, floating around him, trying to give him hints. "It's me! Look closely at the photos of Xander and me!"
I wanted Howard to recognize us.
I wanted to know how Howard would feel if he realized it was his thoughtless decisions that led to the brutal murders of me and his brother.
Would he be devastated? Or would he just think there were two fewer people standing in the way of his everlasting happiness with Sue?
"Stop acting." Howard frowned and casually scattered the photos across the table without even glancing at them.
To him, our lives were utterly insignificant.
"Acting?" The police were bewildered by his reaction. "We're detectives from the city's Criminal Investigation Division. We've been trying to contact you but couldn't reach you, so we came to your house instead.
"This is a horrible case. The victims were wronged and died unjustly. We need the family's cooperation to solve the case—"
Howard impatiently interrupted, "If you were the police, why didn't you call me?"
They did. On the day the police found our bodies, they called him over a dozen times. But at that time, he was massaging Sue's feet and had turned off his phone.
"How much did Marlena pay you to pretend to be cops and go along with her act? If those were real kidnappers, how would Sue be perfectly fine right now?"
So, even now, Howard still believed I was faking everything…
The only reason Sue was unharmed was because he'd paid a ransom of ten million. As for Xander and I, two worthless people who couldn't bring in any money, we were tortured to death by the kidnappers as tools for venting their anger.
The excruciating pain of being mutilated still screamed in my soul.
The police, stunned, helplessly pulled out their badges to explain. "We really are detectives. The deaths of your wife and brother are tragic, but you can't avoid facing reality… Sir—"
The officer tried to say more, but Howard, his face dark, had already forced them out of the house.
Sue swept the photos into the trash before cautiously suggesting, "Howard, maybe you should go look for Marlena. What if something really happened to her…"
