A strange thrill stirred in my chest.
If the police came and discovered that the real murderer of my son was this deranged man himself, what kind of face would Daniel Brooks make then?
I nodded, pretending indifference.
Suddenly, Daniel raised his hand and smashed Jason’s beloved Spider-Man action figure against the floor.
It shattered into pieces, fragments scattering everywhere.
It felt as though my son had been torn from me all over again.
I lost all reason in that moment. My body surged forward instinctively, desperate to snatch back the toy my son had cherished most.
When Jason was afraid at night, he hugged Spider-Man and declared he was a brave little man.
When Jason made mistakes, he pulled Spider-Man close and apologized with earnest sincerity.
Even on the night before the tragedy, he had held the figure, pretending it was his father by his side.
And now, Daniel had destroyed the last vessel of all those memories.
I screamed and lunged at him. He mistook my fury for guilt and gripped me even harder.
Chloe Miller clung to Daniel’s arm, pretending to hold him back.
“Daniel, stop it—don’t hit her, please!”
But in the same moment, she pressed her heel down on the shards of plastic, grinding them viciously into the floor. Her lips curled as she leaned closer, whispering so only I could hear:
“What a pity. Just like your son—dead.”
I snapped, slapping her across the face with all my strength.
The sound rang sharp in the air. The next thing I saw was Daniel’s enraged eyes blazing at me.
“She’s pregnant! How dare you lay a hand on her?”
“You’ve defied me again and again, Emma Carter. This time, you’ll learn the consequences!”
He seized a heavy vase from the table and brought it down hard on my head.
The world spun. Darkness swallowed me. Just before I lost consciousness, I saw Jason smiling at me, waving as if to welcome me.
Am I finally going to be with him again? That would be… so wonderful…
But time passed. A sharp, brutal strike jolted me back to awareness.
I blinked, dazed, and realized I was hanging in the middle of a shadowy forest. The air was damp, the woods silent except for the eerie echo of my own screams.
“Help me! Someone, please help me!”
Only the hollow reverberations answered.
From the distance, pairs of glowing animal eyes flickered between the trees, sending shivers crawling down my spine.
I reached for my phone to call Grace Johnson—only to find my pockets empty.
I cried until my throat was raw. Hunger gnawed at me, cold soaked into my bones. I prayed desperately for a miracle.
Then pain shot through me—something sharp and jagged clamped hard around my left foot.
I shrieked.
“What—what is this?!”
A cold voice cut through the night.
“Awake, are you?”
I looked down. Chloe was crouched there, her hands pressing firmly against the steel jaws of a hunting trap clamped around my leg, her eyes glinting with malice.
“This is Daniel’s punishment for you,” she sneered.
“For smearing me online and hiring trolls to insult me.”
“You probably didn’t know, did you? When your family booked a trip, Daniel purposely chose my lodge. But he felt embarrassed to bring you along, so he decided he’d rather come back alone later to see me.”
Her voice grew sharp with hatred.
“I wanted to be a gracious host, to show myself at my best. But your brat couldn’t stop boasting about how amazing his father was.”
She leaned in, her tone dripping venom.
“Did you know? Even after your marriage, Daniel and I kept meeting in secret. He told me he married you only because you trapped him with that pregnancy. He never wanted you.”
Her face twisted with resentment. And yet, deep inside, I felt no ripple, no shock.
Her fury, her venom—it was because she loved Daniel Brooks.
