Chapter 3

2.

My phone rang. It was the hospital again.

"Ms. Quinn, the patient isn't going to make it. Come say your final goodbye."

"Final goodbye..." I whispered, the world spinning around me.

Aya was still pounding on the door like a madwoman.

"Jameson! Dixon! Get out here! Your father is dying! Don't you care at all?"

Only silence answered her from inside the apartment.

I looked down at Aya's cream-colored dress. It was soaked in dark red. "Aya..."

She looked down and gave a hollow, terrifying laugh. "My baby... is gone too."

"Let's go. To the hospital," I pulled her up, and we stumbled away.

When we arrived, my father-in-law was as pale as a sheet.

His chest was barely moving, his breath shallow.

He opened his clouded eyes and looked at us.

A spark of hope appeared when he saw our faces, but it faded when he saw no one else.

"Dad..." I sobbed.

I grabbed his cold hand, my tears flowing uncontrollably onto the hospital bed.

His lips moved, his voice a faint, dying rattle. "Jameson... Dixon..."

I hated the brothers for their cruelty, but I hated my own helplessness more.

"Dad... I'm so sorry... I failed you," I cried.

Aya held his other hand, her voice sounding like broken glass.

"Dad, I'm sorry. We couldn't get them to come. They wouldn't listen."

He tried to smile, tears leaking from the corners of his eyes.

"Don't blame yourselves. It's my fault. I didn't raise them well."

"I let them hurt you... I'm sorry," he whispered.

He tried to lift his hand to comfort us one last time.

But it fell back onto the bed, lifeless, as the monitors went flat.

"Dad!" I screamed, the sound echoing through the sterile halls.

Aya's eyes rolled back, and she collapsed. I caught her just in time.

As she was wheeled into emergency surgery, I slumped onto the hospital bench.

I couldn't stop seeing his final look of disappointment.

Regret, longing, worry―but he never blamed us.

He died waiting for the sons he had sacrificed everything for.

Jameson. Dixon. How could you?

How could you be so heartless to the man who loved you?

Even though he protected me during the crash, my body was weak from the lost child.

Aya and I stayed in the hospital for a week before we could handle the funeral.

The brothers never showed up once. It was as if they had vanished from the earth.

No calls. No texts. Nothing but cold silence.

I looked at my last text from Jameson on our anniversary.

He had called me "baby" and promised a romantic candlelit dinner.

Now, his father's ashes sat in an urn on my coffee table.

I touched the cold ceramic, crying silently in the empty house.

I remembered how Jameson used to be when we first met.

He was so gentle once, treating me like I was the most precious thing in the world.

We were a family. We had so many beautiful moments together.

All of that turned to dust the moment Lyra Vance came back to town.

I stared at the photo of my father-in-law next to the urn.

"Why is he gone? Just like that..." I whispered.

I remembered how happy he was when he found out we were both pregnant.

He used to make us healthy breakfasts every single morning without fail.

Now, he was just a pile of gray ash in a box.

Aya sighed beside me, her face pale and gaunt.

"Dixon used to say he became a cop to protect his family from accidents."

"Jameson said the same about being a surgeon," I added.

My tears started falling again, hot and bitter.

"We thought they were such good, loyal sons. Now they've abandoned their father for a mistress."

I looked at Aya with cold determination. "Aya, I'm getting a divorce."

She didn't hesitate for a second. "Me too. I'm done with them."

"Those heartless bastards don't deserve to have us in their lives."

"Let the three of them rot together for all I care."

We didn't wait. We called a lawyer and drafted the papers immediately.

Aya and I planned a beautiful, dignified funeral for our father-in-law.

We went through our contacts, notifying every friend and family member.

Before we could finish, Jameson and Dixon finally walked through the door.