Chapter 2

2.

After calling my parents to confirm they were safe at home, I contacted my attorney to draft a divorce agreement.

Shortly after, two police detectives knocked on my door.

"Regarding the couple who fell off the cliff yesterday, we suspect foul play. We need you to share everything you know."

It turned out my in-laws hadn't slipped by accident. Someone had swapped their trail maps.

They had unknowingly wandered into a strictly forbidden cliff zone.

Austin was the only person who had provided them with hiking maps, and no one else had touched their gear.

The person who lured them to their deaths was Austin.

Hearing this, I nearly laughed out loud.

The golden boy Celeste worshiped and protected at all costs was the very killer of her own parents.

Protocol required the family to view the remains at the station before cosmetic prep.

When I arrived, the two bodies were dumped outside the back entrance, completely unattended.

Instead of being cleaned, their expensive outdoor gear had been stripped off and replaced with threadbare rags.

No matter how much I despised my in-laws, they were deceased human beings.

They didn't deserve this level of desecration.

Following the sound of rowdy laughter, I walked toward the break room and found Celeste leading the crew in celebrating Austin's dog's birthday.

My in-laws' clothes had been used as rags to wipe up dog urine on the floor!

Celeste looked up at me without a shred of remorse.

"Prep is done. Sign the paperwork and get out."

"Oh, we ran out of paper towels earlier, so we used your folks' old clothes to clean up after the pup."

Listening to the team sing happy birthday to a golden retriever, I smirked.

If their own daughter didn't care, why should I?

I reached into my jacket and slid the divorce settlement onto the table.

"Do whatever you want. Just sign this."

Celeste glanced at the document, and her temper flared instantly.

"You're divorcing me over something this trivial? Are you insane?!"

"Just because I didn't lead the team out immediately? Falling off that cliff was an instant death sentence anyway! Going out there would've been a complete waste of department resources!"

I stood completely calm.

"I'm dead serious. Sign it."

Her dereliction of duty and shameless excuses felt thoroughly sickening.

Once upon a time, she had pulled a family of five from a raging blizzard on her own, earning a medal from the governor.

Yet ever since Austin joined the squad, gross negligence had become her routine.

When Austin twisted his ankle, she aborted an active search to drive him to the clinic.

When Austin got a paper cut, she paused a rescue mission to buy him bandages.

And yesterday, simply because Austin wanted to celebrate his birthday, she ignored an active distress call to light fireworks for him.

She had long abandoned whatever honor she once had.

Celeste pinched the bridge of her nose, softening her tone slightly.

"I couldn't have predicted what happened to your parents. I skipped the call because I had urgent matters to handle."

"I know you're grieving, Wyatt, but stop throwing tantrums like a child."

I gave a dry, humorless smirk. "Save the excuses. Just sign."

Austin put on a pitiful performance, tears welling in his eyes.

"Wyatt, it's all my fault."

"I just mentioned that I'd never had a real birthday party, so Celeste offered to set off fireworks with me. I'll get on my knees right now, just please don't leave her!"

He sank toward the floor, sniffling pathetically.

His posture looked helpless, but the smirk in his eyes was pure malice.

Celeste grabbed his arm and yanked him back up, glaring at me like I was scum.

"I don't need an unreasonable loser like you in my life anyway! You want a divorce? Fine!"

She scribbled her signature across the paper and slammed it against my chest.

"Without my clearance, you won't even get to collect their ashes!"

"Wyatt, don't you dare come crawling back when you regret this!"