Chapter 7
He was puzzled, “Are you guys scammers? How could I harm my wife’s grandmother? Moreover, we agreed to visit her Grandma together today. Either you’re mistaken or someone is playing tricks on you. I suggest you go back and double–check.”
The lawyer beside him took out a letter of attorney and some photos, placing them in front of Josh and said, “Mr. Arkin, I’m Natalie’s appointed lawyer. If you have any questions, we can discuss them.”
He explained, “First of all, you and my client have dissolved your marriage and here is the divorce agreement you both signed. These photos are evidence of your infidelity during your marriage. We have reason to suspect that you, in an attempt to cover up your affair, deliberately caused the death of my client’s grandmother.”
“Additionally, this video is from your car’s dashcam, showing clearly that you bought
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drinks for Mrs. Roberts and locked her in
car with the heater on, which directly led to her death. This is Mrs. Roberts’s autopsy report and it shows she had traces of sleeping pills in her system…”
The mounting evidence stunned Josh. His mind spun, repeating over and over that he and me were already divorced. After a long time, he shakily took the divorce
agreement from the lawyer’s hand, unable
to believe it.
Black and white, with their names clearly signed, it wasn’t forged, but he had no memory of it.
He stuttered, “Natalie wouldn’t divorce me. We promised to stay together forever. How could she divorce me? I don’t believe it. If
she divorced me, her Grandma would have persuaded her… You just said someone
died?”
The lawyer calmly looked at him. “Natalie’s grandmother is dead. You killed her.”
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Josh felt as if struck by lightning, his anger boiling over, “Grandma’s dead? How come I didn’t know? This is all fake, you’re lying! I need to ask Natalie myself, only she wouldn’t lie to me…”
He nervously searched for my number, his hands trembling. He finally found it and eagerly dialed, only to hear a cold, mechanical voice: [Sorry, the number you have dialed is no longer in service. Please try again later.]
Not willing to give up, he desperately searched through my WhatsApp messages. At the very bottom, he found my contact labeled with “Mute all notifications.”
Opening it, he found a long list of messages. I had sent.
[Josh, someone called and said Grandma died in your car, what’s going on? Go check it out…]
[Josh, how’s Grandma? Don’t scare me, I’m on the plane back.]
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[Grandma’s gone, Josh, you bastard, where
are you?]
[Josh, give me back Grandma. I won’t bother you anymore, okay?]
[Josh, I watched fireworks holding Grandma’s ashes all night. If this is your
punishment for my obsession with you, then let’s divorce.]
[Josh, you betrayed me. We’re getting a divorce!]
Josh collapsed to the floor, “How could this. happen? No, Natalie wouldn’t be so heartless.”
Struggling to stand, he staggered back into the house and that strange feeling hit him. again, the house was empty, too empty.
A massive wave of panic surged in his chest. He opened the wardrobe, only to find it empty, with only his clothes remaining.
The wedding photo that used to hang on
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the wall was gone, leaving only the outline on the wall. In the bathroom, all my toiletries were gone…
His gaze finally landed on the agreement on the coffee table. He collapsed to the floor, his faint memories gradually becoming clearer in his mind…
