Chapter 3

My body was taken to the medical examiner's office.

Giles stayed behind in the basement, tearing through everything like a man gone mad.

Under the bed, the drawers, the instant-noodle box, the old wardrobe.

He dumped it all onto the floor.

"Where are the medical records?"

"Where are her old test results?"

The officer cut in.

"The deceased's phone is being held for now. It'll be returned through the proper channels later."

Giles looked up.

"I want to see her phone."

"I'm her husband."

The officer's voice was cold.

"Right now you're also one of the people under investigation."

Giles went rigid.

The landlord fished a plastic bag out from behind the cabinet and tossed it at his feet.

"Stop digging. Her records are all in here."

Giles crouched down and picked them up one sheet at a time.

Three months ago. Suspected malignancy.

The doctor had advised an immediate follow-up and treatment.

Two months ago. The readings had worsened.

One month ago. Clear signs of spread in multiple areas. Hospitalization advised.

The most recent one. Late stage.

Every sheet had a failed-payment note in the bottom right corner.

Giles's throat worked.

"Why didn't she tell me?"

The landlord let out a bitter laugh.

"Didn't tell you?"

"That day she collapsed from the pain in the stairwell. The doctor called her family."

"The one who answered was a woman."

Lillian was standing in the doorway. Her face changed in an instant.

Giles turned to look.

"Who?"

The landlord stared straight at Lillian.

"Her. She even said she was Mr. Delgado's fiancée and told the doctors to stop calling."

Lillian's tears spilled over at once.

"I didn't."

"I thought it was just ordinary anemia at the time."

"The doctor made it sound so serious. I didn't want you to worry, so I didn't tell you."

Giles closed in on her step by step.

"You took the doctor's call?"

Lillian backed away.

"I forgot…"

The officer flipped open his notebook.

"The hospital has already provided the call records. We'll be looking into it."

Lillian bit her lip and said nothing more.

Just then Giles's phone rang.

It was Teresa. Her voice was heavy.

"She's dead now. Kill the news first."

"We can't let anyone outside find out she died of illness in a basement."

"Tell people she had long-term depression and was emotionally unstable."

The basement went frighteningly quiet.

The officer raised his head.

Giles gripped the phone, his knuckles white.

"Mom, you knew she was sick?"

Teresa paused for a second.

"I knew a little. Lillian mentioned it to me."

"I even had someone ask the doctor. The treatment wouldn't have been cheap."

Giles's voice went hoarse.

"So all of you knew."

Teresa's voice turned cold. "Giles, don't be a fool."

"She was an orphan. Treating her would have been a bottomless pit."

"You haven't even officially taken over the Delgado Group. You can't shoulder that kind of burden for her."

"Besides, if she really loved you, she wouldn't have dragged you down."

I drifted off to the side, and all at once I remembered that day.

I'd been clutching my records, crouched in the hospital corridor, calling Giles.

When the call connected, it was Lillian's voice.

"Sally, Giles is busy."

"Stop holding him hostage over every little ache and pain."

"He's tired enough as it is."

After that, I never dared to call again.

Back then, every path I had to save myself, they had sealed off.