Chapter 3

Kate held the health certificate up in front of me, the red stamp facing my eyes. Denys stood beside her, still carrying the celebration cake in one hand.

My father shot to his feet, the bandage on his forehead soaking through with blood again.

"My daughter just lost her child, and you two have the nerve to celebrate?"

Denys frowned.

"Dad, Kate only wanted to share the good news with Gabriella. Don't be like this. The child is gone, and that isn't her fault."

"She was worried Gabriella would be upset, so she rushed over just to check on her."

"Check on her? Or come to see whether my daughter's dead yet?"

My father snatched up the miscarriage report and hurled it at them, his stooped body shaking with rage.

"Denys Stevens, you're the most famous lawyer in this city. When I handed my daughter over to you, what did you promise me? You said you'd never let her suffer. But she's been locked up for seven days, and you haven't said one word to defend her. I don't believe my daughter would drink and drive. I'll find my own lawyer, and I will clear her name!"

The smile faded from Kate's face.

"Uncle, my sister-in-law already confessed. It won't matter who you go to."

"Whether it matters is not for an outsider like you to decide!"

My father yanked out his IV needle and made for the door, one hand braced against the wall.

I tried to catch hold of him, but he shook my hand off.

"Dad, your head's still bleeding!"

He turned back to look at me, his face set.

"I couldn't protect your child. The least I can do is bring you home."

Watching my father's back as he walked away, unease knotted in my chest. I begged Denys to talk him into coming back, and all I got was this:

"If your father comes back, he'll only turn everything upside down. Better to let him go. Once he can't find a single lawyer willing to defend you, he'll accept his fate."

My father took my case file and his old flip phone and went to every law firm in the city.

But the moment they heard my name, they refunded the consultation fee, took one phone call, and shut the door on him.

In the end it was one lawyer who quietly told him,

"Mr. Stevens put the word out in the group chat. The evidence against Gabriella Simmons is airtight. Anyone who reopens her case can forget about taking cases in this city ever again."

My father called Denys on the spot.

"You won't save Gabriella, so why are you stopping me from saving her?"

"Dad, she's already confessed. The more you stir things up, the more you'll add to her sentence. Accept it. Once Kate clears the posting period, I promise you, I'll file the appeal for her myself."

"Kate, Kate. All you can see is your precious little sister. So my daughter's supposed to suffer through all of it?"

"Dad, I didn't mean that. I only want to remind you to face reality."

My father wouldn't accept his fate. He sold the old house in the country and went to the next city.

At last he found a lawyer willing to take the case, but the lawyer needed him to bring the repair records for the vehicle from the accident first.

My father went to the auto shop, and the owner told him that on the night of the crash, Denys had come in overnight to replace the driver's-side airbag.

He had just gotten the repair receipt in his hand when he clutched his head and collapsed in the doorway.

The bleeding inside his skull from Denys's shove had never fully stopped, and after days of running around, he was already unconscious by the time he reached the hospital.

The doctors wanted to operate at once. They were short fifty thousand for the deposit. Our joint account held exactly fifty thousand.

I got the call in the county jail, begging into the receiver,

"Denys, I don't want anything anymore. Not the child, not my freedom. Just save my father. Even if you told me to die right now, I'd agree."

"Please. For the sake of the fact that you once called him Dad too, save his life."

There was only silence on the other end. And just when I thought he'd softened and would agree, Kate's voice came from beside him.

"Denys, we're still fifty thousand short on the deposit for our wedding home. If we don't pay today, the landlord will sell it to someone else."

Denys was quiet for a moment.

"Doctor, what are the chances the surgery succeeds?"

"Under twenty percent."

Kate started to cry.

"Uncle only has a one-in-five chance of waking up. Denys, but my posting period is almost over, and I don't even have a place to live. What will people think of me?"

I screamed as hard as I could,

"We can buy a house later. I only have one father! Count this money as a loan from me, and when I get out I swear I'll pay you back!"

"Kate, I'm on my knees begging you. Let my father go."

My father didn't live to see the surgery.

When the nurse told me he was dead, I coughed a mouthful of blood onto the table and pitched forward.

Before my mind went black, I heard Denys speak.

"Gabriella, sorry. The money didn't get transferred in time, and the old man passed."