Chapter 13
“Was it Arlette who saved me?”
“Why…” Maximo’s throat tightened. “When I woke up, it was Winnie holding me up…”
The video soon provided the answer.
Maximo watched in horror as Winnie appeared on the screen, lifting a piece of metal debris with the intent to strike. The slender figure, bleeding heavily from her forehead, collapsed to the ground, left behind in the fiery wreckage.
Maximo felt a chill run through his veins. The video looped, forcing him to relive the agonizing moment as Arlette, frail and limping, dragged him from the twisted, smoking car. Her hands were drenched in blood—his or hers, he couldn’t be sure. She had risked everything to save him. And he—!
Maximo’s heart felt like it was being crushed over and over. He clutched his collar in distress. The scenes before his eyes were like pulling on a loose thread, unraveling memories buried deep within his mind.
She had braved death to rescue him, and he had been too blind to remember her words until now!
[Maximo, you need to uncover the truth, to live with the pain of losing your wife and child forever.]
[You can’t just die like this.]
Arlette’s words now pierced Maximo’s heart like a sharp blade. Her tearful, blood-stained pleas and the brief video had torn away the veil of deception. Even a glimpse of the truth was enough to send him spiraling into despair.
He shuddered at the thought of how much she had suffered. After the accident, he had been quick to blame her, lost in the delusion that she had tried to kill him. Mad, insane.
She had saved him! Yet he had the gall to demand her life in return.
He recalled her sorrowful eyes.
[Maximo, I’ve said ‘it wasn’t me’ too many times.]
[Will you choose to believe me this time?]
He had never believed her, not once.
What if? What if the “malicious and deceitful” person he spoke of was Winnie, not… her?
This possibility made Maximo’s head throb. The pain in his heart became unbearable as he feared the monstrous acts he might have committed if this were the truth.
Murder! Killing one’s spouse! How monstrous!
“Timothy.”
Timothy Clark had been watching his boss’s expression closely, fearing he’d collapse at any moment. Seeing that Maximo could still speak, he quickly stepped forward, ready to listen.
“Mr. Myers, what are your orders?”
“Bring Garrett here!” Maximo hadn’t missed seeing another person in the video. The audacity of watching everything unfold without intervening or reporting it.
Garrett had turned a blind eye, as though it were business as usual.
What did this imply?
Maximo’s heart plummeted to the depths of despair.
“Yes, Mr. Myers.”
As Timothy turned to summon Garrett, Maximo called him back.
“Wait!”
His dark eyes were a mix of despair and madness.
“Investigate… the events from three years ago.”
Maximo closed his eyes in torment. “Find out why Winnie was supposedly attacked. Were those attackers really hired by Arlette?”
“Understood, Mr. Myers.”
Timothy hurriedly left the room. Maximo was left alone in the hospital room, engulfed by an endless sea of solitude and darkness. He gripped his hair, tearing at it in madness, crying out with unchecked anguish.
“Arlette…”
If everything had been wrong from the very beginning, then he… what had he done? He loved her so deeply, had fought so hard for her affection. How could he have brought himself to commit such heinous acts against her?
He had sworn to protect her with his life!
Maximo wept until his entire body trembled, curling up on the bed, clinging desperately to the tablet, torturing himself by watching her videos, trying to feel her heartbeat through the screen. Pretending she was still alive…
But reality cruelly reminded him over and over. She was gone! He had killed her with his harsh and baseless judgment.
He cried until he could barely make a sound.
“Arlette…”