Chapter 188 Shifting Allegiances 

“Is that so?” Quinn’s tone was cool, laced with contempt. 

When the recording had played earlier, Sidonie’s fleeting expression of guilt had said plenty. 

The kidnapper’s audio clip was likely authentic. 

Back then, Sidonie must truly have refused to help. 

Now the kidnapper had drenched her in gasoline–was he genuinely set on burning her alive in revenge, or did he harbor another plan? 

On the screen, Sidonie trembled violently, struggling against her restraints while shouting, “No… don’t! Whoever hired you, I can pay more. I’m the Stonehurst heiress, and my fiancé is loaded–Trent of Grafton Technologies, the new darling of the tech world. His company’s gone public; he loves me and will pay whatever you want, any amount!” 

“Money?” The kidnapper laughed, a hollow, chilling sound. “I don’t want money. You said your coworker hallucinated from the flames and called your name–that’s why you ignored him. So let’s see if you hallucinate when you burn. If you do, maybe I’ll believe you.” 

As he spoke, the kidnapper produced a lighter. 

Snap! 

A bright flame leaped from the lighter. 

Sidonie’s shaking grew frantic. One stray spark on the fuel soaking her clothes would turn the place into an inferno, roasting her alive. 

The image of that co–pilot burning to death before her eyes–his agony, his screams–flooded her mind, ramping her terror beyond measure. 

“What’s wrong, murderer? Even killers get scared?” The lighter inched closer, its flame wavering near Sidonie’s gasoline–soaked body. 

Sidonie’s face drained of color; staring at the dancing fire, she squeezed her eyes shut. 

“I–I’m not a murderer. It had nothing to do with me…” 

“Nothing to do with you? Are you claiming you weren’t right beside him?” The kidnapper’s voice turned menacingly low. “Sidonie, that man treated you well–he mentored you like family–and this is how you repaid him? When he was engulfed in flames, begging for help, why didn’t you save him? You could have grabbed the extinguisher. You could have doused the fire-” 

“N–No! The flames were too big. Even with the extinguisher, it wouldn’t have worked!” Sidonie screamed, desperation cracking her voice. 

All at once, the air itself seemed to freeze; a sudden, uncanny hush swallowed every echo, and the kidnapper’s voice died away as though a switch had been flipped. 

Sidonie’s heart gave a violent thud, a single dull clang inside her chest, and in that instant, she realized with brutal clarity that she had just blurted out the wrong words. 

“Ha… hahahaha…” A chilling peal of laughter detonated beside Sidonie’s ear, jagged and merciless. “So you 

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really were standing right next to him that day. Why didn’t you grab the fire extinguisher? Why did you stand there and watch him burn alive? Why! Why!” 

Each harsh, barked accusation struck Sidonie like a lash, sending her into panicked disarray. 

“B–because… the flames were too… too big. I… I didn’t dare get close! So–so I ran. I… I never meant to abandon him, I was… I was just terrified… Please, have mercy, please let me go… 

Sidonie begged over and over, and the very moment those words left her trembling lips, the entire livestream erupted in a roar of outrage. 

Netizen E: What, she let him die just because she was scared? She could clearly reach the extinguisher, and still gave no basic aid? 

Netizen F: My God, she watched her coworker burn to death right in front of her? Anyone who didn’t know better would think the poor guy had some vicious vendetta against her! 

Netizen G: She kept something this serious under wraps all this time? And still had the gall to pose as a Firefighting Hero and accept public commendations! 

At that very moment, Sidonie had no idea her confession was being streamed live, watched by countless viewers, including Trent. 

Only minutes ago, Trent had insisted that Sidonie would never stand by while someone died, that there had to be some terrible misunderstanding. Now he stared at the screen in blank shock, unable to believe what he was hearing. 

The hero who lived in his heart–the fearless woman who soared through blue skies, the one bold enough to dive into a rushing river to pull him to safety–had, during that border inferno where she was later honored as a Firefighting Hero, chosen to do nothing. 

She had simply stood there and watched her own colleague burn to death. 

<Impossible!> 

Yet Sidonie’s constant pleas for mercy–her repeated excuse that she had been “too frightened“-kept flowing through the speakers, each word stabbing at Trent’s faith in her like a cruel joke. 

For one shattering moment, Trent felt as though something massive inside him was collapsing in on itself. 

The instant Sidonie fully admitted that she had indeed failed to save a life, the livestream window snapped shut. 

It was not the platform that had cut the feed. The kidnapper had deliberately switched it off. 

Quinn frowned, trying to piece together the kidnapper’s true objective. 

It almost seemed he didn’t intend to kill Sidonie at all; instead, he wanted her to confess–publicly and unmistakably–that she had once stood by and let someone die. 

Lowering her gaze, Quinn studied the files she had pulled up on her phone; by now, she was nearly certain of the kidnapper’s identity.