My Husband Faked His Death to Make Me Take the Fall, So I Divorced Him

The night she got word of Matthew Heath's death yet again, Edith Butler walked into a nightclub and ordered ten male models.

As they crowded into her arms one after another, her mother-in-law stormed in and slapped her across the face, spitting that she had no heart.

Edith turned around and dragged the daughter the Heaths had adopted up onto the rooftop.

She smiled into the livestream camera, wild and reckless. "Matthew, I know you're not dead. You have one hour to crawl out here, or I'll push her off!"

The minutes bled away. An hour later, Matthew still hadn't shown.

Edith's grip on Susan Heath's hand tightened. She gritted her teeth and hauled Susan another inch toward the edge.

She thought this would force Matthew out, the way it had countless times these past three years.

On their wedding day, Matthew had faked his death. She'd stripped off the gown, the wedding became a funeral, and she'd run herself into the ground grieving for three days, only to collapse from exhaustion just as she saw Matthew stroll back in, holding his adopted sister's hand, gifts in his arms.

A year into the marriage, with her about to go into labor, he ignored her and faked his death again, all to take his adopted sister abroad to see the northern lights.

Rushing to reach the scene, she'd been in a car accident. By the time she was brought to the hospital, the baby had already stopped breathing.

Her mother-in-law charged onto the rooftop with a swarm of police. "Matthew is really dead!"

"He was pushed into the crematory right in front of me. If you don't believe it, watch this video!"

"Even at the end, he was still worried his wife would grieve. And what did you do?"

Edith stared hard at the face on the screen. It was Matthew.

Her body lurched suddenly,

Matthew... was really dead?

Only when the cold handcuffs snapped shut on her wrists did her mind jolt clear.

"Susan, what happened to Susan?"

She wrenched free of the officer's grip and threw herself to the rooftop's edge, where she saw the mangled body on the ground below.

A roar filled her skull.

"No... I put out the airbags..."

Edith spent seven years in prison. When she was released, her mother-in-law, who blamed her for killing her daughter, demanded she kneel in the family chapel every single day and repent.

She was thirty-two, seven of those years spent behind bars, and no respectable job would hire her.

All she could do was curl up in the back kitchen of a restaurant as the lowliest dishwasher.

At night, she knelt in the Heath family chapel, confessing her sins over and over.

Then one day, the restaurant was short on waitstaff, and the manager told her to fill in.

Passing one of the private rooms, she suddenly caught a familiar voice.

"Matthew, ten years have gone by. Are you really not going to go back and check on your wife?"

"I heard she did seven years in prison. So pitiful, really."

Edith's steps froze on the spot. Stiffly she turned her head, and through the gap in the door she saw two faces she knew.

Matthew and Susan.

Matthew gave a cold laugh. "If she hadn't tried to lay a hand on you back then, how would she have ended up serving seven years?"

"Besides, I married her because she was obedient, easy to manage. And then she used the dead baby as an excuse to sulk at me for two whole years."

"Call these ten years a lesson for her. From now on, as long as she behaves herself and stops meddling in how Susan and I get along, the title of Mrs. Heath is still hers."

It was as if every drop of blood in Edith's body had frozen solid, the ache in her heart creeping slowly up into her skull.

Her eyes went red with rage. She burst straight into the room, snatched the wine bottle off the table, and swung it down at Matthew's head.

"You animal!"

Ten years of her life!

She had been the finest stage actress in the Capital, active on every major stage since her college days.

Matthew had been struck by her during one of her performances, then thrown himself into pursuing her.

When he proposed, his eyes had brimmed with feeling. "Edie, before I met you, I'd never known what love tasted like. Only after meeting you did I understand what the most beautiful, most precious feeling in this world is."

"I want to protect you for a lifetime, so you can perform on that stage forever, without a single worry. Edie, will you give me the chance to be the one who guards you?"

Back then, Edith had thought he was a man worth entrusting her whole life to.

And what had her trust bought her?

It had bought her Matthew abandoning her again and again, faking his death and walking away, all for Susan.

It had bought her seven years of prison.

It had bought her three years of penance in the family chapel.

For ten years, every minute and every second, she had lived in remorse and pain, believing she had killed Susan, believing she had failed Matthew's love.

Only now did she learn she had been living inside a laughable lie the whole time.

And Matthew could actually say, so lightly, that it was nothing but a lesson.

Matthew's face darkened. He immediately summoned the manager.

"Is this how your restaurant trains its waitstaff?"

"Letting her assault a customer in public?"

The manager looked at the blood on Matthew's forehead and shuddered from head to toe.

He raised his hand and cracked a vicious slap across Edith's face. "Have you lost your mind? Raising a hand against a customer?"

"You clearly don't want this job anymore. Pack your things and get out, right now!"

"And apologize to the customer!"

Matthew's eyes were full of ice. "I want her on her knees, apologizing to me."

"Never!"

Edith shot him a hate-filled glare and spun to storm out of the room.

"Edith, I don't imagine you'd like to be locked up for another seven years."

Edith's body went rigid all at once.

Remembering those seven years in prison, she shivered before she could stop herself.

She couldn't. She couldn't go back.

Inch by inch she turned around, dropped to her knees before Matthew with a heavy thud. "I'm sorry, Mr. Heath."

The pain and humiliation buried deep inside tore at her mercilessly, until she could barely draw breath.

Matthew, arm around Susan, stepped around her. "Seems ten years still hasn't taught you to be obedient."

"Pay me a hundred thousand and I'll forgive you. You can even come back to the Heath family."

"Otherwise, I'll take you to court."

With that, he strode off.

The manager threw Edith out of the hotel too. She walked the streets in a daze, nothing in her hand but the two thousand dollars in wages the manager had just settled with her.

She couldn't scrape together a hundred thousand. And she would never swallow her pride and hand it over.

Matthew only wanted to force her. To force her to learn obedience, to force her to accept that her own husband had something unclean going on with his adopted sister.

But Edith was tired. She didn't want to go back to the Heath family, and she didn't want to be dragged into the tangle of love and hate between Matthew and his adopted sister ever again.

She only wanted to get away, completely, from this city so full of pain.

She pulled out her phone and dialed a number.

When the call connected, she spoke carefully. "Mr. Gilbert, you once said you'd be willing to take me to America with you. Does that still stand?"

"Of course it does. Miss Butler, your talent is astonishing. You belong on the finest stage there is."

The man's voice was steady and calm. "So Miss Butler has changed her mind? I recall you saying before that you wouldn't go abroad, for the sake of your boyfriend."

"Don't tell me the two of you never married after all?"

Edith's fingertips went white. "I'm widowed."

The man was silent for a moment. "My condolences."

"I want you to help me fake my death. After that, I'll leave the country for good."

"All right. In a month, I'll come for you."

Cyril Gilbert had once been her fan. From the very first time she'd stepped onto a stage, he had never missed a single one of her performances.

By the time she graduated college, family matters had called Cyril away to settle in America.

Before he left, he'd asked Edith whether she would go with him.

He could build her the finest theater troupe, write a script tailored just for her, make her the leading lady.

But back then, Edith's heart was so full of her love for Matthew that she'd turned him down without a second thought.

Cyril had only said that if she ever changed her mind, she could call him anytime.

She never imagined that after more than ten years, Cyril would still honor that promise.

The call ended, and Edith made her unsteady way back to the Heath house.

She had barely reached the door when laughter drifted out from inside.

Her steps didn't slow, but the instant she made out the faces of the three women at the dining table, her body went rigid and terror flooded her eyes.

She screamed, "Why are you here?"

Susan propped her chin in her hand. "You know them?"

"Someone snatched my bag just now, and these ladies got it back for me. So I invited them over as guests." She smiled, but her eyes brimmed with malice. "Since you know each other, this is the perfect chance for you to catch up."

The three heavyset women lifted their gazes, watching Edith with something that was almost a smile.

"Miss Butler. Long time no see."

"We were cellmates for seven whole years. Ever since we got out, we've missed you so much."

One of them rose to her feet and closed in on Edith, step by step.

"After all, Miss Butler's body is a lot of fun to play with."

She bit down hard on those last words.

Edith's whole body jerked, her mind flashing back against her will to those seven nightmare years.

These three women had been the tyrants of the prison. Every new inmate who came in was just another toy for them.

Edith had fought back the hardest, and for that they'd hated her.

Beatings were the mildest of their punishments. They would strip her bare and tie her to the bars, so every passing inmate could see the pitiful state of her.

Anyone who walked by was free to beat and humiliate her as they pleased.

When the guards saw it, they'd give a verbal warning and nothing more, and the women went right on doing as they liked.

As the woman's body kept advancing on her, Edith could no longer hold her emotions in check.

She ducked behind Matthew on instinct. "Get out, make them get out!"

Matthew only frowned faintly. "Edith, come out here."

"They're friends. Have the decency to talk with them properly."

Edith's heart plunged, and she let out a bitter laugh.

How could she have forgotten? Matthew had never once protected her. So no matter how she cried out in agony, he'd only ever think she was making a scene, putting on an act.

So she turned and bolted, trying to flee the Heath house.

The woman didn't give chase. She only watched Edith's panicked back, and then, just as she'd expected, that fleeing figure crashed hard to the floor.

After all, it was this woman who had broken Edith's right leg with her own hands. Even healed, it could never take the strain of hard running or jumping.

Susan watched it happen, a look of concern on her face.

"What's wrong?"

"Let me help you up."

She hurried to Edith's side and reached down to haul her off the floor.

But Edith clutched herself in terror. "No, don't touch me!"

"Let go of me!"

Susan was flung off, dropping heavily to the floor, bruises of every size blooming across her legs in an instant, an unsettling sight.

Tears welled up fast in her eyes. "I only wanted to help you up."

"Why did you shove me?"

Matthew's face darkened all at once.

He lunged forward and yanked Edith up off the floor. "Enough. How long are you going to keep this up?"

"Faking my death for ten years, yes, I wronged you. But if you hadn't tried to kill Susan back then, why would I ever have hidden it from you this long?"

"And now, not only do you refuse to repent, you have the nerve to shove Susan. A woman with a heart as poisonous as yours doesn't deserve to be the lady of the Heath family! But since you've already married me, then I'll have to teach you a proper lesson!"

He drew a deep breath and raised a hand to summon the servants. "Someone, bring the family punishment!"

The Heath family's discipline was severe.

If anyone in the family committed a wrong, out came the steel whip, ninety-nine lashes.

"No. I am not your wife. I lost my husband long ago."

"You have no right to punish me."

Her mouth opened and clamped down hard on Matthew's wrist.

Matthew hissed through his teeth at the pain. He wrenched his hand back and shoved Edith to the floor.

The fury twisted into a laugh. "Lost your husband?"

"As long as you go by the name Edith, you are my wife every single day. Don't dream of slipping out of my grip."

He ordered the servants to pin her limbs down, so that even if she wanted to run, she couldn't.

The first lash fell. A scream tore out of her throat, and yet her mind went to the day she first met Matthew.

Back then she was only an unremarkable bit player on the stage, but Matthew had stared up at her from the audience for the longest time, murmuring, "You're so beautiful. Like an angel."

The second lash fell. She thought of the day she first learned she was pregnant, how Matthew had been giddy as a boy, grinning like a fool at everyone he passed. "I'm going to be a father."

The third lash fell. She thought of the first time she discovered Matthew had faked his death. She had been overjoyed and enraged at once, glad he wasn't dead, furious that he would deceive her with something like that, and that it had cost them their only child.

After that, everything between them had turned to open warfare.

Matthew grew more and more brazen in cozying up to Susan, while Edith drifted from one glittering, drink-soaked night to the next.

The fourth lash fell. She thought of these ten absurd, laughable years, all the ways she had guarded this absurd love and tormented herself inside the lies.

But at least, in a month, she would be gone for good.

She would have a new identity, no longer called Edith, with not a single thread tying her to Matthew ever again.

By the end, she had lost count of how many times the whip came down.

Her mind had blurred. Her back was already raw, torn to shreds, not one patch of skin left whole.

"That's enough. Stop."

Matthew spoke, magnanimous as a man dispensing mercy.

He walked over to Edith and let his fingers trail across her tear-streaked face.

"Does it hurt?"

Edith said nothing.

"If it hurts, then remember this lesson. As long as you get along with Susie from now on, I won't make things hard for you."

"A punishment like today won't happen again."

Edith closed her eyes. The pain inside her slowly went numb, leaving only a mouthful of bitterness.

"Get up. I'll call the family doctor to dress your wounds."

Matthew held out a hand, gesturing for Edith to take it and rise. The clear mark of her teeth still showed on his wrist.

Edith turned her face away and, forcing down the pain in her back, pushed herself up inch by inch. She stepped around Matthew and staggered toward the doors of the Heath villa.

Matthew frowned. "It's this late. Where do you think you're going?"

"Still sulking at me? Off to some club to lose yourself?"

He reached out and clamped a hand around her wrist.

Edith frowned, her voice cold to the bone. "Where I go is no concern of yours, Mr. Heath."

"Or does Mr. Heath feel the punishment wasn't enough, and wants to swing the whip a few more times?"

With that, she yanked her hand free. The motion pulled too hard at the wounds on her back, and the pain doubled her over.

But she didn't look back. Step by step, she left the Heath house.

Matthew frowned, watching the woman's frail, stubborn figure retreat, and a restless heat surged up in his chest.

Especially that stretch of red across her back, the blood sliding down and dripping to the floor. Drip. Drip.

Unbearably glaring.

"Matthew, maybe you really should go see her off."

"You two haven't seen each other in ten years. She must miss you so much deep down. She's just angry, so she won't say it."

As she spoke, her fingertips pinched the hem of her dress, tears glimmering in her eyes. "Susie has hogged you for ten years. It's time I gave you back to your wife"

Matthew frowned and quickly pulled Susan into his arms.

"What are you talking about?"

"Edith brought this on herself with her own vicious heart. She has no one to blame but herself. Besides, you and I were always meant to be together for life. Edith is the outsider."

"Don't worry. I've looked into the assets under her name. It won't be long before she comes crawling back, begging for my forgiveness."

He lifted his eyes carelessly, only to see Edith's body suddenly sway violently, then pitch forward and crash to the ground.

His chest clenched all at once. "Edith!"

His body moved faster than his mind. By the time he understood what he was doing, he had already rushed to her side, both hands catching her firmly.

He never noticed the jealous hatred filling Susan's eyes behind him.

When Edith came back to herself, she realized she was lying in a hospital bed.

She turned her head and saw Matthew sitting beside it.

He looked like he hadn't slept, faint shadows smudged under his eyes, a rough stubble along his jaw.

"You're awake?"

Something complicated moved through his gaze. "The doctor said you have old injuries all over, dislocated bones, and long-term malnutrition..."

"Why didn't you tell me any of this?"

Edith lowered her eyes, the corner of her mouth curling into a faintly mocking smile. "Does it matter?"

"You're my wife. I'll give you the dignity you're owed."

Hearing that, her heart, already numb with pain, felt like it had been savagely wrenched.

Her suffering meant nothing to him. What mattered was that she maintain the dignity of being Mrs. Heath.

"I've hired the best medical team to nurse you back to health."

"You've always wanted that child, haven't you? Once your body recovers, I'll give you a child."

"You're my wife. Whatever you should have, I'll give you."

Thinking of the child who never got the chance to open her eyes on this world, a stab of pain went through her.

It had been a girl. From the moment she was conceived, Edith had longed for her arrival with everything in her.

But she had died.

Died while Edith was on the road, rushing to find the Matthew who had faked his own death.

And now Edith no longer wanted to carry his child at all.

So she said nothing.

Matthew took her silence for agreement, and his face softened considerably. He was about to say more when his phone rang out with a string of notes.

It was the ringtone he'd set just for Susan, and he answered at once.

"Matthew, sweetie, I just fell down and it hurts so much. You have to come rub it better."

His expression shifted. "What happened? How did you suddenly fall?"

"It's nothing. I just haven't seen you all day, and I missed you so much I wasn't paying attention and tripped."

Matthew gave a helpless little laugh. "All right, it's my fault for neglecting you today. I'll come back right now."

He turned and put Edith completely out of his mind.

He was always like this. One call from Susan and she could pull him away without the slightest effort.

Once, Edith would have cried, would have made a scene, would have clung to the hem of his coat begging him to stay with her.

But now she only shut her eyes calmly and drifted into sleep.

Not until the wounds on her back had healed enough that she could get out of bed normally did she check out of the hospital immediately.

She went back to the Heath house and dug a thick notebook out from the bottom of the wardrobe.

In it she'd recorded her reflections on stage acting. Even though she hadn't set foot on a stage in ten years, if she could, she still wanted to be a stage actress.

Even a bit part on the margins would have been something she'd savor.

She packed her things, and the moment she stepped out the Heath front door, Matthew came rushing at her and struck her hard across the face.

Susan huddled behind him, weeping without stop. "Edith, I know you don't like me. You resent how I'm always clinging to my brother."

"But why would you spread rumors online that I'm his mistress, even say I'm always throwing myself at him right in front of you?"

"I never did any of that. My brother and I aren't blood-related, but all this time, we've never once crossed a line. If you won't believe me, then I..."

"Then I might as well die!"

With that, she suddenly threw herself forward and slammed her head straight into the Heath front door.

Matthew's eyes went wild with rage. He lunged over and gathered Susan into his arms, trembling.

"Susie!"

Susan looked up, offering a weak, colorless smile. "Matthew, if not for the Heaths, I would have died in the snow outside that orphanage long ago."

"I don't want to be the reason your marriage falls apart. So, Matthew, why don't you just let me give this life back to the Heaths, back to you?"

"Don't talk such nonsense. You're my sister. I promised I'd be at your side and protect you for the rest of your life, and I won't break my word."

He scooped Susan up and ordered the driver to rush them to the hospital.

Behind him the bodyguards seized Edith and dragged her into the car too.

Only after the wound on Susan's head had been bandaged did Matthew raise his eyes to Edith.

"Apologize to Susan. Tonight there will be a press conference, and you'll admit that ten years ago you deliberately pushed Susan off that building, that you meant to hurt her, that it was your own viciousness and selfishness, your possessiveness eating at you, unable to tolerate your husband's sister, that's why you spread these rumors again."

Edith clenched her teeth. "I've been recovering in the hospital these past few days. I haven't put a single rumor online!"

"And besides, back then I laid an airbag on the ground below. There's no way Susan could have fallen to her death. You were the one who secretly hauled the airbag away, faked a corpse, and deceived me!"

"Why on earth should I apologize for something I never did?"

Matthew let out a cold laugh. "So you miss those seven years behind bars, is that it?"

"If you won't apologize, I have plenty of ways to send you right back in!"

Edith took two steps back. She knew all too well that with the Heath family's power, they truly could do exactly that.

In a month she still had to leave with Cyril. She could not be locked up in prison!

Her voice trembled as she spoke. "Fine."

Matthew moved fast, summoning a swarm of reporters who penned Edith in at the hospital entrance.

Facing the suffocating wall of lenses and microphones, Edith drew a deep breath.

Ten years ago, driven by possessiveness, jealous of every woman near my husband, I lured Susan up to the rooftop and pushed her off. I wanted her dead.

But she didn't die, so I spread rumors on purpose, claiming she'd seduced her own brother. I wanted to destroy her reputation completely, to hound her to death with gossip. It was all my fault. I was vicious, selfish

Every word carved through her heart like a slow blade.

Once a reporter uploaded the clip online, countless users flooded her private messages with abuse.

Even footage of her from prison was leaked onto the internet.

Edith gripped her phone, hands trembling as she scrolled through the comments.

This woman is pure poison. Just because she was possessive, she tried to end a living human being's life! When that didn't work, she spread filthy lies. Do people even understand how much a smear like that destroys a girl?

Look at this video, her chest practically sags to the floor. Mr. Heath tears her clothes off every night, and staring at a body like that, does he choke back the urge to gag?

How could Mr. Heath ever touch her? The woman's old and ugly, one glance is nauseating. Probably went so long without a man that her mind twisted, and now she wants to kill her own sister.

Edith lifted her eyes and looked at herself in the mirror.

Loose skin hung slack on her face. She was thirty-five, no longer young, and this face looked older than her years.

Time had been merciless with her, carving furrow after furrow into her skin.

Matthew, though, seemed to be time's favorite. Ten years gone, and all it had left him was a few fine lines at the corners of his eyes, nothing aging about it, just the added weight of a mature man's appeal.

She gave a bitter laugh, switched off the phone, and stopped following the noise online.

The door suddenly rattled under a frenzy of pounding.

Slut, get out here! You're not fit for Mr. Heath. If you know what's good for you, get the hell out of the Capital!

Edith flinched, and when she opened her phone she saw the newest private message.

We're coming for you.

We'll punish you in Susie's place!

After leaving the hospital, she hadn't gone back to the Heath house. She'd holed up in a cheap little motel instead.

Two more blows and the door was ready to give. Edith's heart sank.

She clenched her teeth, ran to the balcony, and looked down.

Sixteenth floor. A jump meant certain death.

Bang! The door was kicked clean open, and three girls burst in with knives.

Right behind them, Matthew's figure appeared in the doorway.

Hope flared in Edith's eyes. Matthew! Call the police, they're going to kill me.

The girls frowned, indignant. She nearly got Susie killed. You're her brother. Are you really going to protect the one who caused all this?

Besides, we're just teaching her a lesson. We're not actually going to kill her.

Matthew hesitated. His phone rang again with that familiar tone.

Matthew, it's so late. I want you to come sleep with me.

The man's expression melted into tenderness at once. He hung up and spoke calmly.

A small lesson is enough. Don't take it too far.

After tonight, move back to the Heath house. You're my wife. What kind of picture is it, you living out here?

And in the Heath house, you won't run into things like this.

With that, he turned and walked away.

Watching that pitiless back, Edith felt her heart sink inch by inch, and then, with a single crack, it shattered for good.

The moment the girls saw him leave, they raised their knives and lunged at Edith.

Edith gritted her teeth, dodged the blades glinting cold, and bolted toward the door.

But the girls blocked her, holding fast, and the knives sank into her body.

She lost track of how long they grappled. Wounded, Edith stumbled at last to the door, then rode the elevator down.

She'd barely reached the ground floor when she saw the three girls, bodies slamming to the pavement like kites with their strings cut.

Warm blood spattered across her face.

The crowd around her broke into panic. Ah, murder!

She's the killer! Those girls jumped from 1602, and I remember she's the one staying in 1602!

Murderer, grab her!

Isn't she the woman from the news, the one who lied about her husband keeping a mistress of a sister? I heard that ten years ago, she pushed that sister off a building with her own hands!

It's horrifying. And now she's driven three girls to their deaths in public. People like this should get the death penalty!

Bystanders closed in around Edith, and the parents of the three girls arrived on the scene fast.

They threw themselves at her like they'd lost their minds, fists slamming down on her body.

Give me back my daughter! You murderer, I want you to pay with your life!

Edith tried to explain, but they were long past reason, in no state to listen.

Not until Matthew and Susan appeared.

Matthew's face was dark as he looked at her. What are you stirring up now? Can't sit still even in the dead of night?

The sight of him was a lifeline to her.

Matthew, tell them I didn't kill anyone. They came bursting into my room with knives. I didn't kill them, I swear!

Matthew, for the sake of all the years we've known each other, for the sake of these ten years I've been ground down into something less than human, all you have to do is tell the truth once.

You saw it. You can testify for me

Before Matthew could say a word, Susan cut in, unable to wait.

I believe you. I know you'd never kill anyone.

She reached out and pushed the crowd aside. Don't lie there on the ground. Let me help you up.

The moment she bent down, she dropped her voice. Do you really think anyone will believe you?

Three lives on your hands. You'll get the death penalty, won't you?

Once you're dead, no one will be left to fight me for my brother.

Edith's head snapped up. You did this?

You're insane!

Despair flickered in Edith's eyes. She knew that as long as Susan spoke, Matthew would never testify for her.

But she wanted to live.

She had survived those seven years of hell. Cyril had promised he would take her away in a month.

She had a chance to stand on the stage again, to play the roles she loved.

But now, three lives were pinned on her.

The death penalty was all too likely.

She didn't dare gamble on whether Cyril had the power to pull her out of prison.

All she could do was beg Matthew again, beg him to speak.

Matthew, for the sake of the child we lost, help me just this once

Looking at the plea in her eyes, something in Matthew's chest gave a sudden tremor.

He was about to speak when Susan clutched her stomach and cried out in pain.

Matthew, my stomach hurts.

His expression changed. I told you not to eat so much cold food at night. You wouldn't listen, and now you know how to complain about the pain?

I'll take you to the hospital.

Susan bit her pale lip, cold sweat beading on her forehead. But she still needs you. It's only a stomachache. It's fine, I can bear it a little longer.

Matthew spared Edith a flat glance. Even if she's sentenced to death, she won't die anytime soon.

Your matter is more urgent.

Those words, she won't die anytime soon, struck Edith's mind until it spun.

It wasn't until the police put her in the car that she let out a low laugh.

She was laughing at how stupid she'd been.

That she'd still held out hope for Matthew, still dared to wish he would speak up and testify for her.

Seated in the interrogation room, she asked the officer in front of her. Will I be sentenced to death?

The officer's face was blank. If your attitude is cooperative, we'll try to get you a suspended death sentence.

In that instant, Edith thought about confessing. That way, maybe she could still live.

But she wouldn't.

She had never killed anyone. Why should she carry a stain like this to her grave?

Still she tried to fight it. You can check the security footage. Those three girls broke in with knives. I really didn't kill anyone.

The hotel's surveillance is all damaged. But we found that your room was 1602, and the last room those girls appeared in was also 1602.

You are the prime suspect.

Because she refused to confess and her attitude was defiant, she was sentenced to death, to be carried out in a month.

In a month.

Edith chewed the words over and over in her mouth, tears circling endlessly in her eyes.

Maybe this was just fate.

Letting her believe she'd find release in a month, only to be met with death instead.

No. She couldn't accept it. She had to find a way out.

For that whole month she was locked in the prison, and Matthew never came once.

Not until she was led out to the execution ground, the cold black muzzle aimed at her heart, did she feel, against all reason, at peace.

She lowered her eyes, her hand gripping tight to her notes on stage acting.

Maybe in the next life, she could still be a stage actress.

The trigger drew back slowly, and a gunshot cracked out.

Edith closed her eyes, and the last thought in her mind was not of Matthew.

It was of Cyril.

Edith, I came too late.