Chapter 10
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Ethan’s already pale face went ashen, his lips pressed tight and dry.
He tried to call Lucien, but his hands were shaking so badly that he dialed the wrong number several times.
When the call finally connected, he told Lucien to bring Vicky to the police station immediately.
Lucien had no idea what had just happened. Confusion filled his voice.
“Why the police station? Vicky said she wants to travel abroad. I’m on the way to the airport with her right now. Whatever it is can wait until she get back.”
Claire and I sat across from Ethan, watching despair wash over his face as he closed his eyes.
“Don’t ask questions,” Ethan said hoarsely.
“Is Vicky next to you right now? Then don’t talk to her. Bring her here. Now. Immediately.”
Forty minutes later, Lucien walked into the police station, still completely unaware of the situation, dragging a violently struggling Vicky behind him.
The moment she stepped inside, one of Lucien’s colleagues cuffed her.
Lucien jolted in shock and instinctively moved to intervene, but his brother stopped him.
Ethan briefly explained the case.
The same despair spread across Lucien’s face.
Betrayal, rage, hatred, and confusion crashed over him at once, forcing him to collapse into a chair.
“So this is why you insisted on traveling abroad?”
“I was worried about you going to the airport alone in daylight. Do you really think I’m that stupid?”
Only then did Lucien notice my gaze.
He lowered his head.
“Yes… I really am a fool.”
“But how could you do this to me?”
“My child… you couldn’t even spare my baby.”
He burst into a distorted, hysterical laugh.
Vicky was still shaking, her face twisted with resentment as she tried to explain herself, but the police dragged her away before she could say another word.
Lucien grabbed fistfuls of his own hair.
A few minutes later, he slowly stood up and looked at me.
His expression was impossibly complicated.
The next second, he dropped to his knees in front of me.
I took a step back into the sunlight, where he couldn’t reach me.
Still, Lucien crawled forward on his knees.
The sunlight burned his skin, forcing a cry of pain from his throat.
He kept saying he was sorry.
“Caroline, I’m sorry. I’m sorry for everything. I’m sorry for our child. This was all my negligence… I was deceived by Vicky. You know how much I cherished you and the baby.”
“Please, give me one more chance.”
“I’m begging you.”
Ethan dismissed his colleagues and followed Lucien, crawling forward despite the burning sunlight.
The wailing of vampires filled the room.
The smell of scorched flesh made me frown.
“Claire,” Ethan pleaded,
“I’ve done so many stupid things. I won’t even look at Vicky again. I’ll be loyal to you, just like before. We can still have children. Please forgive me.”
Claire and I exchanged a glance, then turned around and walked out of the station without a word.
Standing in the sunlight, we watched the two men remain in the shadows, clutching their burned skin, still unwilling to let us go.
What is an apology worth now?
After three years of being treated as a substitute, misunderstood, ignored, and disrespected, why would anyone go back?
Behind us, the sound of their breakdown slowly faded.
The next time we heard about them was a week later, on the news.
Vicky had been imprisoned on charges of murder.
Lucien, mentally unstable, made repeated disastrous investment decisions and lost everything he had left.
Ethan, consumed by guilt, developed severe psychological trauma.
Every time the phone rang, he heard Claire’s cries for help.
He could no longer work in fire service and was removed from duty, placed on forced leave.
They changed their phone numbers repeatedly to contact us.
We blocked every single one.
At last, we began new lives and felt nothing but relief.
After everything we endured, we still had genuine friendship, supporting one another, helping each other survive.
After the darkness comes clear skies and sunshine.
And from here on, life will only get better.
