“If you want my opinion, you should send her
away to some foreign country to teach her a
lesson. You should’ve seen the look on her
face when you were here with me. She needs
to learn how good you are to her. People like
her need to be taught a lesson.”
99
Listening to Sarah’s constant stream of
words, Tom lost his patience.
“Shut up.”
“What I do with my wife is none of your
business.”
He pushed Sarah’s hand away and moved to
the side to talk more quietly into the phone. “Tell her I’m not pressing charges. You let her
out of that room now. When I get back, I’ll
bring her those donuts from Dunkin that she
loves.”
Dunkin‘ donuts were our unspoken sign of
making up.
Anytime I was down, all it took was one box
of donuts to make me happy.
But the last time I had Dunkin‘ was two years
ago.
It wasn’t that he didn’t buy them, but he’d
take them to Sarah.
He’d always say Sarah was like a sister, and
く
was going through so much and needed the
love more.
But I don’t know what I owe her.
She lost her family because they were criminals, killed in a car crash while trying to
escape. And my dad died because of this
criminal’s daughter.
I gave up my mom, my husband, and my lifelong dream.
Now I was about to give up my life.
And he thought that a box of Dunkin‘ donuts
would bring me back.
It was laughable.
The butler on the other end sounded frantic.
“Sir, I’m not lying. The fire started in your
wife’s room. By the time we realized what was happening and tried to open the door, it was too late. The fire is spreading through
the whole house. Firefighters are on their
way…”
“Enough!” Tom gripped his forehead, his voice still cold. “I know she’s pissed at me for
locking her in. I already said I’d let her out.
What is she going to do? Burn herself to
death!”
What if I didn’t start the fire?
As the thought flashed through Tom’s mind,
his breath hitched, and his face turned pale.
“Okay, I’m coming home right now.”
Just as he was about to hang up, his mom
grabbed the phone.
She wasn’t as calm as Tom. Her voice
betrayed her panic. “Are you lying to us? She’s just mad that I said those things to her.
Tell Lisa that I didn’t mean what I said. I was
just worried. I’m coming home to apologize
right now.”
The butler hesitated, then sighed. He knew
they were too stubborn to believe the truth.
“Okay, I’ll tell her.”
Mom’s face relaxed a little, a fake smile
plastered on her face. “I knew it was a joke. A
fire? With all those people in the house? It
can’t be that bad. That Lisa, she’s always
getting into trouble.”
“Honey, let’s go home. It’s your wedding day. Make sure you take care of Lisa. She’s my baby girl. I don’t want her getting hurt again.”
Tom nodded absently. “Okay, I will.”
Sarah followed them, wanting to come along, but Tom stopped her. “You go home. Lisa doesn’t like you, and I don’t want to upset her
on our wedding day.”
Mom agreed. “Yeah, Sarah, you go home. You
already took Lisa’s modeling job. Stay away
from her.”
Sarah was furious, her fake smile gone. She
muttered, “Lisa, you’re dead, why are you still
fighting me!”
<
On the drive back, breaking news about the fire at the mansion flooded their phones.
Tom went into autopilot, his knuckles white
as he gripped the steering wheel, speeding
home.
When he got out of the car, he stopped.
The entire mansion was engulfed in flames.
The fire lit up the sky.
Firefighters and paramedics ran back and
forth.
The staff sat on the ground, covered in dirt,
shaking.
The butler ran from the crowd “Sir you’re
finally here.”
Tom grabbed the butler by the collar, losing it. “Lisa! Where is she?”
The butler pointed. “We listened to you. We didn’t open the door. We didn’t know she was getting mad. We thought she had stopped hitting on the door. Then, smoke started
coming out from under the door, and we
knew we had to get her out. We opened it,
and the whole room was red, burning,
everything burning.”
“And…”
The butler hesitated.
Tom’s heart raced. A feeling came over him.
“And what?”
A loud explosion shook the air.
“Boom!”