Chapter 2
My blood seemed to freeze in an instant.
I staggered toward the vat of oil, scorching steam rushing at my face, burning my eyes with pain.
Inside the vat, Ethan’s body had already been fried beyond recognition—flesh torn open, skin charred black, limbs twisted, with only his eyes still wide open, staring straight at me.
“Ethan… Ethan!”
I reached out like a madwoman, hot oil splashing onto the back of my hand, blistering it instantly.
I trembled in agony, yet still struggled to grasp Ethan’s hand. He could no longer make a sound, his lips only trembling faintly, as if he wanted to call my name—“Grace.”
I had to save him!
Even if there was only the slightest chance!
With shaking hands, I dialed 112, then lifted Ethan and ran like a madwoman through the iron gates at the edge of the pack estate. The two wolf guards at the entrance let me pass without expression.
My whole body shook, tears blurring my vision, yet I held him tightly, stumbling as I flagged down a taxi.
“Pack hospital! Please—hurry!” My voice was hoarse, on the verge of collapse.
The driver was terrified by my blood-soaked appearance and slammed on the accelerator.
In the corridors of the pack hospital, I rushed into the emergency room with Ethan barely clinging to life, but the nurse said to me helplessly,
“Luna Grace, Alpha William just issued an order. All pack doctors are attending to Emily now. There’s no one available to operate on your brother…”
Trembling violently, I immediately called William.
“William! Please… please tell the pack doctors to save Ethan! He fell into boiling oil! He’s dying!”
On the other end, his voice sounded impatient. “Grace, that was just a dummy. How long are you going to keep this up?”
In the background, Leo and Alex were still complaining:
“Why is Mom always making trouble?”
“Dad, just ignore her. Emily is still waiting for you.”
William hung up directly.
I collapsed to my knees, begging everyone around me in despair, but they all avoided me.
The doctors and security here all answered to the Alpha; without permission, the operating room was sealed shut by an invisible lock.
By the time I finally found a pack doctor willing to help, Ethan’s body had already gone cold.
“Ethan… Ethan!”
I clutched my brother’s charred body tightly and completely broke down. The boy in my arms would never respond again.
He was dead.
Dead in the cracks between “pack law” and power; dead at the hands of the name I loved most—and feared most.
…
Three days later, at the cemetery.
I stood before Ethan’s gravestone, my face devoid of all color.
These three days, I had been like a walking corpse—handling the death certificate, sending him for cremation, then burying him with my own hands.
And William and the two boys never showed up once.
I opened Emily’s Instagram. Her latest post was a photo of William feeding her porridge, captioned: 【Someone insisted on taking care of me personally. I really can’t do anything about him~】
Below were comments from Leo and Alex:
【Emily, get better soon! We want to go to the amusement park with you!】
【Emily is way gentler than Mommy. We like you the most!】
I closed my phone, my gaze turning completely cold.
I left the cemetery and did only two things.
First, I went to a law firm and drafted a Mate Bond Dissolution Agreement.
Second, I reported Emily to the police for murder.
