Chapter 18
Tom had been restraining himself upon seeing the police, but the officer’s words left him stunned.
“What little girl? Jessica, it’s not enough for you to lie to me–you’ve brought someone to play a cop? Do you really think I won’t report you both and have you arrested?”
Though Tom was trying to keep up his tough act, the tremble in his voice betrayed him.
Even the officer seemed shocked by how outrageous this was, so she pulled out her badge.
“Sir, your daughter was kidnapped, and when the ransom wasn’t paid in time, she was assaulted and murdered. Are you telling me you didn’t know about this?”Content rights belong to NôvelDrama.Org.
Tom was speechless, his face draining of color. Enraged and embarrassed, he tried to shift the blame onto the police.
“If something like this really happened, why didn’t you contact me? Why did you leave everything to her?”
Tom still clung to the belief that he should be the head of the household. But aside from Monica and me, who had always spared his ego by not exposing the fact that he was an
incompetent father and husband, no one else would indulge him.
The officer could hardly believe what she was hearing. “In a marriage, both partners are equal. We contacted the person we could reach first. Your wife told us you were already aware of the situation and had taken the ransom to save Monica, so we didn’t continue notifying you.”
“Furthermore, your wife’s income significantly exceeds yours. We believed that reaching out to her first would have increased your daughter’s chances of survival. Sadly, that didn’t happen, but all this time you really didn’t know?”
The officer’s words kept hitting Tom’s most sensitive nerves. He finally started to recall the things I had said, as well as the urn he had knocked over at the amusement park.
“I’m sorry, Jessica. I didn’t know. I swear, I didn’t know.”
Tom finally realized the enormity of what he had done and shakily helped me to my feet.
“But even so,” he pleaded, “you could’ve just talked to me. Why did you come to the hospital just to curse and mock Betty and Julie?”
“My God, what are you even saying?”
The officer looked at Tom in shock. “Not only do you not know your daughter is dead, but you’re also unaware that your wife has leukemia and just underwent a bone marrow biopsy? You don’t stay with her, and instead, you hit her? How can someone be as absurd a husband as you?”