Chapter 5

“Alex!”

My wife’s brother, whom I had just pushed onto the slope, saw me being swallowed by the sand and, without a second thought, jumped back down with me.

He dug me out of the sand with one hand, forcing me upright so I wouldn’t suffocate.

I knew this couldn’t go on. I no longer had the strength to climb back to the halfway point.

“Caleb, I won’t make it out alive.”

“You stand in front of me. You survive, and then go find Victoria.”

Victoria was the true matriarch of the Hayes family, and with her, my name could surely be cleared.

My wife’s brother hugged me tightly with his one hand.

“No, Alex. If we die, we die together! I don’t want to see that monster again!”

Even injured, I was stronger than a pampered, one-armed young man.

Ignoring his struggles, I tied him securely with the rope.

If only one of us could live, I would make sure it was him!

Under my despairing gaze, my wife’s brother stopped resisting.

“Alex, it’s okay. I still have one hand…”

“I don’t hurt anymore. If she does anything else, I’ll block it with this hand.”

I didn’t contradict his naive words, only felt pathetic for myself.

After marrying Seraphina, I worked tirelessly for the Hayes family, only to be killed by my own wife.

Just as I thought I would be riddled with knives, Seraphina suddenly appeared directly above us.

A knife hovered directly over my wife’s brother’s head.

I had no strength left to move, no better ideas.

I had no choice but to turn the camera towards my wife’s brother, frantically shouting.

“Seraphina, please believe me one last time, okay?”

“This really is your brother! I’m not lying! It’s your own brother!”

Seraphina on the FaceTime call impatiently rolled her eyes.

“Alex, you’re about to die and you’re still trying to trick me?”

Damien’s simpering voice joined in.

“Seraphina, he’s just trying to play on your soft spot. Your brother is the young master of the Hayes family; how could he look like some poor, raggedy freak?”

“Exactly! I personally picked out my brother’s Disneyland outfit last night, and your brother can just go to hell with you!”

“No!”

Knives rained down from the sky. My wife’s brother lunged over, shielding me.

“Alex, live on for both of us.”

Dozens of knives, from head to toe, pierced his body.

Scalding blood flowed onto me. I met my wife’s brother’s eyes, and they were filled with concern, for me.

Even in his dying moments, he was thinking of me, his brother-in-law.

Damien laughed hysterically:

“Oh, what brotherly love!”

“You’ve got company for your death, you won’t be lonely. Damien’s brother died all alone!”

The bodyguards, having regained consciousness, began to shovel sand into the pit again.

I stared blankly at Seraphina above, the wife who once promised to stay with me forever.

The demon who had killed her own brother.

She looked down at me from above:

“Kneel and beg me, and I might leave you a whole body, bury you two brothers together.”

Damien pulled her hand:

“Seraphina, you help dig too. One more look at him, and all I can think of is my poor, dead brother.”

I watched the sand rise quickly, already burying my chest, about to engulf my neck.

My wife’s brother’s corpse was right before my eyes, one hand still gripping me tightly.

“Seraphina, even if I die, I’ll turn into a vengeful ghost and tear you to shreds!”

Seraphina clapped her hands.

“Typical husband of mine, so dramatic. Well, now you can die!”

Just as the quicksand was about to swallow me, the roar of dozens of SUVs echoed from all directions.

Seraphina’s voice trembled as she questioned the woman getting out of a vehicle.

“Victoria… why are you here?”