Chapter 17
I quietly turned off my phone, unwilling to see any more news about fosters at tilg
Whatever happened to them had nothing to do with me anymore.
It wasn’t that I refused to get a divorce. Abigail was the one who wouldn’t let me go. But the
people online didn’t care about the truth. They were juz wy the crowd,
When the cab reached my destination, I paid the fare and began walking, down the path along Tidespan Bridge,
The sea breeze brushed against my face, but I felt nothing
I was completely numb.
Kayla’s death had hit me too hard, and I couldn’t even understand why I was still here and still breathing.
I gripped the bridge’s railing and leaned over to look at the ocean below.
Down by the shore, I noticed a fish that had been washed up onto the rocks by the waves. But instead of giving up, the fish thrashed and flailed as it struggled to get back into the water.
Again and again, it flopped toward the sea until it finally made it.
Watching that fish, something inside me shifted, clearing the fog from my mind.
If even a fish could keep fighting to survive, why should I, a grown man, give up on life just because of a setback?
Kayla wouldn’t want me to fall apart like this. I had to stay alive.
I had to stay alive to get revenge on those who had indirectly caused Kayla’s death–those bastards, Abigail and Joshua.
“Samuel! Don’t jump!”
A shout came from behind me, startling me out of my thoughts.
Before I could turn around, someone grabbed me from behind and yanked me back onto solid ground.
I looked back, stunned, and found myself face to face with Sophia. I had no idea when she’d appeared behind me.
Sophia was breathing heavily, and she looked at me with frustration as she yelled, “How can you be so irresponsible with your life?”
“Huh?” I stared at her, momentarily stunned by her words.
Only now did I realize that she’d thought I’d been about to jump into the sea.
“You got it wrong. I wasn’t-”
Before I could finish speaking, she cut me off. She was still fuming as she asked, “Do you that Kayla would want to see you like this?”
think
I stayed silent and let her vent. When she finally calmed down, I said, “You’ve misunderstood … I wasn’t planning to jump. I just wanted some fresh air.”
Sophia looked at me in shock and frowned. “Fresh air? You didn’t need to come to such a dangerous place just for that!”
She looked like she wanted to slap me, but she hesitated, as if she was worried that she might actually hurt me. Instead, she reached out and helped me up off the ground.
“Don’t overthink things. Just live your life. Kayla would want you to be okay.”
Once we were in the car, she handed me a bottle of water and even twisted off the cap for me.
I took it with a quiet word of thanks.
As we started driving, the radio began broadcasting yet another segment about Abigail and Joshua’s scandalous relationship. They even had callers on air who were furiously insulting me.
“Can’t someone like Samuel just drop dead already? Why does he have to ruin my favorite couple, Abigail and Joshua? He needs to face reality and hurry up with the divorce! He’s just a gold–digger, living off Abigail! That’s just shameless. He’s really a disgrace to men for him to live like this!”
Sophia was startled. She quickly turned off the radio and replaced it with some soothing music.
She glanced over at me with an apologetic look in her eyes. She was clearly worried about my reaction. But my face remained calm.
I’d heard so much of this trash talk that I was numb to it by now.
I smiled at her. “It’s fine. I don’t care what people say about me, so you don’t need to feel guilty.”
