Chapter 1
Seeing our child struggle less and less in the water, I knelt on the ground, pleading with her to let him out. “He just learned to swim, he can’t hold his breath! He’ll drown! He didn’t mean to kick Asher, I’ll make him apologize, kneel before Asher, please just let him out—”
But my wife just clung to her dear Asher’s shoulder, gently massaging his arm, not even glancing at me. “If you didn’t spoil him so much, he wouldn’t have kicked someone while swimming! I’m a swimming champion, don’t I know how to teach a child to swim? A doting father spoils his son, that’s what they say about you!”
Half an hour later, our child finally floated to the surface on his own. When I broke through the crowd to pick him up, I found his face swollen and pale; he wasn’t breathing from drowning. I rushed him to the hospital without caring about anything else.
Meanwhile, my wife was off to the side, flirting with Asher, choosing swimsuits for the next competition. Outside the emergency room, facing Mr. Quinn who had finally arrived, I couldn’t hold back anymore and cried out, “Liam is gone, and the five-year agreement is almost up. Please let me go, I don’t want anything anymore.”
Mr. Quinn, full of guilt, helped me up with trembling hands and tried to comfort me, “Liam inherited Hazel’s swimming talent, he surely will be alright. Don’t worry too much, he will soon—” He didn’t even finish when the light in the emergency room went out, and the doctor shook his head regretfully at us.
“I’m sorry, the child was brought in too late. The asphyxiation lasted too long, and he had no heartbeat before he even arrived. We did our best.”
“Moreover, during the rescue, we found that he was different from a typical drowning. His stomach was filled with water, and there were binding marks on his ankles. Was this really an accidental drowning?”
I looked up in disbelief and asked, “What did you say?”
In an instant, images of Liam struggling underwater flashed through my mind. I thought he was just trying to complete his mother’s task, but I never imagined that Hazel would actually tie him up to prevent him from surfacing.
How desperate he must have been. Hearing this, Mr. Quinn couldn’t speak any comforting words and angrily cursed, “Monster! She didn’t even spare her own child.”
As soon as he finished speaking, someone delivered a fruit cake, saying it was sent by a Ms. Quinn. “Damn it.” Mr. Quinn looked at the cake in his hand and threw it to the ground. “She hurt her own son like this, didn’t even come herself, and even sent a cake through someone else. She must still be fooling around with that man, and that opportunist still wants to be my son-in-law, dream on!”
“I’m calling her right now, making her kneel in front of Liam to atone!” But after dialing her number a dozen times, Hazel didn’t answer, only my phone rang.
I answered with shaking hands, and Hazel’s impatient voice came through. “Nolan, running to my dad over a little thing, thinking you can fool me by playing the victim with Liam, dream on.”
“It’s just holding his breath, and you took him to the hospital? Your son said he wanted to take over as champion, let him keep practicing, don’t embarrass me, Hazel Quinn!”
“I even sent him his favorite fruit cake, what more do you want? Stop playing these petty tricks, I’m busy preparing for the next competition, don’t disturb me!”
I glanced at the cake on the floor, filled with mangoes. Liam was allergic to mangoes since childhood. How ludicrous that Hazel claimed it was his favorite flavor.
When the nurse pushed Liam’s body out, Mr. Quinn, who was cursing earlier, was suddenly speechless. He choked, trembling as he uncovered the white sheet over Liam’s face, nearly falling to the ground.
“It’s all my fault, I didn’t raise my daughter right. But Nolan, even though the five-year agreement is almost up, before Asher came back, you and Hazel were very good together. The Quinn family only recognizes you as a son-in-law, can you give her another chance? I’ll make sure she cuts ties with Asher!”
Five years ago, Mr. Quinn came to me, tears streaming down his face, pleading for me to help Hazel recover from an old injury. The Quinn family funded me for five years after my parents passed away. To repay their kindness, I had no choice but to accept their arrangement to marry into the Quinn family, tirelessly caring and encouraging Hazel until she returned to swimming competitions.
I thought having Liam would end the five-year agreement, but I never imagined it would end so tragically. And now he wanted me to stay?
Without thinking, I caressed Liam’s cold cheek and said word by word, “We made a five-year agreement. Now that Hazel can compete again, our debt is settled.”
“Besides, Liam wasn’t supposed to be here. It was my greed that kept him, and now that he’s gone, I should leave too.”
I stayed at the hospital with Liam all night until all the formalities were completed, watching as the people from the funeral home took him away.
I went back to the Quinn house to pack his belongings, but as soon as I entered, I saw clothes scattered in the living room. Following the sounds to the swimming pool, I saw Hazel in a revealing swimsuit, lying in Asher’s arms, her hand carefully caressing her belly.
“You are Mommy’s only treasure. Just wait a little longer, and Mommy will bring you back to the Quinn house openly.”
“Hazel, he’s the only one. What about Liam? Today, Liam deliberately kicked me. If he found out you’re pregnant, who knows what chaos he’d cause. Maybe we should abort the baby.”
Hazel gently covered Asher’s mouth, her words unusually cruel, “No way, Liam is already spoiled rotten by his dad. I don’t like him at all. If I could, I would prefer not to have him as a son.”
Listening to her belittle Liam like that, I clenched my fists, letting the blood flow.