My Last Plea Was His Worst Mistake Chapter 03

My Last Plea Was His Worst Mistake Chapter 03

When I regained consciousness, the old Horizon Mall had already been reduced to a charred, skeletal ruin.

Dawn was breaking.

Fire hoses continued spraying water, and ash-tainted runoff trickled down the steps like a grimy stream.

Chloe sat beside an ambulance. A tiny adhesive bandage covered her arm—so shallow it barely showed a trace of blood.

Yet Ethan knelt before her, wiping ash from her face with a damp towel, bit by bit.

“Does it still hurt?”

Chloe shook her head, tears clinging to her lashes.

“Not when you’re here with me.”

Firefighter Wyatt Reed ran up from the basement entrance, his face pale.

“Chief, a deceased individual was recovered from the East Wing storage room.”

Ethan’s hand stilled mid-motion.

“Have we gotten a positive ID?”

“Too badly burned to confirm for now.”

Wyatt swallowed hard and added, “But we pulled a boy out of a ventilation shaft nearby. Before he passed out, he repeatedly cried out that a young lady was still trapped inside.”

Chloe’s hands tightened on the blanket around her shoulders. She quickly ducked her head.

“Could be someone else, right? Luna’s too smart to actually stay in there.”

Ethan was silent for two seconds, then pulled her slipping jacket back up onto her shoulders.

“Stop dragging Luna into everything. She’s always staging dramatic outbursts at the worst possible times.”

Wyatt’s face turned red.

“But she called you last night. She said she was in the east wing basement.”

Ethan stood, the damp towel clenched in his fist, water dripping to the floor.

“She said east wing. Chloe said she’d just come out from there. Our search decision was sound.”

“What if Chloe was wrong?”

The moment those words left Wyatt’s mouth, Ethan’s expression darkened.

“Chloe’s an injured casualty.”

He glanced at the bandage on Chloe’s arm.

“Luna’s a drama queen.”

Chloe immediately grabbed his sleeve, rushing to smooth things over.

“Ethan, don’t fight with your team because of me. Luna’s just too attached to you. She’s probably hiding somewhere, waiting for you to come find her.”

Ethan gave a cold laugh.

“Then let her hide. I’m not chasing after her this time.”

A firefighter walked over with an evidence bag.

Inside was a melted necklace—the pendant half-destroyed, blackened beyond recognition.

Wyatt went pale the moment he saw it.

“Chief, this has to be the necklace Luna wore every single day, right? ”

Ethan barely glanced at it.

“Just looks similar.”

“You gave that to her.”

A bitter smirk tugged at Ethan’s mouth.

“Luna knows I’ll check the scene. She’d fake anything to get me to cave.”

Wyatt could barely hold back his anger.

“Chief, this isn’t a trivial matter—someone’s life hangs in the balance.”

Ethan’s patience ran out completely.

“Drop it about that crazy woman.”

He turned and handed a cup of warm water to Chloe.

“She pulled a false alarm out of jealousy. If she burned in there, she had it coming.”

Chloe lowered her head to drink, the rim of the cup hiding her mouth.

But I saw it.

She was smiling.