My Last Plea Was His Worst Mistake Chapter 08

My Last Plea Was His Worst Mistake Chapter 08

It rained heavily on the day of my funeral.

My mother, Helen Moore, wouldn’t let Ethan’s family help with anything.

She said I’d suffered enough while I was alive, and she wouldn’t let Ethan’s name touch me in death.

Ethan arrived in his formal black uniform, his boots caked with mud.

He carried a clear display box.

Inside was the restored ring—still warped from the heat, but the engraving of his name had been cleaned and now stood out dark against the blackened metal.

It looked like dried blood…

He stood at the entrance of the funeral parlor.

“Ms. Moore.”

The moment Helen saw him, she moved to shut the door.

Ethan blocked it with his hand.

The door slammed against his knuckles with a dull thud.

He didn’t pull back.

“Please let me see her off.”

His voice was barely audible.

“I’m begging you.”

Helen looked at his hand.

That hand had saved countless people. From fires, from floods, from collapsed buildings.

That same hand had hung up on my call.

That same hand had ordered the east wing fire door sealed.

Helen let out a bitter laugh.

“You’re begging me? Did you hear Luna when she begged you?”

Ethan’s face went pale.

Helen spoke slowly, each word deliberate.

“She told you the door was locked. She told you a child was trapped in there with her. She told you she wasn’t lying. Ethan Carter, the last thing my daughter ever heard was you calling her a liar.”

The display box wobbled in his grip. The ring clinked against the plastic.

Helen snatched it from him and threw it at his chest.

“Take it back. Don’t let your name touch her ever again.”

The box hit the ground. The ring rolled down the steps.

Ethan lunged for it, his knees slamming against the wet stone, rainwater splashing up.

The twisted ring cut into his palm. Blood mixed with rain.

He didn’t seem to notice.

Helen stood in the doorway.

“Don’t kneel to me. That door—the one you sealed—that’s where you should be kneeling.”

Ethan kept his head down, rain dripping from his hair.

After a long moment, he forced out a hoarse whisper.

“I’m sorry.”

Helen smiled, but tears fell down her cheeks.

“It’s too late. Luna can’t hear you anymore.”

The door slammed shut in his face.

Ethan knelt in the rain, clutching that ring in his bleeding hand.

When I was alive, I spent so long waiting for him to turn around.

Now that I was gone, he finally fell to his knees.

But I no longer wanted to open that door.

After the funeral, Ethan returned to Westbrook Municipal Fire Station.

A suspension and investigation notice sat on his desk.

Next to it was Chloe’s latest statement.

She had written: [I only followed Ethan’s judgment entirely. He insisted Luna constantly staged false predicaments to manipulate sympathy. He said the east wing didn’t need to be searched. He said she was just jealous.]