The Pardon That Wasn't Mine to Give

I was at the hospital with my mother-in-law for a check-up when a frantic woman charged out of nowhere and stabbed her eighteen times.
Every blow was lethal. Blood pooled on the floor, a gruesome tide, and she was dead before the paramedics arrived. Staring at her mutilated body in the morgue, my vision turned red with hatred. I swore I would make the killer pay in blood.
But when I had gathered the evidence and the case went to trial, my husband, who was supposed to be on a business trip abroad, appeared in the courtroom—as a witness for the defense.
A psychiatric evaluation, personally signed by my husband, Justin Bright, became the key piece of evidence. The murderer, Vivienne, was acquitted.
“Luna, your mother-in-law was sixty. She lived a full life,” Justin said, his tone dismissive as he slid a blank check across the table. “Vivienne is only twenty-four. We can’t let one little mistake ruin her entire future.”
“Name your price. How much will it take for you to sign the pardon?”
I snatched the check from his hand and ripped it to shreds, my eyes burning. “Justin, that was your mother!”

1
Justin’s brow furrowed. He picked up his coffee cup. A searing, hot liquid cascaded down my head and neck as Vivienne, the woman beside him, emptied the cup onto me before smashing it on the table.
“His mother is enjoying the sunshine in France, darling,” Vivienne sneered, her voice dripping with venom. “You should really think before you speak. Besides, even if I did touch Justin’s precious mother, he would only ever help me…”
CRACK!
I didn't let her finish. My hand flew across the space between us, the slap echoing in the quiet café.
Justin shot to his feet, his eyes like chips of ice. “Luna, don’t push it.”
He moved to shield her without a moment’s hesitation, his gaze completely ignoring the angry, red blotches blooming on my skin from the burn. I tried to match his cold composure, but my fingers trembled as I spoke.
“Justin, don’t you dare forget how the Bright family got back on its feet!”
His expression froze. He grabbed Vivienne’s arm just as she was about to smash a wine bottle over my head. She wrenched free and brought the bottle down on his skull instead.
“Justin, you bastard! You’re defending your wife?” she shrieked. “I was wrong about you! Go to hell!”
The bottle shattered. He calmly brushed the glass from his hair, his hand gently circling her wrist to soothe her. Then, his cold eyes found mine again. “I’m giving you one last chance to reconsider.”
His assistant immediately held a phone in front of my face. The screen showed my father, alive only thanks to a rare experimental drug, lying in a hospital bed. A man’s hand held the bottle of life-saving pills over a drain.
He tipped the bottle. A few precious pills tumbled into the darkness.
“Sign the pardon, or decide how many more days you want your father to live. Your choice.”
The blood in my veins turned to ice. I tried to stand, but Justin’s hand clamped down on my shoulder, forcing me back into the chair.
“Luna, are you really going to sacrifice your living father for a dead woman?”
His words were like shards of glass, tearing me apart.
Years ago, because of his and Vivienne’s reckless behavior, the Bright family had been targeted by a dozen rival companies. He was kidnapped. When the Bright family was powerless, it was his grandfather who came to my family, begging for help. My father, unable to stand by while his old friend’s son was in mortal danger, offered himself as a replacement hostage. He was shot by the captors, the bullet severing nerves and leaving him permanently disabled.
To repay that debt, Justin, a brilliant biochemist, had personally developed the drug that kept my father alive. I remembered him kneeling by my father’s bedside, his hand gripping mine as he made a solemn vow.
“I, Justin Bright, will love and protect Luna for the rest of my life.”
Three years into our marriage, he had broken that promise. The day Vivienne returned from abroad and smashed the windshield of his car in a fit of rage, all his love and protection for me vanished.
I trembled, my lips quivering as I stared at him. “Justin, do you remember that my father is like this because of you?”
He pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed. “Vivienne is practically your sister. There’s no need to be so vicious.”
“Sign it. You and your father will be fine. Besides, your mother was over sixty. The maximum compensation you could get in court is less than a million. I’m letting you name your own price. You’re coming out ahead here.”
The air was punched from my lungs. “It doesn’t matter whose mother she was! She gave birth to us, raised us! Is a bit of money supposed to make it okay to let her killer walk free while she can’t rest in peace?”
“Just take the damn money,” Vivienne drawled, leaning against Justin and shooting me a malicious glare, utterly devoid of remorse. “This is the most cash a poor bitch like you will ever see in your life, unless another one of your relatives dies.”

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