I wiped the shoes until they were spotless, polished enough to reflect my ruined face.

When I finished, I grabbed Evelyn's pant leg.

"Can you open the door now?"

I looked up at her, humble and desperate, as if clutching the last straw in the world.

Evelyn kicked me away.

My head struck the wall, and my skull buzzed.

Victor covered his mouth and let out a soft laugh.

"Evelyn, he still doesn't seem to understand what he did wrong."

That kick shattered the last thread of hope in me.

I climbed up from the floor and rushed toward the storage room, trying to find a hammer or a crowbar.

I had to break the door open.

Evelyn was faster. She grabbed my hair and slammed me against the wall, pinning me there.

I could not move.

"Are you done acting insane?"

Her arm held me like an iron clamp.

Victor strolled toward me and leaned close to my ear.

In a voice only the two of us could hear, he whispered, "I want your children dead."

My whole body jolted.

"That way, my son can inherit everything from the Hart family without anyone standing in his way."

It was as if lightning struck me.

"It was you! Victor!"

I struggled wildly and roared at Evelyn.

"It was him! He's trying to kill our children! Evelyn, wake up!"

Disgust only deepened on Evelyn's face.

She screamed, "If you dare slander Victor one more time, I'll lock you in there with them!"

Her distrust hurt more than any torture could.

Then a heavy thud came from inside the sauna.

My daughter's coughing stopped.

My son's faint crying also disappeared.

Inside, there was only a deathly silence.

My heart went cold in an instant.

"No. No..."

I murmured, all strength draining from my body.

Victor looked at my despair and suddenly spoke in a voice full of fake kindness.

"Daniel, my son has leukemia. He urgently needs a bone marrow transplant."

His face was tragic, as if he were the savior here.

"Sign this agreement and consent to donate bone marrow to my son. Then I'll persuade Evelyn to open the door."

He took out a document and a pen.

"Otherwise, I'm afraid the children really won't make it."

So this was his real goal.

He wanted to trade my children's lives for his son's.

Just then, from behind the door, my son's last weak cry came.

"Daddy... I feel so bad..."

I completely broke.

I could not lose them.

I grabbed the agreement and signed my name at the bottom without reading a single word.

My hand trembled so badly that my signature came out crooked and broken.

Evelyn and Victor finally forced the sauna door open.

The moment it opened, they saw our two children lying lifeless on the floor.

Their bodies were covered in terrible blisters from the heat. Their little faces had turned a suffocating bluish purple.

At the sight, my vision went black, and I collapsed straight to the ground.

In the haze, I saw Victor rush forward before Evelyn could.

He reached toward the children's noses.

He knew they were already dead.

But he immediately let out a piercing scream.

"Call an ambulance! They're still breathing!"

Then he pointed at my unconscious body and cried to Evelyn.

"Evelyn, you had the temperature set. Nothing happened last night. How could this suddenly happen?

"And Daniel just happened to faint right now.

"Could it be..."

He did not finish the sentence, but the meaning was obvious.

"That monster! He would even scheme against his own children!"

Evelyn believed him.

She kicked me viciously, not caring whether I lived or died, and rode away in the ambulance with the children.

When I woke up, I was lying on the bed in our bedroom.

The moment I opened my eyes, I met Evelyn's bloodshot gaze.

She grabbed me by the throat and lifted me from the bed.

"You still have the nerve to sleep here.

"The children are in the ICU fighting for their lives! This is all your fault!"

She was like an enraged beast, screaming until her voice tore.

"You insane man! If anything happens to them, I'll bury you with them!"

As suffocation closed in, I slapped desperately at her arm.

"Hospital... I need to go to the hospital and see them..."

She threw me away, and I crashed back onto the bed.

"You don't deserve to."

She stormed out and locked the bedroom door from the outside.

"Before I decide how you'll atone, don't even dream of seeing them."

I was imprisoned.

No matter how I cried, shouted, or pounded the door, no one answered.

Not long after, my phone lit up.

It was a text from Victor.

Attached was a photo of a critical condition notice. The picture was blurry, but the words "critical condition" were painfully clear.

Under it was another line.

"The doctors say it's very dangerous. Prepare yourself, Daniel. Those are your children. How could you do something like this just to get Evelyn's attention?"

Every word pushed the blame onto me.

After two days locked inside, the door finally opened.

Evelyn stood there, haggard, but the hatred in her eyes had not faded at all.

"Come out."

Her voice was hoarse.

Two bodyguards dragged me downstairs into the living room.

The room was full of people, relatives and friends of the Hart family.

In the center of the room stood enlarged memorial portraits of my twins.

In the photos, they smiled with innocent brightness.

Victor stood beside Evelyn and whispered something to her.

Evelyn nodded.

Then she came to me.

"Victor said we should hold a memorial blessing for the children and gather prayers for them.

"It will also let you atone properly in front of everyone."

I looked at her and felt only absurdity and grief.

She actually believed such nonsense.

She grabbed my arm and shoved me roughly to the floor, facing the children's photos.

"Kneel.

"Confess your sins to them."

I did not move. I only stared at her coldly.

Seeing no reaction from me, Evelyn burned with rage.

She picked up my son's favorite superhero action figure from the table beside her.

"If he may never wake up again, keeping these things will only feed your delusions."

Before the words had fully fallen, she smashed the figure hard onto the floor.

The toy shattered into pieces.

My heart shattered with it.

My son had begged me for that toy for so long before I finally bought it for his birthday.

The relatives and friends whispered among themselves, their eyes full of accusation and contempt as they looked at me.

Evelyn's cruelty continued.

She picked up my daughter's first-curl locket.

I had made it myself with the first lock of hair cut from my daughter's head.

She held up the tiny locket and walked toward the metal fire basin in the corner.

"I'll burn it as an offering for your atonement."

"No!"

I could not bear it anymore.

I sprang up from the floor like a desperate animal.

I roared, "Evelyn Hart, who do you think killed them?

"It was you!

"They died the night you locked them in the sauna!"

Evelyn froze.

She turned and looked at me as if I had gone mad.

"What nonsense are you saying now?"

She thought I was raving, trying to escape blame.

She was about to crush the locket in her hand.

Just then, her phone chimed.

A multimedia message had arrived.

She pulled out her phone impatiently, assuming it was another sympathy message.

But when she saw the screen, her whole body stiffened.

It was the autopsy report from the hospital.

Under cause of death, in bold black type, it clearly read: acute respiratory failure and suffocation caused by high temperature.

Below that was the time of death.

It was the night they had been locked in the sauna.

Evelyn's pupils shrank violently.

Every trace of color drained from her face.