A toxic gas leak erupted in the research institute. When I finally found the last gas mask, I realized it had been replaced with a child’s toy mask.

I pounded desperately on the locked hatch door:

“Ethan Miller, open the door! Mom is still inside, her health is fragile—if this continues, she’ll die!”

Just a door away, my husband tenderly embraced Chloe White, his little protégée, holding in his hand the very gas mask I had searched for in despair.

He ignored my pleas for help, a mocking smile tugging at the corner of his lips:

“Rachel Carter, when Chloe’s research won the International Science Award Gold Medal, you reported her for fraud. You got her banned from the academic community, and she was bullied online for an entire year!”

“You’ve always claimed that blind mother of yours is your most precious treasure. Well, now it’s time you learned what it feels like to lose the most important thing in your life.”

The poison invaded my body, weakening my limbs, and I collapsed to the ground. Still, I forced out a final hoarse scream:

“Ethan, you bastard! The one lying in there is your own mother!”

But Ethan sneered:

“Rachel, so this is how low you’ll stoop when you’re desperate—lying through your teeth.”

“Pity. I’ll admit your scientific skills are strong, but your acting skills are pitiful.”

Blood welled in my eyes as I roared:

“I’m not lying, Ethan! Mom came today to cook for me, to deliver lunch in person! When the gas leak started, she tripped, broke her leg, and now she’s lying helpless in the corner. If you don’t save her soon, it’ll be too late!”

Before Ethan could respond, Chloe covered her mouth and let out a tinkling laugh:

“Margaret Miller is New York’s richest woman, a CEO worth billions. Everyone knows she never liked you—why would she personally cook you a meal?”

“Rachel, the gas must have gone to your head. You’re completely insane.”

My vision darkened with rage. Ignoring Chloe’s taunts, I slashed my wrist with a lab syringe. The blood and pain kept me awake.

I turned my gaze back to my husband, still begging:

“Ethan, if you won’t open the door, then at least give me the gas mask! I already hit the emergency alarm—if Mom can just hold on ten more minutes with the mask, the medics will arrive.”

But his eyes glinted strangely. Following his gaze, my heart plummeted. Ethan had cut the signal wires!

Then, with icy eyes, he tore the last gas mask in half before me and crushed it underfoot. My final hope shattered along with it.

“Back then, when you exposed Chloe, she begged you to let her go. And what did you say? That as head of the Research Institute, you couldn’t tolerate someone desecrating national resources!”

“Chloe’s fraud only cost the government a few million dollars, but you still got her expelled from the entire academic world!”

Three years ago, leveraging Margaret’s funding of my project, Ethan had forced Chloe—his childhood sweetheart—into my institute, polishing her résumé with my work.

If Chloe had behaved quietly, I might have turned a blind eye. But she stole my entire team’s data to win that award!

As a researcher serving the United States, living on taxpayer money, I could never tolerate an academic fraud in my lab!

Hearing Ethan twist black into white chilled me further.

“I only made sure she could never do research again. Compared to what you’re doing today, I’m nothing close to as ruthless.”

His face darkened, my words stoking his fury:

“Easy for you to say! You drove Chloe to online harassment for a whole year! She fell into depression, crying herself to sleep every night!”

I sneered. Chloe had flaunted herself on Twitter—one moment bragging about her fling with New York’s wealthy heir, the next showing off as a top researcher in a national institute, basking in adoration.

How else could people have exposed her so quickly once I reported her?

Chloe collapsed against Ethan’s shoulder, sobbing pitifully. The cry of his childhood sweetheart pulled at his heart, draining his patience.

“This toy mask is my final courtesy to you. See for yourself—do you wear it, or give it to your mom? If putting on a clownish mask can amuse Chloe, then your deaths will have meaning.”

Time was running out—Margaret had already been without oxygen for several minutes.

I couldn’t hesitate anymore. I grabbed the toy mask and rushed into the chamber.

Margaret lay weakly on the floor. Her eyes lit up when she saw me. But when her gaze fell on the mask in my hand, she propped herself up and slapped me hard across the face.

“You wretch! I told you to get me a gas mask, and you bring me a toy? Are you trying to kill me? Did you hide the real one?”

My cheek swelled instantly, burning with pain. Facing her storm of accusations, I had no choice but to tell the truth:

“Ethan took the last mask!”

Her eyes narrowed in fury:

“What do you mean!? You’re too cowardly to live, so you’re blaming Ethan?”

If she wouldn’t believe me, I wouldn’t waste words. Ignoring her resistance, I strapped the mask onto her face.

It wasn’t regulation, but at least it could block some of the gas.

Exhaustion hit me like a wave. My body went limp as the poison gnawed at my consciousness. I collapsed on the ground, praying someone would pass by and find us.

Seeing my silence, Margaret thought I was guilty. She spat on me and continued her tirade:

“Rachel, you’re a curse! You killed your father, blinded your mother. I sponsored your research out of kindness, and you repay me by gathering evidence of my embezzlement to report me by email!”

“I humbled myself to bring you food so you’d delete that email, and now this happens! And you want my son to take the blame? Our Miller family’s misfortunes all start with you!”

Unlucky? I forced a bitter smile.

Years ago, when my research team was just beginning, Margaret’s company was still small. She proposed cooperation—I’d provide results, she’d provide funding.

That win-win arrangement built the Miller Group into the giant it is today.

But now, I discovered she had been embezzling billions in research funds all along!

I could endure Ethan’s cheating, and her dislike of me didn’t matter. But honesty in research—that was my bottom line.

That email report—I had to send it, no matter what.

A wave of bitterness surged in me. I didn’t even know if I’d make it out alive today…

Just then, the overhead monitor crackled with Chloe’s delighted voice:

“Ethan, Rachel just said it was Margaret in there with her. Exposed now, isn’t she?”

“If that really were Margaret, why would she give away the only mask? Ethan, your trick with the toy mask is brilliant. Watching her blind mother put on that ridiculous thing suddenly makes me feel much better~”

Ethan’s pampering laugh followed:

“As long as Chloe’s happy.”

Margaret’s eyes widened with hope when she heard Ethan’s voice:

“Son! Is that you?”

But her voice was warped beyond recognition by the gas, and since I’d fitted the mask in a camera blind spot, Ethan hadn’t seen her face.

He scoffed coldly:

“Old hag, know your place! You blind wretch think you deserve to call me son?”

Margaret froze, her smile stiffening. After a few stunned seconds, she realized she still wore the mask and tried to rip it off.

“Son, it’s me, your mother! Hurry, save me!”

But the mask blocked her vision, and her fumbling hands were clumsy under the suffocating gas.

Ethan clicked his tongue in disgust:

“Can’t even pull off a mask properly. And you dare say you’re not Rachel’s blind mother?”

He clapped his hands.

The next moment, the gas pipe cover beside Margaret blew open, blasting her body ten meters across the chamber.

Bones cracked audibly—her ribs snapped. Her head lolled to the side as she fainted.

My pupils shrank.

Every piece of equipment in the institute could be controlled remotely. With the lab shut down, only the computer in Ethan’s control room could trigger that pipeline.

So he and Chloe weren’t just watching—they truly meant to kill us!

Ethan chuckled:

“Chloe, how was that acrobatics show?”

Chloe giggled, clapping:

“Amazing, Ethan! I want more!”

More toxic gas surged in, thickening the air into sticky dampness.

“Ethan, you’d kill your own mother? You’re a monster!”

I scrambled up, trying to rip off Margaret’s mask to prove her identity. But her face was a bloody ruin from the impact, the mask fused into her flesh. Peeling it back already revealed bone.

I froze mid-motion.

“Why stop? Too scared to finish?”

The mocking voice rang from the monitor:

“Rachel, even now you’re still trying to trick me? I called my mom’s assistant, Mr. Johnson. He said her car has been parked at the company all day. She never left!”

A bitter smile tugged at my lips.

Ethan would never know—Margaret had deliberately erased her tracks, even leaving her car behind, because she knew her purpose in visiting me wasn’t pure.