Chapter 3

I suspected the “copper” Lily sold me was stolen from Mr. Young.

I reminded him that the paint could be stolen, and he casually mentioned the pieces of iron too, which meant he knew the paint and iron had been stolen all along.

Besides Lily, who else would steal both pieces of iron and paint together?

After I mentioned Lily, he was obviously panicking.

But the police told me Mr. Young had no problem.

After Lily disappeared, they had discovered the fake copper and traced its source, then investigated Mr. Young.

They found that on the day Lily disappeared, as well as the two days before and after it, Mr. Young had stayed in his store the whole time and had not gone out, and the businesses on both sides could prove it.

My behavior instead made the police more suspicious of me.

“Ethan Carter, Lily isn’t related to you, so why are you so invested in her?”

Grace stepped forward to speak up for me. “Officer, what kind of thing is that to say?”

“Ethan did kill someone, but the person he killed deserved to die! Now Ethan has served his time and changed, so are you not even going to let him be a good person?”

“He saw that Lily was pitiful, so he has helped her out with several thousand dollars over the past two years, and he wouldn’t even spend that much on himself...”

After leaving the police station, I learned that Lily still had not been found.

No living person had been seen, and no body had been found.

And if she had really been abducted and sold, then as time went on, it would become hard to investigate even if clues were found.

I treated Grace to another meal and even opened two bottles of good liquor.

When she was drunk, Grace threw herself into my arms and shouted drunkenly, “What exactly are you thinking? Can you just give me a straight answer?”

“I’m over forty, and driving a taxi has almost wrecked my body, so in two more years, I won’t be able to have a baby even if you beg me!”

“Ethan Carter, if you don’t have another child, you’ll never get out of this for the rest of your life!”

She had sprayed on perfume on purpose, and it was a little sharp.

I held her and kept drinking one glass after another.

I thought back to when I had just gotten out of prison, when Grace helped me open this scrap yard.

Although I had paid back all the money over the years, I could never repay the kindness.

As I thought about it, I heard Grace’s faint snoring.

She was sound asleep.

I got up, walked into the bedroom, opened the drawer, and took out several stacks of money.

This was all my savings.

The money from selling the jewelry I found was also in there.

Originally, I had not planned to sell that jewelry, because after cleaning it up, it looked as good as new, and I had thought I could put it on Grace when I proposed.

That had been the only thing I lived for before.

Now it had changed.

I also could not figure out what was so special about that girl Lily.

She stole Mr. Young’s iron and paint, so she was a thief.

Then she sold pieces of iron as copper, so she was a liar.

She had never said thank you to me, and she could not even be considered polite.

But I just could not suppress the voice rooted deep in my heart: I had to save her.

My instincts told me Mr. Young had something to hide.

My instincts had always been accurate.

Just like the human trafficker I found back then, the police could not produce evidence, but I pried the truth out of his mouth by force and then stabbed him to death.

But that time, it had been too late, and I had not been able to save my daughter.

This time, I had to save Lily.

“Grace, all the money is here, so just take it and use it.”

“If I can come back, we’ll do whatever you say.”

“If I can’t come back, drink less and don’t stay up late anymore.”

After writing the note, I pressed it under the money and went out with a sharp iron rod.

It was late at night.

Mr. Young’s house was completely dark.