Too Late to Beg, My Arsonist Wife

On the day the fire broke out, my firefighter wife happened to be on patrol nearby. I snatched my father’s phone away, refusing to call her for help, and led my parents straight to the rooftop to await rescue. In my past life, the moment she got my call, she rushed over in a panic and dragged us out of the blaze. Yet that very night, her childhood sweetheart slit his wrists because she stood him up for a movie. My wife never blamed me aloud; she even smiled and hosted a lavish welcome-home dinner for my family. Then, in the dead of night, she locked all of us inside the house and set it on fire. "It’s all your fault! If it weren’t for you, Julian would never have died! You should have burned in that fire! Your entire family is going down to the grave with him!" When I opened my eyes again, I was back on the day the blaze began. This time, she abandoned us without a second thought to run to his side. So why, in the end, did she beg for my forgiveness? Piercing screams echoed around us, and thick, choking smoke swallowed the corridor. My parents and I crouched in the corner of the room, pressing wet towels firmly over our noses and mouths. Mom suddenly remembered something and scrambled for her phone to call Daisy. I lunged forward, grabbed the device from her hands, and cut the connection immediately. I hauled them toward the balcony, shouting downward for help. Daisy’s colleague spotted me through the smoke. She deliberately turned away and barked orders to the firefighter beside her. "Head up to the tenth floor. There are people trapped up there." "As for the eighth floor, ignore it." Hearing that, Mom panicked and screamed at the top of her lungs. "There are people on the eighth floor too! Please, help us!" "My husband has severe asthma! The smoke is choking him to death!" Chloe rolled her eyes, her voice dripping with callous indifference. "Daisy told me everything! Your floor isn't even on fire!" "You set a trash fire on purpose just to create smoke and stage a scene!" In that split second, I knew I had been reborn. I was back to the exact afternoon the apartment complex went up in flames. I didn't waste another breath on Chloe. Supporting my parents, I guided them up the stairwell toward the rooftop. Dad collapsed onto the concrete, gasping frantically for air. Cold sweat poured down his forehead, and his face was terrifyingly pale. I tore off my white shirt, bit into my own finger, and scrawled a desperate SOS in blood across the fabric. A rescue helicopter circled above, descending slowly toward the roof. A wave of relief washed over me, and I screamed toward the sky. "Here! Down here! We're trapped!" The cabin door slid open, and my face drained of color. Chloe stood at the opening, glaring down at me with pure disgust. "Wow. You really committed to the act, didn't you?" "What's with the red ink? Did you raid the fridge for ketchup?" The paramedic next to her sneered in agreement. "I don't know what makes entitled pricks like you think you can abuse city resources like this." "Pulling such cheap, dirty tricks!" Mom’s voice cracked from screaming. She held Dad tightly against her chest, tears streaming down her face. She couldn't fathom it. How could the very first responders sworn to protect the public sneer at victims trapped in a deadly fire? I clenched my fists as sheer helplessness and cold rage consumed me. Was I doomed to watch my parents burn to ash all over again? Seeing the fury in my eyes, Chloe burst into a cruel laugh. "What? Not happy about it?" "Let me tell you right now: I wouldn't save you if my life depended on it. You reap what you sow!" "Daisy told me everything. If you hadn't forced her into marriage, she’d already be with the love of her life. Scumbags like you deserve to rot in hell!" The venom dripping from every word finally made me understand. This was why her crew had always treated me with icy hostility every time I stopped by the fire station with lunch for her.In their eyes, I was the villain who stole Daisy’s youth. I was the ruthless manipulator who forced her down the aisle with dirty tactics. I was the monster who kept two soulmates apart. To them, I was absolute scum. Dad’s ragged, wheezing breaths dragged me back to reality. His asthma was life-threatening, and he had inhaled massive amounts of toxic smoke. Every second we delayed brought him closer to the grave. I drew a sharp breath, walked to the corner, and picked up a loose brick. In my past life, surrounded by roaring flames, panic had swallowed my mind. I called Daisy over and over, desperate for a lifeline. Right at the brink of despair, she finally picked up. She rushed in and dragged us out of the inferno. Yet that same evening, her childhood sweetheart, Julian Reed, slit his wrists because she missed their movie date. When Daisy cleared out Julian's belongings, she found a letter. Only then did she realize that Julian’s last living relative had passed away that morning. He had invited her to the movies to confess his love, hoping to build a family with her. Afterward, Daisy held a five-day vigil by his casket. For five days, she neither ate nor slept, a walking corpse. On the sixth day, she acted like a completely different person. She showed zero resentment, smiled warmly, and cooked a celebration dinner for us. She claimed that surviving a disaster guaranteed a blessed life. She had always been terrified of pregnancy, yet that night, she gently proposed that we should finally have a baby of our own. I was ecstatic. I genuinely believed my years of quiet devotion had finally melted her heart. I thought she finally loved me back. That very night, she locked the doors, doused the rooms in gasoline, and set the house ablaze. Agonized screams tore through the smoke as I dragged my burned body toward the bathroom. Daisy slammed her combat boot onto the side of my face, her voice dripping with pure venom. "It’s all your fault! If it weren't for you, Julian would still be breathing! You should have burned in that fire! I'm dragging your whole damn family down to keep him company!" "Why couldn't you just let me go? If it wasn't for you, I'd already be with the man I truly love!" "And your pathetic father always looked down on me, handing me his leftover charity like I was a stray dog!" I wanted to scream my innocence for both myself and my dad. Had she forgotten that years ago, when she was cornered in an alley by violent thugs, I nearly lost my life fighting them off to save her? Back then, overwhelmed with gratitude, she practically begged to be with me. I never forced her into a single thing. And my father? He simply pitied an orphan girl trying to make it alone in the city, so he gave her everything he had to offer. Daisy didn't want to hear a word of it. She took a chef's knife and plunged it straight into my heart. Clutching a framed photo of Julian, she lay down among the leaping flames. Tears tracked through the soot on her cheeks as she whispered softly. "Julian, I avenged you." "Don't be afraid. I'm coming to see you. We'll be together forever now." Only in my dying breath did I realize she had never let Julian go. Whenever I left town on business trips, she secretly met up with him. I lied to myself again and again, pretending they were just close childhood friends. Reality slapped me in the face every single time. In her heart, I didn't hold a candle to Julian. Flames were already licking the rooftop edge. I had no time left. I took the brick and slammed it hard against my own forehead. Blood gushed down my face, stinging my eyes, and my voice came out raw. "Chloe, everything is on me! It has nothing to do with my parents! Let them go!" The paramedic beside her froze, eyes wide in shock. "My dad has severe asthma! He won't survive another minute up here!" "I'm begging you, save my parents!"A flicker of surprise flashed in Chloe’s eyes, quickly replaced by a smug smirk. "Ha. Now you're inventing asthma for your dad?" "Why don't you claim your mom's having a heart attack while you're at it?" "Let me tell you something: if you want a ride down, wait until the crew puts out the fire in this building." "Won't take long. Just another thirty minutes or so." Looking at my father's grayish face, I knew he didn't have thirty minutes left. Since Daisy had gone through the trouble of ordering her crew to abandon us, she had definitely been reborn too. I dashed to the rooftop railing, scanning the ground below for any way out. Through the haze, I spotted an inflated rescue cushion deployed directly beneath our side of the building. The drop was terrifyingly high. I didn't have a second to hesitate. I hoisted Dad up and dragged both parents toward the edge. "Mom, you jump first." "Then I'll hold Dad and jump right behind you." Mom's face twitched with terror. Seeing the blazing fire less than an arm's length away, she gritted her teeth, hoisted herself over, and jumped. The moment she hit the center of the cushion safely, I scooped Dad into my arms and leaped over the railing. Thud! We slammed hard into the cushion and tumbled off onto the grass. I sprinted toward the nearby bystanders, begging to borrow a car, but nobody would hand their keys over to a stranger covered in blood. The entire block was barricaded by police tape, and there wasn't a taxi in sight. Just as sheer panic began to swallow me, I spotted Dad's longtime physician friend, Dr. Lewis, who had just been evacuated from the lower floors. I scrambled over and dropped to my knees before him. "Dr. Lewis, please save my dad!" "His asthma flared up, his inhalers are burned inside the apartment, and he needs an ER right now! Please drive us to the hospital!" Dr. Lewis gasped, rushing over to examine my father. "My god, why is he so pale?!" He spun on his heel toward the parking garage, but Chloe appeared out of nowhere and cut him off. Having descended in the helicopter, she crossed her arms with an arrogant sneer. "You actually believe this clown?" "He's putting on a show to play you. Don't fall for it—the guy is full of filthy schemes!" Dr. Lewis shoved her aside in white-hot fury. "What the hell is wrong with you?!" "I'm a licensed physician! Do you think I can't recognize a patient in critical respiratory distress?" "You are obstructing emergency medical care! I will have your badge and your license for this!" Hearing the threat of legal action, Chloe visibly flinched. "Oh, really? Just because you say you're a doctor makes you one?" "I could claim to be the Chief of Surgery, doesn't mean I know what I'm talking about!" Panicking, she pulled out her phone and dialed Daisy on speaker. "Chloe, what's going on?" Hearing Daisy's cold voice sent chills straight down my spine. In a terrifying flash, I saw her blood-crazed face again, butchering my family for another man. "Daisy, Ethan is claiming his dad is having an asthma attack and wants to rush to the hospital." Daisy's sharp reprimand cut through the speaker like a blade. "Why the hell did you let him out of the building?!" "Didn't I make it clear that he was not to leave that rooftop? Now that he's down, do not let him take off!" "Asthma? It's just another pathetic scam to get my attention!" With that, she hung up without an ounce of hesitation. Mom broke down entirely, her voice hoarse and broken. "What did we ever do to deserve this?!" "We treated that girl like our own daughter!" I dug my nails into my palms, my chest aching with bitter disgust. She was right. We had given her everything. What right did she have to treat us like dirt? Suddenly, Dr. Lewis let out a terrified shout. "His airway is closing! We're losing him! Move, now!" Dad began foaming at the mouth, his eyes rolling back as severe convulsions racked his body on the asphalt.