My younger brother had just fallen into the flotation tank when I rushed to the control panel to find Olivia Carter for help.

I banged frantically on the glass door, but Olivia was immersed in playful chatter with her male assistant.

“Yes, that’s the right way to operate it. The machine will start running…”

She patiently instructed him, even indulging the assistant as he pushed the machine’s speed to the maximum.

That decision cost her brother his life on the spot.

I screamed until my voice went hoarse, but it wasn’t until half an hour later that Olivia finally walked out with an intern.

“Ms. Carter, someone’s dead!”

The assistant, drenched in sweat, dropped to his knees in panic before Olivia.

“Someone accidentally fell into the flotation tank, and that person is… is your husband’s younger brother!”

Olivia gave me a cold glance.

“He was short-lived. You can’t blame anyone else.”

I rasped at her, “Before running the machine, didn’t you think to check if anyone was below? I’ve been shouting for so long, and you didn’t hear a single word?”

The male assistant, Ryan Lee, instantly reddened with guilt.

“It’s all my fault. I was too clumsy…”

Olivia frowned in distress.

“Enough, Ryan isn’t to blame for this.”

She casually tossed me a check for one million dollars.

“Go buy a burial suit for your brother and handle the funeral arrangements.”

“But in pieces like this, I doubt you’ll even recover a body.”

She wrapped her arm around the young assistant and headed out shopping for new clothes. Watching her back, I froze.

No wonder she was so calm—she thought it was my brother who had died.

I sneered and handed the check back to the assistant.

“Tell Ms. Carter to prepare the funeral herself. I won’t be spending this money.”

…

With that, Olivia left the factory with Ryan.

They drove away in a luxury car, leaving clouds of dust in their wake, unaware that blood was already seeping from the industrial mixer they had just operated.

The assistant, sweating heavily, looked at me with sympathy.

“Sir, my condolences. Factories often have accidents like this—nobody ever wants it to happen…”

I shook my head. “Go back to work.”

The one who had died wasn’t my brother at all—it was Daniel Carter, Olivia’s younger brother.

Because I’d once brought him to the plant, and since he was timid and afraid of rumors about being his sister’s secret lover, he pretended to be my brother for convenience. Everyone believed it.

But Olivia, hearing of his death, wasn’t just indifferent—she even seemed a little gloating.

A man had just died in her factory, and all she could think about was strolling with her assistant.

My heart turned to ice. If she wouldn’t care about her own brother’s death, why should I bother?

When Olivia came back later, Ryan was right behind her in a see-through shirt.

“Ms. Carter, you really dared to bring me home in broad daylight. Aren’t you worried your husband will be angry? What game are we playing tonight?”

Olivia eagerly caressed his chest. “That depends on you.”

As they entered the house and leaned in for a kiss, they froze the moment they saw me sitting in the living room, sipping coffee.

“Michael Carter, what are you doing here?”

Olivia’s face twisted with embarrassment. She stared at me in shock.

“There’s been a death at the factory, and instead of handling it, you’re here drinking coffee?”

Why shouldn’t I drink coffee?

Since the funeral wasn’t my responsibility, and no one in her family cared, why should I, as the brother-in-law, shoulder the burden?

I shrugged.

“What else should I be doing, Olivia? Do you think I deserve to exhaust myself for your company while you flirt and cozy up with your assistant here?”

“You really take me for a fool.”

Just then, her assistant called.

“Ms. Carter, that one-million-dollar check—Mr. Carter refused it. He said you should handle the funeral yourself.”

“I understand.”

After hanging up, Olivia smirked at me and tossed several more checks in my face.

“Don’t be ungrateful. A million is more than enough for one life. Your brother was useless anyway, couldn’t do a single job right. Dying isn’t a loss.”

“If you think that’s not enough, here’s another five million. Satisfied now?”

I didn’t even look at the checks, only stared at her coldly.

“My brother, useless?”

I was baffled.

My younger brother had just been admitted to MIT, known as a top student far beyond the reach of most.

Her words made no sense.

Olivia flung a report at me.

“See for yourself. This is what your brother produced—an absolute mess. If it weren’t for you pulling strings to sneak him in, I’d have fired him long ago.”

Then I remembered—two months earlier, Daniel had failed his college entrance and couldn’t find a job. Under crushing pressure from family and society, he came to me.

“Brother-in-law, can you let me work at your plant? Please, don’t tell my sister. If she finds out how useless I am, she’ll tear me apart.”

Out of pity, I agreed. I told everyone in the company he was my brother, so they’d look out for him.

Over time, the story spread, and everyone believed he was truly my blood brother.

Olivia sneered again.

“People like you, sneaking family into the company through back doors—if everyone did this, how would I run a business? Now that he’s dead, at least it saved me the trouble of firing him.”

I almost laughed in fury.

It was her brother who had begged me to let him work. If she cared at all, she wouldn’t have gone two whole months without realizing he was there.

And when he died in the mixer, she was busy flirting with Ryan.

I narrowed my eyes. “If you knew the one who died was your own brother, would you still say this?”

Olivia cut me off with a sharp, mocking laugh.

“How could it possibly be my brother? He’s not that stupid. He’s away at college. There’s no way he’d be at my factory. Your little fantasy is impossible.”

Her certainty made me sick.

Daniel had never been admitted anywhere. He lied about going away to school just to avoid her scolding.

With a gambling addict for a mother and a violent sister, he’d been living under threats his whole life. She even told him flat out: if he didn’t make it into college, he should just marry someone and be done.

Daniel didn’t want to lose his freedom so young, so he worked odd jobs while continuing to study.

And yet, on an ordinary day, his own sister had driven him to death.

Standing nearby, Ryan gloated.

“Mr. Carter, why curse Ms. Carter’s brother like that? Not everyone dies so young…”

Before he could finish, I glared at him and slapped him hard.

“Do you think you get a say here?”

Olivia panicked, rushing forward to shield Ryan.

“Michael, are you insane? Talking is one thing, but hitting him?”

“Ryan, let me see if it hurts. I’ll blow on it for you…”

Her tone, as if soothing a child, made my stomach turn.

Ryan’s eyes filled with tears, his voice trembling.

“It’s all my fault. I was too clumsy. If only I’d noticed sooner, no one would’ve died…”

“I spoke foolishly, and now I’ve angered Mr. Carter. I might as well resign!”

He sobbed and tried to run, and Olivia hurried after him in distress.

At first, I thought she was only playing with this young assistant.

But she really cared.

“Olivia, I’ll ask you one last time—”

I tried to remind her kindly.

“Are you sure you don’t want to see for yourself whether that was your brother?”

She spat at me.

“Your family’s the cold ones. Last time my company needed help and I went to your father, do you remember what he said?”

“He threw me a cold ‘handle it yourself’ and did nothing. And now it’s your family in trouble—why should I care?”

Her words froze my heart. A chill crept from the soles of my feet upward.

Had she deliberately ignored the accident in the control room to take revenge?

“Olivia, no wonder something felt off. Now your true colors are showing.”

“You call my father cold? Have you forgotten how you got where you are today?”

“Without him propping you up, would you have made it this far? Would you have this wealth—or the spare time to keep a young assistant?”

My mockery enraged Olivia. She slammed documents to the floor.

“So what if I do? You’re infertile, a useless man who couldn’t give me a child for over ten years. Why shouldn’t I enjoy myself with younger men if I have the money?”

“And I’ll tell you now—your brother’s death, even if he turns to ashes, has nothing to do with me. I’m going to see my assistant right now.”

“If you can’t stand it, pack your things and get out. If you can’t stand it, then divorce me!”

With that cruel declaration, she grabbed her coat and stormed out.

I clenched my fists. Divorce was inevitable.

But letting her toy with me like a fool—this wouldn’t end so easily.

Olivia, this divorce will strip you to the bone.

I had my lawyer prepare the divorce agreement.

Looking at Daniel, so young and so pitiful, with a violent sister and a mother who favored sons over daughters, I felt a deep ache.

Olivia had made so much money, but spent it all on others. Neither her brother nor her husband saw much of it.

In life, Daniel had suffered in silence.

In death, he was treated with cruelty by his own sister.

I couldn’t bear it. I ordered the mixer and the control room shut down and had the workers recover his remains.

They spent two hours trying.

My assistant approached awkwardly.

“Mr. Carter, he’s been shredded too much. There’s hardly anything to recover.”

“Recover what you can.”

Though I was divorcing Olivia, at the very least, he was family. I wanted him to leave this world with some dignity.

Daniel’s funeral couldn’t just have me alone.

I pulled out my phone, ready to call Mrs. Johnson, my mother-in-law.