Forgive the Killer

On the country's most popular live television show, if a death row inmate received forgiveness from the victim's family, they would not be executed. The camera focused on a young man behind a set of steel bars. "Vance Hester. Diagnosed with bipolar disorder. Committed six murders in six months. Currently awaiting execution." The host turned toward the audience. "Our producers contacted the families of every victim in the hope that they might be willing to give him a second chance." But all six families refused to forgive him. They demanded that he pay for his crimes with his life. As the tension mounted, Greyson Reynolds, the eldest son of the Reynolds family and a special guest on the show, spoke calmly, "Letting your emotions dictate your decisions is ridiculous. What good does killing him do? It won't bring anyone back. You might as well be the bigger person and show some mercy." He paused before adding, "Besides, there's always more to the story. Are we really supposed to believe the victims were completely innocent?" Beside him, Melanie Reynolds wore an expression of profound sympathy. "Everyone makes mistakes. How can we condemn someone to death over a single mistake?" Chapter 1 Grant Reynolds nodded, his voice steady. "The purpose of our justice system should be rehabilitation. I support abolishing capital penalty." Applause suddenly rang out from the stage. Vance Hester whistled and clapped, laughing loudly. "Well said!" He turned to the host, his eyes gleaming. "I want to turn myself in. I actually killed one more person, and her family happens to be here today." Panic swept through the audience. Vance raised his hand and pointed directly at the three members of the Reynolds family, excitement in his voice. "The last person I killed was your daughter. So, can you forgive me?" ... The room fell silent. Everyone stared in disbelief at Vance and the Reynolds family. A few seconds later, someone in the audience finally snapped out of it. "Call the police! Someone call 911!" The host fumbled for his phone as chaos erupted around them. Greyson Reynolds was the first to his feet, his face livid. "What the hell are you talking about? My sister is perfectly fine. Stop spewing this garbage!" Melanie Reynolds gripped the armrest, her voice sharp with anger. "We were just defending you, and this is how you repay us? By trying to frighten us?" Vance cocked his head. "You don't believe me? Fine. I'll tell you exactly what happened." He launched into a vivid deion. "I caught her off guard, taped her mouth shut, then grabbed her from behind, wrapped my arm around her neck, and dragged her into my car......" He drew in a deep breath, relishing the memory. "You should've seen how hard she fought. It was incredible." Before Vance could finish, all the color drained from Melanie's face. "Serena! My Serena!" Her body went limp, and she collapsed sideways. Grant caught her, panic written all over his face. "Greyson, call your sister! Now!" Greyson's fingers had gone ice-cold. His earlier composure was nowhere to be seen. With trembling hands, he unlocked his phone and dialed the number he knew by heart. Ring. Ring. Ring. No answer. The three Reynoldses felt their hearts sink. Greyson nearly lost his balance, regret flooding his face. "I never should've agreed to let Serena take that graduation trip by herself......" Just then, his phone rang. Serena was calling him back. Greyson answered almost instantly. "Serena!" Her lazy voice came through the phone. "Greyson, I was in the shower. I left my phone outside. Why'd you call?" Greyson finally released the breath he'd been holding. "Serena, are you okay?" She sounded baffled. "Why wouldn't I be? Greyson, I've only been gone a week. You're seriously worrying way too much." Before he could respond, Serena continued, "Okay, I'm going to bed. I have to get up early tomorrow to watch the sunrise!" Hearing the playful note in his sister's voice, Greyson finally relaxed. Melanie slowly came around as well. She glared furiously at Vance through the steel bars. "You heard her. My daughter is perfectly fine! You deliberately said those horrible things just to scare us!" Grant's face was equally grim. "You have some nerve lying to our faces. Who put you up to this?" Faced with the Reynolds family's hostile stares, Vance merely broke into a wide grin. "Who said I killed your adopted daughter?" The overhead stage lights cast shifting shadows across his face. "Did you forget you have another daughter? Your biological daughter, Maren Reynolds?" Chapter 2 The audience and viewers watching the livestream were instantly shocked. "What? Hasn't the Reynolds family doted on Serena since she was little? She's adopted?" "Then who's Maren Reynolds?" "How come I've never heard of her?" Seeing that he had everyone's attention, Vance explained smugly, "Maren is the Reynolds family's biological daughter. They found her a year ago after discovering she'd been switched at birth. She spent eighteen whole years growing up away from her real family." When everyone still looked confused, Vance smacked his forehead as if he'd just remembered something. "Oh, right. None of you knew about that." He glanced toward the Reynolds family. "They couldn't accept that the daughter they'd raised for eighteen years wasn't biologically theirs, so they kept the whole thing quiet. "They even deliberately shut out their biological daughter." Curious gazes darted between Vance and the Reynolds family. Greyson pointed furiously at Vance onstage. "Stop spreading lies! You don't know anything about our family!" Vance merely shrugged. "Oh? Then how come you didn't even know Maren had been missing for three months?" The revelation sent another wave of shock through the crowd. "What? She's been missing for three months?" "And the Reynolds family never reported her missing?" "Could Vance actually be telling the truth? Do they really care that little about their biological daughter?" But to everyone's surprise, the Reynolds family actually calmed down. "And here I thought you'd come up with something convincing." Greyson looked at Vance with contempt. "Missing? She wasn't missing." A trace of hatred entered his eyes. "She left on her own. After everything we did for her, she turned her back on us." Melanie's eyes reddened. "She grew up away from us and picked up all kinds of bad habits. She refused to listen to us, stayed out all night, and ran around with a bad crowd. We tried to correct her behavior, and she took off without a second thought." Her voice was weary. "We thought about looking for her, but how were we supposed to find her?" Grant didn't say a word, but the disappointment in his eyes seemed to confirm everything they had said. I was already dead. I didn't even have a body anymore, yet somehow, my chest still ached. My soul hovered above the studio as I watched everything unfold below, a bitter smile tugging at my lips. When my family first brought me home, I'd thought I was finally going to receive the love I'd been missing for more than a decade. But the moment I walked through the door, I saw Serena sobbing uncontrollably in Melanie's arms. "Mom, I don't want her to take you away from me." Melanie stroked her back soothingly. "She won't. She won't. You'll always be my daughter." Greyson stood nearby, staring coldly at me. "Don't think being related to us by blood gives you the right to bully Serena." Grant took one look at how timid and uncomfortable I was and merely frowned. "Let her stay here for now. We'll deal with everything else later." I lived with the Reynolds family for an entire year, and not once did they publicly acknowledge who I really was. As for Serena, the sweet face she showed everyone was nothing like the person she was behind closed doors. She had her friends corner me at school. They threw my backpack into a fountain. They stuffed a dead rat into my locker. Eventually, they locked me inside an abandoned equipment room overnight. When I finally stumbled home the next day, Serena accused me of spending the night out with a bunch of delinquents. My family made me stay on my knees all night as punishment. No matter how desperately I tried to explain, they refused to believe me. And now I was dead, but they still didn't believe it. They would rather believe I'd deliberately run away from home. By then, the crowd had started condemning me too. "Of course she's like that. She grew up in the middle of nowhere. No manners at all." "No wonder the Reynolds family doesn't want to acknowledge her." "She disappears for three months without so much as a word? What an ungrateful daughter." Onstage, Vance suddenly clicked his tongue. He tilted his head at the three Reynoldses, looking genuinely puzzled. "Really? That's funny. I remember things happening a little differently." He leaned forward. "Before Maren died, I showed her mercy and let her call you three times. No one answered the first two calls. "And the only person who did answer..." Vance smiled at Greyson, whose face had suddenly gone white. Then he mimicked the pleading voice I'd used when I'd begged for help, "'Greyson, please save me.' But you know what you said?" His smile widened. "Maren, would you just leave me alone? If you want to die so badly, then go to hell." Chapter 3 Suspicion once again turned toward the Reynolds family as people whispered among themselves. "I can't believe Greyson would say something like that to his own little sister. He's absolutely heartless." "If Vance is telling the truth, then we can't trust what the Reynolds family just said. They could've been lying about her." The Reynolds family had always thought themselves superior. Faced with the crowd's judgmental stares, they finally snapped. Tears welled in Melanie's eyes. "What are you talking about? My son would never do something like that." Grant's voice trembled with barely contained fury. "What do any of you know? Do you have any idea what that ungrateful daughter of ours did?!" He turned to Greyson. "Enough, Greyson. Stop covering for her. Tell everyone what she did!" Greyson drew a deep breath. His gaze swept across the room, his expression full of wounded pride. As if he could no longer tolerate the accusations, he finally exposed the family scandal they'd kept hidden. "Before Maren left home, she started a fire in our house!" The audience went silent. "She was angry because we tried to discipline her. That day, while my mom was taking a nap, she started a fire in the living room downstairs and fled!" Greyson's voice shook with anger. "Because of her reckless behavior, my mom almost died in that fire. Serena was the one who saved her." He paused, his voice softening slightly. "Serena risked her own life to get Mom out of the fire. If she hadn't witnessed what happened, we wouldn't even know the truth. "And Maren, that ungrateful brat, never once came back to apologize!" Melanie choked back a sob. "If it hadn't been for my precious Serena that day, I... I would've died in that fire. "I carried Maren to full term, and she tried to kill me. I'm glad she ran away. I don't ever want to see her again." Grant spoke last, "We never acknowledged her publicly because we were too ashamed of her." I hovered above them as bitterness slowly filled every part of me. I hadn't started that fire. When thick smoke began billowing up from downstairs, I covered my nose and mouth and tried to get out of the house. Then I saw Melanie lying unconscious in her bedroom. There was no time to think. Gritting my teeth, I dragged and pulled her away from the flames and toward the front door. A burning piece of wood crashed down on me. The pain was so intense that my vision went black, but I forced myself to keep going until I'd dragged her to safety by the entrance. I couldn't find a single servant in the house that day. Covered in blood, I ran outside and stumbled toward the road to find help. A passing car stopped. The window rolled down, revealing Vance's face… When I woke up again, I was in the basement of his house. Vance told me he'd been watching me for a long time. He said I was going to be his final masterpiece. "You're their biological daughter, but none of them love you. That's really sad." Vance looked at me with pity. "So I've decided to do a good deed and send you to heaven." I begged him to let me go. He gave me three chances. I could call my family three times. If even one of them agreed to save me, he would let me go. However, neither Melanie nor Grant answered. With my last chance, I called Greyson, my hands trembling. This time, someone picked up. I curled up in the corner, my entire body covered in injuries. The moment I heard that familiar voice, tears spilled down my cheeks. "Greyson, please save me." He was silent for two seconds. Then his voice filled with anger and disappointment. "You actually have the nerve to call me? I haven't even dealt with you for setting that fire because you were throwing a tantrum! "Do you have any idea how close Mom came to dying? And now you're making up another lie? Do you think we're all idiots?" I froze, completely bewildered. "I didn't..." He cut me off impatiently, "Enough. Either get your ass home right now and beg Mom for forgiveness, or die out there. Don't ever come back!" The call abruptly ended. I sat there clutching the phone as the screen went dark, reflecting my tear-streaked face. Vance leaned against the opposite wall, his head tilted as he watched me. "That's rough." He walked over and crouched in front of me, reaching out to wipe the tears from my face. "Poor Maren. You're out of chances. This place was already hell for you anyway. You might as well let me take you away." I closed my eyes in despair. This time, I stopped fighting back... Back in the studio, someone spoke hesitantly, "But is it possible Maren ran away because she knew she'd done something wrong, and then she really was murdered? Maybe that's why she never came back." Everyone froze. Grant and Melanie went pale, uncertainty creeping into their eyes. But Greyson suddenly gave a cold laugh. "Stop making ridiculous guesses. I have proof that Maren is definitely not dead." Chapter 4 Grant and Melanie both looked up at him in surprise. Guilt appeared on Greyson's face. "Dad, Mom, I'm sorry. There's something I've been keeping from you. "After the fire was put out, I discovered someone had tampered with the safe. Bank documents for accounts containing several million dollars were missing. "I've had people quietly tracking them ever since. Last month, I finally found out that one of the accounts had been accessed in a nearby town. The identification used belonged to Maren Reynolds." His voice remained calm. "And Vance was already in custody by last month. There was no way he could've done it." Hatred filled his eyes. "There's no way that ungrateful brat is dead. She took the money and has been living it up somewhere this whole time." Greyson looked apologetically at Melanie. "Mom, I didn't tell you because I knew how much it would hurt you." The studio and livestream immediately erupted. "She set the house on fire and stole money? What kind of monster would do that?" "I can't believe I actually felt sorry for her." "Maren was rotten from the start. They never should've brought her home." With the crowd firmly back on his side, Greyson pressed his advantage. "Vance, I don't know why you're making up this entire story. But there's one huge hole in it. Haven't you noticed?" Confidence filled his face. "You keep claiming you killed Maren. So where's her body? Can you tell us that?" Realization dawned on the crowd. When Vance was arrested, the police had thoroughly searched his house. They'd found six sets of remains, each of which matched one of the six known murder cases. Vance quietly listened to Greyson's challenge. He didn't rush to explain himself. If anything, there was the faintest hint of a smile on his lips. "Of course, I can tell you where her body is. But..." He slowly raised his eyes, looking at each member of the Reynolds family in turn. "In exchange, you must agree to forgive me first." Then he added, "Those are the rules of the show, right? If the victim's family forgives me, I won't be put to death. And I'd rather not die." By now, Greyson could no longer contain his anger. He hated being toyed with, and Vance's smugness only made his temper flare hotter. "Fine! If you can actually lead us to her body, the Reynolds family will keep its word. We'll give you the statement of forgiveness you need and make sure you don't get executed! "But if you're lying, our family will make sure you regret it!" Melanie anxiously tugged at her son's sleeve. "Wasn't he diagnosed with bipolar disorder? He keeps changing his story. Why are you arguing with someone who's clearly unstable..." Before she could finish, the side door of the studio burst open. Seven or eight uniformed officers filed inside, led by a grim-faced detective named Derrick Ashley. Several audience members tried to leave, only to be stopped. "This is an active police investigation. No one leaves." A growing sense of dread settled over the Reynolds family. Melanie's face went pale. "What's going on? Why are the police here?" Greyson was nervous too, though he tried to hide it. "It probably has nothing to do with us." But then the officers walked straight toward them. "Mr. and Mrs. Reynolds, a second forensic examination of the basement at Vance Hester's residence uncovered DNA belonging to an unidentified seventh individual. We have strong reason to believe it may belong to your daughter, Maren Reynolds. We need all three of you to cooperate with our investigation." All three Reynoldses turned pale. Greyson blurted out, "That's impossible! Officer, there were only six bodies in that basement. My sister wasn't among them!" Derrick frowned, seemingly unable to explain that himself. A flicker of hope returned to the Reynolds family's faces. Then Vance's quiet laugh cut through it. "Of course you couldn't find her." His voice was almost casual. "Because I put her body..." The moment everyone heard where he'd left the body, disbelief swept across their faces.