I grabbed my keys and ran.

During the entire drive home, images filled my mind—yellow paint melting under flames, the call I would have to make to my father, Derek standing smugly in the driveway.

When I turned onto our street, I saw the smoke first.

Thick gray clouds rising above the houses.

Then flashing emergency lights.

A fire truck blocked part of the road. Neighbors stood outside filming with their phones while heat shimmered above the pavement.

In my driveway, a yellow sports car was engulfed in flames.

Derek stood on the lawn, arms crossed, watching me as if he had just won.

I stumbled from my car, breath ragged.

Then I saw the license plate.

It wasn’t mine.

It belonged to Derek.

Before I could stop it, laughter burst out of me—loud, uncontrollable—just as a firefighter looked up and asked,

“Ma’am… whose car is this?”

The question hung awkwardly in the smoky air.

Derek’s confident smile faltered when I kept laughing. It wasn’t joy—it was disbelief. A grown man had set a car on fire simply to punish his wife.

“That’s my husband’s vehicle,” I said finally, forcing my voice to steady. “Registered to Derek Caldwell.”

A police officer stepped closer. “Ma’am, are you saying you didn’t do this?”

“He called me and said he did,” I replied, pointing directly at Derek.

Derek snapped immediately, “She’s lying! It’s her car! Her parents bought it. She’s trying to blame me.”

I inhaled slowly. “The Lamborghini my parents gifted me is still at the dealership. Here’s the contract and the dealer’s address.”

I pulled the paperwork from my purse and handed it over.

Another officer motioned Derek aside. “Sir, come over here.”

“It was a prank,” Derek said quickly. “A stupid anniversary prank.”

“Pranks don’t involve accelerant,” the officer replied calmly, glancing toward the driveway where a fire investigator was already examining the scene.

The investigator asked for our porch camera footage.

Ironically, Derek had installed those cameras himself. He called them security. I always thought they felt more like control.

Now they were evidence.

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