Chapter 12: Don’t Expect Me to Marry You

Chapter 12: Chapter 12: Don’t Expect Me to Marry You

Terrified, I curled into a ball, hugging my head, too afraid to make a sound or even look.

The stench of blood and agonizing screams echoed through the alley. The rain was pouring, and it was so dark I couldn’t make out the man’s face.

All I knew was that he was tall and his attacks were vicious, meant to kill.

My heart finally settled back into my chest when I heard the approaching sirens.

"Police!"

By the time the officers ran over, the tall assailant had already stumbled away, leaving only a pool of blood on the ground. It was a stark reminder that he was real, not a figment of my imagination.

"Who did this?" an officer asked.

I remained curled up in the corner, too scared to say a word.

"Some lunatic! Aren’t you cops? Go get him!" one of the men who’d been beaten yelled.

An officer came over to me. "Did you see who it was? Which way did he run?"

I shook my head, numb.

’Even if I had seen him, I wouldn’t have said anything.’

’They all deserved it.’

"They... were trying to assault me," I said, my voice hoarse.

The officer frowned. "Take them all in!"

"Shit, look at how she’s dressed. We thought she was a prostitute," one of my assailants sneered.

I trembled all over. My legs felt weak as I forced myself to stand, wrapping my arms around myself. "I’m not..."

"Let’s head back to the station!"

I followed the officers, still trembling from head to toe.

Just as I stepped out of the alley, I saw Julian Fletcher’s car.

He had come back. He got out and stood in the rain, looking somewhat disheveled.

He took a step forward, as if he wanted to say something to me, but though his Adam’s apple bobbed, no words came out.

I stood my ground, looking at him, and let out a sarcastic laugh. "Julian Fletcher, I don’t love you anymore."

Never again.

This love, this debt I owed, had already left me battered and broken.

"Just let me go... and I’ll let myself go," I pleaded, my voice thick with tears.

’I knew it. He hadn’t rushed back because he was worried about me. He was just afraid he’d have a hard time explaining it to his mother if I died here.’

With an officer’s jacket draped over my shoulders, I smiled at him, my face deathly pale. "Julian Fletcher... I don’t love you anymore."

He remained frozen to the spot, not following me.

’He was probably disgusted by what a disgrace I was.’

My foot was injured, bleeding onto the ground.

I limped into the police car, feeling like a soulless corpse.

At the station, I recounted what had happened, but I never mentioned the man who had intervened.

He was like a demon in the night, appearing and vanishing in a flash.

After I gave my statement, the police told me I was free to go.

My foot hurt so much it had gone numb. I felt nothing as I forced myself to walk out of the station, only to collapse the moment I was outside.

The rain was still coming down. I felt a chill and curled into myself.

"You..." Suddenly, an umbrella opened over my head.

I looked up. It was a police officer.

"I saw your foot is injured. I’m heading to the hospital myself, so I can give you a ride."

Seeing my wariness, he spoke again. "I’m a detective. Name’s Zeke Shaw. You don’t need to be afraid of me."

I nodded and cautiously got to my feet, glancing at his car.

"I’m... a mess." ’I’m covered in blood.’

Zeke Shaw handed me some tissues. "Don’t worry about it. I’ll get the car washed tomorrow."

"Thank you..." I felt awkward, but I got in the car anyway.

’I had nowhere else to go.’

"What’s a young woman like you doing at a place like Nocturne in the middle of the night? You need to learn your lesson! You’re lucky nothing worse happened," Zeke Shaw chided me angrily on the way to the hospital. "Things haven’t been safe around here lately. There have been several murders in that area."

"Thank you..."

"What about your family?" Zeke Shaw asked.

I shook my head. "I don’t have any family... My mom and dad are both dead."

’I have no family left.’

Zeke Shaw froze for a second, his grip tightening on the steering wheel. "Even so, that’s no reason to go astray. There are plenty of ways to earn a living. Don’t get involved in anything illegal."

’I knew he’d misunderstood. He thought I was a prostitute.’

I didn’t bother to explain.

’It wasn’t like there was much of a difference anyway.’

When my parents passed away, they didn’t leave me much. Their company was saddled with a mountain of debt, and it was the Fletcher family who paid it all off for me.

And Julian Fletcher was the one who fought desperately to save my life.

’The moment the Fletcher family took me in... I think I lost myself.’

"Cecilia Caldwell, the Fletchers took you in. Even in death, you belong to me. Understand?" Julian Fletcher had warned me more than once that when he touched me, it was my atonement. I was repaying the Fletcher family’s kindness. It had nothing to do with love.

That’s why he told me to never dream of him marrying me.