Chapter 3

Hailey hurried into the police station and threw her arms around Andrew, her face practically glowing with excitement.

She took a while to realize that I was actually sitting nearby. She approached me guiltily and took my hand.

"You probably heard what I said on the phone earlier, right? I'm pregnant with Andrew's baby. How could I just leave him alone in that private room, especially since he's the father of my baby, Nathan?"

Just then, two police officers walked past, talking among themselves. "Did you hear what happened just now? There was some guy at the bar who just got used by a bunch of wealthy women! He just came over to file a report…"

Hailey's face paled abruptly. She pulled Andrew closer to her side, then turned to me and asked, "Did you hear that? If I hadn't made it there in time, Andrew would've been the one going through that nightmare!

"You'd have done the same for someone you cared about, right? You get where I'm coming from, right, Nathan?"

Seeing the way she desperately protected Andrew, I laughed bitterly to myself.

I looked at her without a trace of emotion and asked hoarsely, "What if I told you that I was the one who had been assaulted, Hailey?"

In that instant, everything seemed to go still.

Hailey hesitated, then scowled, her eyes brimming with annoyance. "That's enough! I get that you're hurt because I'm having Andrew's baby, but claiming you were the one assaulted just out of spite is completely irrational, Nathan!"

I couldn't stand the sight of her lashing out at me so viciously for another man, so I turned on my heel and rushed out.

I couldn't stop my mind from flashing back to my memories with Andrew. I had treated him as the only family I had in the world since my parents had died young.

I was surrounded by some thugs in an alley back when I was in university. Andrew grabbed a brick and stood between us. He refused to step aside even though his head was bleeding badly.

I held his bloodied body that day and cried until I nearly fainted, yet he still smiled and teased me. "If anyone wants to lay a hand on my best friend, they'd have to step over my dead body!"

Yet, the very best friend who had once risked everything for my sake had gotten my fiancee pregnant.

I suddenly felt a gust of wind whipping across my face. I had unconsciously wandered to the edge of the rooftop.

"Nathan!" Andrew shouted frantically from behind. He grabbed me and pulled me down from the edge, his eyes turning completely bloodshot. "How can you kill yourself over some woman who can't keep her legs closed? Have you lost your mind, Nathan?"

I stared intently at him, overwhelmed by a crushing pain in my heart, unable to say anything at all.

Andrew took out a cigarette from his pack, lit it up, and took a long drag.

He stared straight at me and said with absolute sincerity, "You can rest assured that as long as you don't want this baby, I'll convince Hailey to get an abortion. Neither of us will ever have children together after this. I told you before, Nathan—I won't allow anyone to hurt you."

Upon noticing my silence, Andrew flicked his cigarette away. He bent down to pick up a steel pipe lying to the side and, without any hesitation, brought it down hard on his own arm.

In that instant, a sickening thud echoed through the air. Andrew went deathly pale and fell hard onto his knees.

"Andrew!"

Just then, the rooftop door was kicked open.

Hailey immediately saw Andrew, slumped on the ground with blood soaking his sleeve, and the bloodied steel pipe lying beside me.

She rushed over and kicked me aside, her eyes completely bloodshot. "How dare you lay a hand on him, Nathan!"

I lost my footing and fell hard onto the bare concrete, an exposed piece of rebar piercing straight into my right leg.

Hailey didn't even bother to check the facts before accusing me of striking Andrew, going so far as to kick me with brutal force.

I could taste the blood rising in my throat every time I drew in an agonizing breath. I gathered the last bit of strength I had left and said hoarsely, "We should just call off the engagement. We're done, Hailey."

Hailey held Andrew gently against her chest and shot me a murderous look. "You'd better stop threatening me by calling off the engagement! I don't have time for your nonsense, Nathan!"

"I actually mean it this time—"

Andrew groaned in pain before I could even finish what I was saying. Hailey grew frantic. She propped him up and led him away, not sparing me a single glance.

I curled up on the ground, barely clinging to life, while a large pool of blood spread beneath my leg.