Chapter 3

"What happened here? We received a call about shots fired."

I opened my mouth, about to speak.

"I called it in."

Noah, who had been silent all this time, stepped forward and pointed at me with a heartbroken expression.

"Owen has been under extreme pressure from his cases lately, and his mental state is completely unstable. Just now, he discharged his firearm without authorization to threaten innocent civilians."

My eyes widened in utter disbelief as I stared at the man I had respected most my entire life.

"Confiscate his sidearm first, bring him back to the station, and suspend him pending investigation."

Noah never met my eyes. He reached down and unclipped my holster.

The sudden weightlessness at my hip felt as if every drop of blood I had shed, every life I had fought to protect all these years, was being stripped away at once.

"Owen..."

My colleagues exchanged uneasy glances. They looked at the fresh blood soaking through my shirt, then at Valerie, who stood nearby with an icy, detached expression. In the end, they pulled out a pair of handcuffs.

The cold steel clicked around my wrists.

Valerie stopped in her tracks as she passed me, Dylan in her arms.

"Owen, as long as you stop hounding us, I won't press charges for the unauthorized firearm discharge. I'll sign a waiver for you."

A sudden laugh burst from my chest, painful and hollow.

How absurd. I had poured my entire life into serving as a police officer, only for my lover and my mentor to put handcuffs on me in the end.

When they escorted me back to the station, muffled whispers invaded my ears like needles.

"Man, Owen is actually kind of tragic."

"Tragic? Whatever the case, pulling a gun was totally out of line. Besides, Valerie has a happy family now. He's insisting on dragging this out, so isn't he just playing the bad guy?"

I stopped dead in my tracks, staring wide-eyed at the officers who had once walked through life and death with me.

"So... Even you guys knew all along?"

The few officers I was staring at avoided my eyes. After a long pause, an auxiliary officer spoke up with a guilty conscience.

"Captain Hudson, when Valerie and Dylan got married back then, they invited half the department.

"She gave every one of us a massive cash gift and practically begged us not to slip up. She said your mental state was unstable and was afraid of triggering you..."

I stood frozen in place, a memory from five years ago flashing vividly in my mind.

After Valerie and I picked up that "marriage license," we didn't even hold a proper ceremony.

Back then, she had wrapped her arms around me, her eyes overflowing with devotion.

"Owen, neither of us is financially stable right now, so let's not be wasteful. Once things settle down, it won't be too late to have our wedding."

Looking back now, those were probably just excuses. She was simply feeling guilty.

In the infirmary, after my wound was crudely stitched up, the door swung open before I could even catch my breath.

Dylan walked in, holding the signed waiver.

Without Valerie present, the gentle mask slipped entirely off his face, replaced by a victor's mocking smirk.

"The first time I met Valerie, I swore I'd make her mine. Turns out, it wasn't even that hard."

Dylan looked down at me, his eyes filled with pure contempt.

"I used to worry about how tough you'd be to handle as head of Homicide. But then I realized you don't even know a thing about pleasing a woman.

"Every time Valerie saw those scars on your body from your cases, she felt sick to her stomach. You turned her off completely."

My body went rigid as I glared at him.

Dylan thoroughly enjoyed my suffering, letting out a heavy sigh with mock pity.

"Oh, and by the way... Did you really think her faked death three years ago was because she ran into actual danger?

"To tell you the truth, she was already pregnant with Archer back then. She was terrified that Landis would target her and endanger the baby, so she took advantage of the situation to stage her death and slip away.

"As for you... We originally planned to keep you around as a human shield to draw the heat off the three of us. Who knew you'd be tough enough to survive Landis and actually end up catching the guy?"

Footsteps sounded outside the door. Dylan's face shifted in an instant. He struck himself hard across the jaw, his expression suddenly twisting into pitiful remorse.

"Owen, I'm so sorry, I truly am..."

A second later, Valerie stormed into the room, her eyes burning with rage.