Chapter 4

Valerie looked at Dylan's swollen, flushed cheek, then turned her angry gaze straight onto me.

Seeing the look in her eyes, my heart dropped.

She was known for her calm, gentle demeanor. It was rare to ever see her express hatred so openly.

Yet today, more than once, she had looked at me with that exact same disgust for the sake of another man.

"Owen, you're completely beyond saving! Since you're so determined to make trouble for Dylan, don't blame me for showing no mercy."

Valerie yanked me out of the infirmary without a trace of hesitation, dragging me all the way down the hall and into an interrogation room.

Right in front of my face, she tore the waiver to pieces, then slapped another document onto the table with a cold expression.

It was a Consent for Psychiatric Evaluation and Medical Release.

There, in stark black and white, it stated that due to extreme job-related stress, I was suffering from mental instability, delusions, and severe emotional outbursts, and was voluntarily requesting to step down from active duty.

"Sign it, swear you'll never show your face in front of us again, and I'll send you off to a quiet town in the countryside where you can live out the rest of your life in peace."

I looked up at her in absolute disbelief.

"Valerie, you want me to pretend to be insane and ruin my entire career? Are you really that terrified that I'll touch your precious lover?"

"You brought this on yourself!"

Valerie cut me off, her words cut into my chest like knives.

"I know you too well. You're stubborn, and you won't just let this go. If you don't want to sign it, fine. I'll make this as loud and public as possible!

"I doubt you want your father's lifelong reputation in this department ruined because of you."

Having my weakest spot gripped so viciously, my entire body shook with fury.

Dylan stood outside the doorway, putting on a worried expression. Valerie quickly stepped outside, her voice immediately softening as she comforted him.

"Don't worry, I won't let him ruin our family."

I stared blankly at the two of them until the tip of my pen soaked a dark ink spot onto the paper.

The last time I signed a document like this, it was our marriage application.

I signed the consent form agonizingly slowly.

I threw the pen down and walked out of the precinct, feeling completely hollowed out.

The moment I stepped out the front doors, a swarm of reporters ambushed me, blocking every escape.

"Captain Hudson! We heard you're suffering from a severe mental breakdown. Have you been working on active cases in this state?"

"Did you arrest Landis by mistake? Was drawing your weapon on innocent civilians a manic episode?"

Someone in the crowd started shouting, and a second later, a barrage of rotten eggs pelted against my body.

Foul, sticky egg yolk dripped down my forehead, running right into my eyes.

In the middle of the chaotic shoving, a hand grabbed my arm, yanking me through the side door and into the underground garage.

It was Valerie.

I was gasping for air, about to shove her hand away, when several gunshots shattered the silence, blowing out the overhead lights one after another.

A crew of masked men carrying heavy machetes dropped out from behind the support pillars.

The leader stared at me, a dark, sinister grin spreading across his face.

"Captain Hudson. Since you personally escorted our boss to his death, the boys came out today to give you a personal escort of your own!"

Landis actually had accomplices active on the outside!

Valerie instantly dropped my arm, spinning around to run toward the exit.

"Owen, I'll go get backup and take Dylan somewhere safe! You have a weapon, hold them off here first!"

I watched her sprinting away without a single second of hesitation, letting out a bitter, lifeless laugh.

Valerie seemed to have completely forgotten that my service weapon had already been confiscated by the department, and the gunshot wound on my chest still hadn't fully healed.

Completely empty-handed, what was I supposed to hold them off with?

The men closed in, step by step. I took a deep breath and wiped the blood and egg yolk from my face.

The oath I took as an officer still flowed through my veins. With fixed determination, I dropped into a textbook tactical fighting stance.

"Come get some!"

…

Valerie climbed into the back of a police cruiser with Dylan, intending to escort him home first.

Suddenly, a panicked voice blared through the radio on the dashboard.

"Calling all units! Calling all units! Suspects have forced Captain Hudson into a van! The vehicle drove straight into the river, looks like a suicide hit..."

The officer in the driver's seat glanced back at Valerie, hesitating before he spoke.

“Valerie... To be honest, Captain Hudson is really tragic. When you 'died' three years ago, he was so heartbroken that he collapsed and spent a full month in a hospital bed.

“From that day on, he turned into a machine. Every time he went head-to-head with Landis, he fought like a man with a death wish, all to avenge you."

Midway through his sentence, the officer froze completely, listening to the static crackling through his earpiece.

"Command just confirmed... On that vehicle... There are likely no survivors."

Valerie's entire body violently shuddered, her mind going completely, utterly blank.

"What did he just say?!"