Chapter 15
The rain had finally stopped.
A cigarette burned down between Leonard’s fingers, the ember scorching his skin before he even noticed.
The pain jolted him back to the present, but he didn’t flinch-his eyes were locked on the man kneeling before
him.
“Say it again,” Leonard’s voice was cold, deadly calm. Each word scraped out from between clenched teeth. “Who told you to put that crap in Lillian’s shoes?”
Travis was trembling so hard his entire body shook. His knees were bloodied from kneeling on the rough concrete, but he didn’t dare move.
“I… it was Miss Snow,” he stammered. “Lillian Snow told me to do it…”
He didn’t even finish before Leonard kicked him square in the chest.
Travis flew backward like a sack of trash, slammed against the wall with a heavy thud, blood immediately trickling from the corner of his mouth.
Before he could get up, Leonard was on him again. He grabbed his collar and yanked him upright, throwing punch after punch into his face.
“You lying bastard,” Leonard growled. “You think I’m stupid?”
Travis choked on blood and spit, arms flailing weakly in defense.
But Leonard grabbed him by the wrist, slammed him to the ground, and crushed his hand under the heel of
his military boot.
A sharp, sickening crack echoed through the room.
Travis howled in agony.
“Please, Captain Grant! Have mercy!” he shrieked, sobbing. “I swear I’m not lying! It really was her! She gave me fifty dollars upfront-said I’d get the other half after it was done! She promised if I got caught, she’d pull
strings to get me out!”
Leonard’s boot ground deeper into Travis’s broken hand.
In his mind, Evelyn’s pale, tear-streaked face flashed before him-how she’d tried so hard to explain that day.
But the evidence had pointed at her. He had believed Lillian’s version instead.
Had he been wrong?
“No,” he muttered, as if trying to convince himself. “She’s the kind of person who’d feel bad about stepping on
Chapter 15
60.00%
an ant-there’s no way she’d ever do something like that.”
He roared, the thought driving him mad, and landed another brutal kick to Travis’s ribs. Travis collapsed, curling in on himself, wheezing for air.
“I have proof!” Travis gasped between coughing fits. “I swear-I have proof!”
He fumbled inside his coat pocket and pulled out a small, grease-stained paper packet, holding it up with
shaking hands.
“Look… this… this belongs to her…”
Before Leonard could react, his aide, Private Zach, stepped in. “Sir, any more and he’s going to die,” he said firmly, casting a wary glance at the barely-conscious man on the floor. “He says he has evidence-maybe we
should at least hear him out.”
Leonard’s chest heaved with restrained fury, his knuckles Lillian.
“…Bring it here.”
Zach took the packet and opened it. Inside was a delicate pearl earring.
Leonard froze.
He knew that piece-it was the birthday gift he’d had specially flown in for Lillian last year from a jeweler in
New York.
Travis noticed him staring at the earring like it was his last hope, and quickly raised his voice, “She told me to just say Evelyn put me up to it. I even asked her, what if we got caught? And she said, ‘Don’t worry-Leonard will protect me.”
Leonard’s fingers closed around the earring.
The pearl was cool, smooth-and sharp at the edges, cutting into his palm. But he couldn’t feel the pain.
All he could feel was a deep, burning shame.
He thought of the nights Lillian had cried in his arms, swearing she’d been framed, insisting Evelyn had tried
to harm her. He’d believed every word.
Now, those tears felt like venom, dripping into every corner of his soul.
“…Get the car.”
He spoke low and flat, voice stripped of warmth.
Zach blinked. “Sir? Right now?”
Leonard’s jaw tensed. “We’re going to Sacred Heart Hospital. Bring him.”
Chapter 15
60.00%
The car cut through the heavy night like a knife, headlights slicing into the darkness.
Leonard sat at the wheel, knuckles bone-Lillian from gripping the steering wheel too hard. Beside him, Zach stayed silent, the captain’s icy rage filling the cabin.
They arrived at the hospital in minutes.
Lillian was in a private suite on the second floor. When Leonard walked in, she was sitting up in bed, dressed
in a soft Lillian hospital gown, her hair loosely tied back to reveal her delicate neck.
Hearing footsteps, she turned and smiled sweetly. “Leonard, you’re here. I’ve been waiting…”
Then she saw who followed behind him.
Travis, dragged in like roadkill, bloody and barely conscious, slumped against the wall as Leonard tossed him
in like garbage.
Her smile vanished.
Her face went ghost-Lillian.
“…What… what’s going on?” she asked, voice shaking.
Chapter 15
60.00%
