My heart began to race for Michael again as I watched him like a hawk. I felt extremely secure with him here.
“How do you propose we handle this, Mr. Shaw? She’s the deputy chief’s cousin, after all. It doesn’t seem very appropriate to punish her too severely,” looking at Michael with a troubled expression, the police chief explained in a small voice.
“I’ll leave this matter to you, but I hope you’ll handle it fairly, Chief Lewis. I’m a very protective man. I won’t let my people suffer for nothing.”
Michael spoke nonchalantly, but the warning in his words was unmistakable; he wanted a satisfactory answer.
“Don’t worry, Mr. Shaw. I’ll handle this matter impartially.”
Although Chief Lewis was put in a tight spot, he caved under Michael’s intimidating aura and agreed right away.
Without another word, Michael approached me with anger simmering in his eyes.
Upon noticing that Michael was staring straight at the handcuffs on my wrists, the chief immediately barked an order to the police officer standing behind him. “What are you waiting for? Uncuff them!”
At his superior’s orders, the officer quickly walked over to remove our handcuffs.
After being in cuffs for so long, the skin on my wrists stung with pain. Ignoring Michael, the first thing I did was hurry over to Natalie’s side to support her.
“Chief Lewis, settling this case should be very easy. I’m sure the surveillance cameras caught the other two people assaulting them. You don’t need me to provide any more evidence, right?”
“I understand. Rest assured, I’ll take care of this matter.”
Seeing as even the chief was so cautious in front of Michael, I realized that I was worrying over nothing.
But when I thought about Michael’s lofty status, I wasn’t all that surprised. It seemed like John and his new woman were the unfortunate ones.
“What’s going on, Franklin? Why are the two of them being released? They attacked me. Are you really going to let them go just like that?”
Unwilling to see Natalie and I walk free just like that, the woman walked to the deputy chief with discontent written on her face.
“That’s enough. You’re on your own now. I can’t help you this time.”
Sighing in exasperation, the deputy chief shook off her hand and promptly walked away.
“Franklin, wait! Don’t go!” the woman called out, but the deputy chief ignored her completely.
“Well? Don’t just stand there! Arrest the two of them!” the police chief ordered the two officers behind him whilst pointing at John and his woman.
Things had taken a hundred and eighty degree turn. The woman stared at the handcuffs on her wrists in shock.
When she returned to her senses, she pointed at Natalie and I with her cuffed hands and shrieked, ”Why are you arresting me? They are the ones you should be arresting!”
But with Michael here, whatever she said would be useless.
John was already scared witless by then. For a long time, he stared wide-eyed at the cuffs on his wrists. When he finally snapped out of it, he broke free from the grip of the police officer restraining him and ran toward Natalie.
“Nat, what happened earlier was my fault. Can you forgive me? You saw it too, right? She forced me to do it. I never wanted to hit you.” Panic-stricken, John expressed his regret toward Natalie with a pleading look in his eyes.
At that moment, his forehead was already covered with sweat.
Even though his apology sounded sincere, he was, in fact, pushing all the blame onto the woman. From this alone, anyone could tell that he was an irresponsible coward.
Recalling how deeply Natalie used to love John, I began to worry that she’d waver.
Staring at her swollen cheek, I was about to remind her that a scumbag like him didn’t deserve her forgiveness after all the pain he had caused her both emotionally and physically.
But Natalie spoke before I could. “John, the one thing I regret most in my life is falling for you like a blind fool. It’s bad enough that you hit a woman. Now that you’re in trouble, you’re blaming it all on a woman again. I can’t believe I loved someone like you. I feel sick just thinking about it.”
Natalie peered at John coldly. Every word she said was laced with disdain. I could see that she was truly disappointed in John, and didn’t possess even a shred of sympathy for him.
John couldn’t be bothered about his image anymore as he grabbed Natalie’s hand and begged, “I know you’re still mad at me for betraying you. I admit my mistake now. As long as you help me this one time, I’ll return to your side and promise to never do anything wrong by you again.”
Without knowing all the things he had done, one might even go soft-hearted at the sight of the sincerity gleaming in his eyes.
Natalie shrugged off John’s hand, then lifted hers to give him a tight slap across the face. With an icy expression, she spoke without a trace of warmth in her voice, “This is payback! And from now on, we have nothing to do with each other!”
With that, Natalie came back to my side and ignored John. After what happened earlier, she had probably let him go for good.
When she looked up at me, I flashed her a grin and gave her a thumbs-up for a job well done.
“Don’t do this to me, Nat. I know I was wrong. You’re the one I truly love. I know that now. I was momentarily bewitched by this woman because she seduced me first. Please give me one more chance, okay?” John scrambled after Natalie and asked her for forgiveness again.
But of course, we knew that his sudden act of repentance was merely because he didn’t want to take responsibility for what happened earlier.
He was no fool. He only asked Natalie for forgiveness because he knew that the odds were stacked against him, but in fact, he didn’t feel sorry at all.
“What the hell are you doing, John? Don’t forget that I’m your girlfriend now!”
Enraged, John’s new chick stomped toward him and shoved him hard.
John glared at her fearlessly and snapped, “I’m breaking up with you! All of this happened because of you!”
Because he knew she was of no help to him, he had no qualms burning bridges with her.
“What did you say? I dare you to repeat what you just said!”
The woman glared back at him, shocked by the sudden change in him as he had always behaved meekly in front of her.
