Chapter 5
The station had fallen into dead silence.
An officer turned to the female cop who had brought me in. “Is she telling the truth?”
“Absolutely,” she said firmly. “I personally picked her up at the hotel last night. There were plenty of fans there who witnessed it.”
“Any surveillance footage?”
“Because of the media frenzy, the hotel hasn’t released any security recordings yet.”
The officer frowned. “Strange. How could the same person be in two places at once?”
He looked over at my parents.
“You have two daughters?”
Their faces turned ghostly pale. They shook their heads hard.
“No,” my mother said, voice trembling. “We only have one child. Nina is our only daughter.”
The officer turned next to Bay.
“You sure your girlfriend had the intent to lash out at society?”
Bay’s eyes flicked away. He hesitated, but clenched his jaw.
“Yes, officer. I’m sure. She’s talked more than once about wanting to ‘take the world down with her.‘ I never imagined she’d actually commit a hit–and–run, but… I guess I should’ve seen it coming.”
Judith was hiding behind Bay’s shoulder, but when the officer called her over, she was visibly shaking.
“You,” the cop barked, “what time did she leave your house last night?”
“Um… eight o’clock? Maybe nine?”
“Lies. The timestamp on your photo says 11:35 p.m. You’re telling me she left at nine? If she did, how was she in the suburbs crashing into people at midnight?”
Judith froze.
ེ ཇ་ཇ་ཇ་ཅ༴
But for now, there was no solid evidence that could clear my name. I had no choice but to be temporarily detained.
Outside, more and more families of the victims began arriving. Grief–stricken, enkaged, they were pounding on the station doors, holding signs that screamed:
“A life for a life! Murder must be punished!”
Even with thick doors separating us, their voices tore through.
The fear of funeral wreaths, of blackmail and hate, that I had once lived through, it all came flooding back.
The female officer could sense something wasn’t right with me. She didn’t head home. She stayed.
She looked me straight in the eye. “You staged that whole thing last night, didn’t you?”
I clutched her hand like a drowning person grabbing a life preserver.
Yes. I’m not crazy. I knew exactly what I was doing.”
She furrowed her brows. “But how did you know someone was going to frame you?”
Call it a dream,” I whispered. “A dream that felt too real. Judith… it was like she already knew I’d be in that crash. That’s why I had no choice. I picked the most high–profile person I could find to create an alibi.”
Chapter 5
Chapter 5
The officer nodded slowly.
“What about my parents?” I asked. “Are they okay?”
“We didn’t send them home,” she said. “Too dangerous. The precinct will keep them safe.”
She hesitated, then added carefully, “But your boyfriend… well, he doesn’t seem too worried. He’s outside holding another girl, feeding
the media one accusation after another.”
A bitter taste rose in my throat.
So this was the real Bay. It took being reborn to finally see him for who he truly was.
“What did he say?” I asked, my voice dry.
“He’s blaming everything on your mental health. Says this entire incident stems from untreated dépression. He even told us this wasn’t your first time causing accidents.”
My blood ran cold.
“Not the first time?” I echoed.
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