Chapter 238 I Killed Someone
Tobias wondered whether the universe had a bone to pick with him. He had not even managed to have the one night stand he wanted before he was beaten up out of the blue. He was blinded by fury and the weapon in his hand felt like an extension of him. He knew he could not afford to offend Alexander, but by that point, he couldn’t care less.
He was sure that the back of Alexander’s head would crack open if he struck him hard enough.
He was already thinking about the glorious moment when Alexander’s head would split open. He would then boast to others about how he had defeated the almighty Alexander Duncan by beating him into a pulp in an act of self-defense.
However, reality was often far less merciful than one would imagine.
Before Tobias could even strike Alexander on the head with the lamp, he heard a resounding crack and felt the back of his own head caving in. It was then followed by the sensation of warm liquid trickling down his nape, which caused his body to turn cold.
Courtney was standing behind him with a steel pole in her grip; her face was a ghastly shade of white.
Tobias was startled at the impact and he mechanically turned to look at her in disbelief.
The pole clattered to the floor noisily and rolled over to the corner of the room, joining the pile of destroyed s*x toys. Tobias opened his mouth to speak, but before the words could come out, he blacked out and fell from the bed.
“I-I killed someone…” Courtney stuttered, staring at her own hands as her face was drained of color. She could not so much as move an inch forward; her legs felt as though they had turned into lead.
“There’s so much blood…” There was an intense ringing in her ears and her vision was also blurring. She was trembling all over and she could not stop murmuring the word ‘blood’.
However, before she could regain her senses, her whole body was pressed against the warmth of someone’s chest. A strong pair of arms encircled her and held her tight; it nearly suffocated her.
Alexander held her in a tight embrace, as if she was something precious that he had lost and found. He buried his face into her shoulder until he was convinced that she was real and only then did the panic in his eyes fade away.
Up until the moment she showed up, he had thought that he would never see her again. Tobias had made it sound as though something terrible was about to happen to the woman he loved the most.
The police siren was wailing outside the window. It did not take long before the police came up the stairs to seal the crime scene. As they brought out all the witnesses, Courtney exited the room with Alexander holding her in his arms. She was shaken, but before she could get a word in with him, she was brought away by the police for questioning.
“Name?”
“Courtney Hunter.”
“Your age?”
“Twenty five.”
The police officer continued to ask her questions and when he was done, he pulled up her profile from the database. Upon scanning the information, he looked up at her in surprise. “You’re not Otharian?”
Courtney nodded and explained, “I grew up in Otharia, but I migrated to America five years ago. The incident has little to do with me, so it won’t trigger the embassy’s involvement. Ask me anything that you need to.”
If there was a serious infraction on her part throughout the incident, the police in Otharia had no jurisdiction to deal with her due to the fact that she held an American citizenship.
Upon hearing that, the police nodded somberly. “Please proceed with your side of the story.”
“It went like this…” Courtney began to speak and told the police officer everything that led to her being involved in the incident—down to the very last detail. “I don’t know why he asked me to meet at the hotel and I’ve never heard of this hotel before. Oh, right—I was also the one who called the police,” she concluded.
“So, how are you related to the man who beat the victim up?”
Courtney paused as she was slightly caught off guard by the question. “He’s…”
Just as she trailed off in hesitation, a knock came from the other side of the door and one of the more senior police officers opened the door. “Courtney Hunter can leave now,” he informed with an air of authority.
The police officer who was in charge of the questioning was taken aback by his senior’s statement. “But, Officer Andrew, I haven’t taken her statement.”
“There’s no need for that. The investigation is over. She can leave now.”
The officer had an unreadable expression on his face and the officer who was in charge of the questioning was not a fool. He immediately understood what his senior was trying to say and turned to look at her. “You can go now, Miss Hunter,” he said as he stood up from his seat.
The intervention did not surprise her. She knew that she would not be here for long. After all, Alexander was also around and a man of his stature would not be in a police station for an extended amount of time.
As Courtney walked out of the station, she saw Alexander standing in the lobby.
His face was injured and there was a black-and-blue bruise at the corner of his mouth. It was probably where Tobias had punched him after she had distracted him by calling out his name during the fight.
She gritted her teeth as she crossed over to Alexander. As she felt so small and awkward, she did not know what to say to him.
Now that she thought about it, she had not seen him for a while. They maintained their distance since the break-up and religiously avoided each other even during cocktail and dinner parties in Melrose City. Who would have thought that we would meet again under such disastrous circumstances?
“Come on. Josh will send you back to the hotel. He’s already at the entrance,” Alexander said in a gravelly voice before he turned to stride toward the exit.
Courtney blinked and she fell in step behind him after hesitating for a few seconds.
The car drove away from the police station and steered into the busy Shanghai traffic. The urban scene in Melrose could not even begin to compete with the congestion there.
“Where are you staying?” Alexander asked the moment they entered the car.
Courtney was reluctant to answer and her eyes fell on the dry blood on the corner of his mouth. “We should get you to the hospital.”
“No need.” Alexander frowned. “It’s not a big deal—”
He broke off into a violent coughing fit before he could finish his sentence, as if his body decided to contradict him at that very moment.
Josh kept his eyes on the road as he drove, but upon hearing the coughs, he glanced into the rearview mirror and pointed out hastily, “It is a big deal. Miss Hunter, President Duncan got into a brawl with Elijah a while ago and he ended up with two broken ribs. He was supposed to be recovering in the hospital, but being the brilliant man that he is, he decided to pick a fight with someone before his injuries could heal.”
“What?” Courtney raised her brows in shock. “Was he badly injured the last time?”
“Of course he was. President Duncan—”
“Josh,” Alexander coldly interrupted him and the air in the vehicle grew still. “Less talk, more driving.”
Josh clamped his mouth shut and dutifully set the GPS to locate the nearest hospital. He then stepped on the accelerator as he began to weave through the traffic to head there.
Alexander’s brows furrowed at that, but he was too exhausted to argue with Josh. I can’t believe he’s bold enough to ignore what I said, he thought grimly while he glowered at the back of his assistant’s head.
The silence in the car stretched out for what seemed like a long moment. Courtney dipped her head and rubbed her knee absentmindedly before she took a deep breath and asked, “By the way, how did you end up picking a fight with Tobias at the hotel?”
She did not think that Alexander even knew Tobias in the first place. After all, Tobias’ family had its powers confined only within Shanghai while Alexander’s extended far beyond that.
Alexander’s frown then deepened. He did not look like he would offer an explanation.
“Were you following me?” She looked at him imploringly, trying to get an answer out of him. “You went into the hotel around the same time as I did. If I hadn’t gone up to the wrong floor, then I might have arrived at the room first.”
She could not help but be thick-skinned about her suggestion. After all, the Northeast Otharian man who had blocked off the doorway back in the hotel mentioned that Alexander was in a fist fight with Tobias over an alleged dispute concerning his ‘fiancée’.
If she was the so-called ‘fiancée’ in that scenario and had been the one to arrive at the room first, then the fight between Alexander and Tobias would make a lot of sense.
“You’re overthinking this.” Alexander looked stubborn.
Courtney glanced over at him and felt mischief rising within her. She then mused with mock pensiveness, “Well, President Duncan, if you weren’t following me, then I wonder what on earth you could be doing in the love hotel in the first place.”
