Chapter 14
Howard’s breath caught for a moment, his band holding the dagger trembled almost imperceptibly, and the blade left a deeper cut on Wade’s neck.
“So, where is she now.
His voice was hourse, as if coming from a distance. Suddenly, Victoria’s last look at him flashed through his mind, those always defiant eyes, now only left with a dead calm in the prison cell.
“Mr. Irwin.
Wade’s face was covered in blood as he looked up.
“L… Have thrown Victoria into the sea.”
Howard’s ears were buzzing as he remembered the countless times over the past month he had stood in Victoria’s empty room, smelling the fading scent on the pillow; he remembered that every time a mission failed, what surged in his heart against the police’s dragnet was not anger but… a little hope that Victoria night appear.
He suddenly turned around and smashed the monitor with a punch, glass shards piercing into his fingers, blood dripping from his fingertips, but he didn’t feel any pain.
The heart was beating wildly in the chest, as if it wanted to break through the ribs and burst out.
A panic like never before swept through her body.
“Look
Howard’s voice was hoarse and terrifying,
“Turn the whole seabed upside down, I must find her!”
He stumbled out of the meeting room, and as the torrential rain poured down, Howard rushed into the downpour, with Victoria’s final words ringing in his ears, “Howard, you’re just a blind man.”
The torrential rain poured down, hitting the sea surface and creating numerous small whirlpools
Howard stood on the shore, his black overcoat being torn by the strong wind, rain running down his jawline, mixed with traces of tears or water.
The members of the search and rescue team were scattered along the coastline, with the beams of their flashlights crisscrossing in the rain, but unable to illuminate the sea that swallowed everything.
Apart from the broken shells and dried branches washed up by the waves, there was nothing
There was no Victoria.
Howard’s chest felt like it was being tightly gripped by something, his breath tinged with the smell of blood. He took a step forward, his shoes sinking into the damp sand, each step feeling like stepping on a knife edge.
She couldn’t just disappear like that.
She was so stubborn, so patient, how could she possibly….
Suddenly, his foot stepped on something hard.
Howard lowered his head, the rain blurred his vision, and he slowly crouched down, pushing aside the wet sand.
The coin had been soaked black by the seawater, but the word “safe” engraved on it was still clearly visible. It was ten years ago when Victoria had just come to his side, and he had casually thrown it to her.
“Take it, for safety.”
At that time, Howard was smoking a cigarette, speaking casually.
“Don’t lose it.”
Victoria just gave a cold glance, casually stuffed it into her pocket, and sneered.
Superstition ”
But later, Howard saw her secretly rubbing this coin countless times, when he was injured, when he was angry, and even when she herself was about to give up
She wore it all the time, never taking it off for ten years.
Now, it lies alone on the beach, being washed over and over by the sea, like an old object abandoned by its owner.
His knees slammed heavily into the sand, clutching the coin tightly, his lnuckles turning white from the force, a low, almost broken “Victoria” squeezed
out of his throat.
The waves lashed against the rocks, splashing water mixed with rain on him, cold to the bone.
The rescuers stood far away, and no one dared to approach.
They had never seen Howard like this before, the man who had licked blood on the edge of a knife for many years, now kneeling in the pouring rain, his shoulders slumped as if his spine had been taken away.
“Mr. Irwin……”
He came over with an umbrella in his hand, his voice trembling.
“Shall we keep looking?”
Howard didn’t answer.
He simply slowly opened his palm, looking at the coin washed by the rain, and suddenly smiled.
The laughter was hoarse, as if it was squeezed hard from the chest, even more unpleasant than crying. “You motherfucker, so ruthless.”
He was so ruthless that he refused to even see the last side.
He was so ruthless that he didn’t even leave a body
So cruel that… he left him with no room for regret.
The rain fell harder and harder.
Howard knelt by the shore for a long time, so long that everyone thought he wouldn’t get up.
would spare her.
He never actually thought about killing Victoria, even though she was an undercover cop. Howard would always believe that he would He never thought that Victoria would leave him.
He slowly stood up, clutching the coin tightly in his hand, and walked towards the car parked on the side of the road.
“Go back
The car window was closed, and the rain blurred the world outside
Howard lowered his head and looked at the coin in his palm. A long time ago, Victoria had said to him, “Howard, some things, once lost, can never be found again.”
He didn’t think much of it at the time.
Now I understand, what she said… was about herself.
