Chapter 2The Defense She Chose

After we left the courthouse, Celia and I ran into each other head-on.

Behind her stood the murderer, Marcus Lane.

Marcus straightened his collar, glanced at me, and spat on the ground.

"Bad luck."

"You son of a..."

Mason, my colleague, couldn't hold back and nearly swung at him.

Celia hurriedly stepped in front of Marcus, shielding him, her eyes full of guilt.

"Julian, what happened was my fault... but can't you let him go? Your mother has already..."

Under my icy stare, her voice grew smaller and smaller until she muttered, "But the living still have to keep living."

I looked at her and had never felt she was more unfamiliar.

Maybe I'd never really known her at all.

My gaze slid to the man behind her, and bloodlust surged in my chest.

But I wouldn't become a violent person like him. My weapon was the law. That was what I was best at.

I asked only one question. "Who is he?"

Celia didn't dare meet my eyes. She hesitated and didn't answer.

I understood enough.

"Don't tell me he's the ex who broke up with you because he couldn't come up with the twenty grand your parents demanded?"

Celia's face turned white.

I knew I'd guessed right.

My words were only a statement of fact. They held no insult.

But it struck Marcus exactly where it hurt. His face twisted, and he lunged forward with his fist raised.

"Who the hell are you insulting?"

"Don't..."

Celia tried to stop him, but it was too late.

I blocked his punch easily. The muscle beneath my suit showed through for a second.

I'd built that muscle through years at the gym and years of taekwondo.

Not like him, with nothing but soft fat.

I shoved him away and turned back to Celia.

"You don't think this is the final verdict, do you?"

Celia went pale. "You're appealing?"

Wasn't that obvious?

A living person had died.

The life of my gentle, loving mother, the woman who had held up the sky for me with her frail shoulders, had been taken.