Chapter 3

Cordelia's POV

Everyone froze for a second, then Daisy let out a cold laugh.

"Cordelia, have you completely lost it? Not alive? What, the guy on camera was a ghost?"

A few of Daisy's relatives had shown up by then, crowding the doorway. The second they caught wind of what was happening inside, they started wailing and carrying on like the world was ending.

"That witch! Money doesn't put you above the law! She's a psycho, jealous because our Daisy's young and pretty!"

"She's paying for this! We're not letting it go for anything less than millions!"

"Grab her! Put her in cuffs!"

The hallway turned into chaos. Wayne, clearly out of patience, rubbed his temple, pulled a pair of cold silver cuffs off his belt, and locked them around my wrists.

"Cordelia, since you're not cooperating, we're doing this by the book. Let's go. We're searching your apartment for the suspect."

Three squad cars pulled up outside my building.

It was a high-end neighborhood, the kind reserved for people with money, and the security systems ran at the Empire's top standard. But a warrant from the Enforcement Corps was still a warrant. The guards had no choice but to wave them through.

I walked in the middle, cuffed, with Wayne and five officers in full gear, stun guns drawn, boxing me in.

Daisy stayed close behind, her relatives practically rubbing their hands together, like they could already picture crates of cash getting hauled out of my apartment.

The elevator stopped at the top floor. Mine was the only unit up there.

"Code." Wayne stood in front of the reinforced alloy door, looking at me coldly.

I recited a string of numbers, calm.

Wayne punched it in and gave a signal. All five officers tensed up, ready for a fight. They clearly thought whoever was on the other side of that door was dangerous.

Then Wayne kicked the door open and stormed in, gun raised, shouting.

"Enforcement Corps! Nobody move! Hands behind your head, get on the ground!"

The living room glowed warm under the lights. In the open kitchen by the floor-to-ceiling windows, the tall figure from the footage stood there in a pink apron, wiping down the counter without missing a spot.

He heard the door and turned around slowly.

His face was flawless. Deep-set eyes, a sharp nose, a jawline so precise it could've been carved by a Greek sculptor.

He looked at the officers pouring into the room. No panic. No anger. He didn't even flinch.

"Suspect! Get on the ground now!" one of the officers shouted, finger already on the trigger.

Daisy popped her head out from behind them, pointing at him and screaming. "That's him! Captain Wayne, that's the man who raped me! Get him!"

The tall man stayed exactly where he was, no sign of resisting, just scanning the room full of people in front of him.

Wayne, done waiting, let out a growl, lunged forward, and slammed the man face-down onto the floor.

Two officers rushed in and clamped a pair of suppression cuffs around his wrists.

"Run! Go on, run!" one of Daisy's relatives yelled from the doorway, voice dripping with contempt.

Wayne planted a knee on the man's back, one hand pressing down hard on the back of his neck.

A few seconds later, Wayne's whole body froze. His face shifted, from anger, to confusion, to something close to fear.

"Captain? What's wrong?" one of the officers noticed something was off.

Wayne didn't answer. He pushed himself up and stumbled back a couple of steps, another officer catching him before he lost his footing.

He stared at the man pinned to the floor, his voice shaking. "This guy... he doesn't... he doesn't have a heartbeat."

"What?" Everyone in the room went still.

One of the officers leaned down and checked the man's pulse himself, then jerked upright, stunned. "It's true! No heartbeat! No pulse either! This guy's dead!"

Daisy and her relatives, still crowded in the doorway, sucked in a sharp breath. Whatever scream they'd been about to let out just got stuck in their throats.

In the dead silence that followed, the man pinned to the floor slowly lifted his head.

He ignored everyone else in the room. His eyes found me, and a smile spread across his face.

"Welcome home, Master Cordelia. Tonight's dinner is your favorite, beef wellington. Would you like it warmed up?"