Chapter 2 : Still Trying to Run?

"Let go!"

Adrian tried to open the door with one hand while struggling to break free from Albert''s grip with the other. His stubbornness and resistance only made Albert angrier. In the next second, Adrian''s wrist, along with his entire body, was forcefully pulled onto the sofa.

"Have you had enough? I''m holding back my anger for your sake, and you still won''t stop!"

Adrian met his gaze. "Albert, don''t talk to me like I''m a child! What gives you the right to treat me like this?"

Albert didn''t expect Adrian to still defy him at this moment and laughed in anger. "What gives me the right? This is the third time you''ve said that to me. Let''s see if I can fix that today!"

With that, Albert took action...

A wave of shame and pain surged through Adrian''s mind, and he desperately tried to escape this humiliating punishment.

"Move again, I dare you!"

"You think I don''t know what you''ve been up to this past month? What are you trying to do? Rebel against me?"

Adrian endured the pain from the blows. He couldn''t just lie there and take it. His peripheral vision caught an opportunity. After countless times of overcoming obstacles, he seized the moment when the grip on his waist loosened slightly. Adrian swiftly flipped over the back of the sofa and darted towards the dining table.

The sudden change caught Albert off guard for a couple of seconds.

Clearly, Albert''s authoritarian rule had never encountered someone daring to run in the middle of a beating.

Regaining his composure, Albert''s amber eyes filled with a terrifying rage. "Get back here!"

Adrian, panting with relief, stood behind the rectangular marble dining table. "No... no way!"

Albert didn''t waste any more words. He stepped forward to grab him, but Adrian quickly dodged to the opposite side. The dining table proved to be an excellent battleground for this tug-of-war. After a couple of rounds, Albert pulled off his belt with one hand.

Albert held the high-end winter couture design in his hand, folding it back with a threatening gesture towards his lover, whose face had turned pale with fear.

"You can come over here on your own, or I can drag you over. Think about it, hmm?"

Adrian''s Adam''s apple bobbed nervously. He had been with Albert for almost a year and knew his lover''s uncompromising nature. He also knew what Albert meant by "drag you over."

His eyes, no longer calm, fell on the black, sturdy belt in Albert''s hand. Memories of the unforgettable pain flashed through his mind. Adrian''s lips moved, but his voice caught in his throat:

"Albert...! You can''t...!"

Negotiations failed, and Albert''s patience ran out.

In the next moment, Albert kicked the table, sending the heavy dining table screeching across the floor. The marble edge slammed into Adrian''s thigh bone.

"Ugh...!" Adrian doubled over in pain. In that instant, Albert stepped forward and grabbed him.

"Thought you could run? Try running again, I dare you."

Adrian, who had just pulled up his pajama pants, received a heavy slap on his backside. He was quickly pinned down on the infamous sofa, his six-foot frame powerless against the furious Albert.

"Look at yourself! Coming home only three times a month, working around the clock. Do you think you''re made of steel?"

"Your phone is full of junk food orders. Do you want to ruin your stomach?"

"And you still dare to run!"

The belt whistled through the air, striking down with a fierce wind.

Adrian didn''t know how Albert found out about these things, but the ensuing pain left him no time to think. He had to use all his strength and willpower to clench his teeth and suppress the urge to beg for mercy.

Albert asked him three times if he still dared to run. By the last time, Adrian, overwhelmed by the excruciating pain, his forehead covered in a fine layer of sweat, croaked out, "...No, ...I don''t dare..."

The new pain ceased, but the old pain lingered. Just when Adrian thought it was finally over, he heard Albert ask,

"When you charged in alone yesterday afternoon, did you think about the fact that the other guy might have a knife?"

Adrian''s body instantly tensed.

So, Albert knew.

The decision to make the arrest was made during a meeting yesterday. The high-profile cross-state child trafficking case had reached its final stage. Most of the main suspects had been apprehended, but one ringleader was still on the run. He had served time in prison before, had strong anti-surveillance skills, and was adept at disguise.

Upon learning that he planned to escape on a 2 PM bus, Adrian led three teams, along with three snipers from the SWAT team, to stake out the bus station and surrounding areas. But as the clock ticked past 4 PM, the target still hadn''t appeared.

While Adrian was smoking and coming out of the restroom, a rural woman with a backpack bumped into him. The brief contact triggered his professional instincts.

The appearance was similar, but the man had turned into a woman.

Dew City, a major metropolitan area, was bustling with people. The bus station was crowded with the afternoon rush, and it would only take seconds for someone to disappear into the crowd.

He couldn''t let him escape!

Adrian charged forward without hesitation. But the suspect was prepared to fight to the death. In the moment of dodging the knife, Adrian''s arm was twisted, and a hidden blade flashed towards him. He had no choice but to abandon his hold.

The sound of his shoulder joint dislocating echoed in his head. Adrian endured the pain and held on, luckily, his colleagues arrived in time to subdue the criminal.

Later, even his colleagues were shaken. If he had been a bit slower, the knife might have pierced his eye socket and reached his brain.

What was even more terrifying was that when they brought the suspect back to the police station, they found a homemade bomb in his clothing. If he had had the chance to detonate it during the struggle...

The consequences were too dreadful to contemplate.

"Albert...! It''s my duty. In that situation, I had to step in...!"

"Your duty is to charge in like an idiot without thinking?! Have you ever considered what would happen if they had a gun instead of a knife? Would you still be alive to talk about duty with me now?!"

Albert''s angry outburst left Adrian almost numb with pain.

"Admit your mistake. Tell me you won''t do it again."

Albert''s voice was calm, but it left no room for refusal.

Adrian bit his pale lips and lowered his eyelashes. In the depths of his mind, the missing memories wavered like a crumbling building.

He admitted that his impulsive decision was a mistake. His rationality burned away the moment he saw that face, the face he had stared at every night for three months during the investigation, unable to sleep because it resembled the face of his deepest hatred and guilt.

Sixteen years had passed, and countless nights he was awakened by recurring nightmares. He heard his sister Andrew''s agonizing screams in his dreams. He couldn''t find Andrew''s body, nor the baby in her womb.

The face that resembled the escaped killer from the 5.23 case sixteen years ago made his blood boil with hatred.

He had to catch him... He couldn''t think of anything else!

Adrian closed his eyes, the words stuck in his throat like a difficult dream.

"Go ahead, hit me..."

Adrian said, the missing memories seemed to plunge him into a state of self-abandonment. The dark, abyss-like gaps in his memory taunted him like hateful eyes.

He needed to be punished for his mistakes, whether it was yesterday or sixteen years ago...