REVENGE, DIAPER and SNACKS - Chapter 51: Chapter 51

The man tried to stand, but I was already calling the police.
By the time they arrived, I had restrained him with help from a few passersby—bless them—and my hands were trembling.
Not from fear anymore.
From rage. From helplessness. From the betrayal that had been festering inside me since I began suspecting Alec was behind it all.
Of course it was Alec again.
They took him in, cuffed and defiant.
But the surveillance camera—the one facing the playground gate—had mysteriously been broken. Smashed, as if someone knew it would be the only visual proof.
That night, my home was too quiet despite the kids already asleep. I sat in the dark with a cup of green tea gone cold, trying to make sense of everything.
Then the call came.
He died.
Three hours after being placed in the holding cell, the man was found dead.
No signs of external trauma. Just dead.
I knew, deep in my gut, who had made the call to the police in the first place. Alec.
He wanted to show me that he was watching over me, that this was all part of his design. I almost laughed at the irony.
He was watching from behind the scenes. Puppeteering everything.
So I played my part.
The scared woman.
I called him. I pretended I needed comfort.
That I didn’t know what was going on.
That I was frightened. I even let my voice tremble.
And like a shadow breaking free from the darkness, he came.
He didn’t call. He didn’t message. He just appeared at my door.
Got you asshole.
“I came as soon as I heard,” Alec said, stepping into my foyer like he still had a right to be there. His shirt was wrinkled—deliberately so, I guessed—and his eyes were filled with an emotion I couldn’t quite name.
Concern? Possession?
Or guilt. Imposible.
I clutched a throw blanket around my shoulders, standing just far enough to make it look like I still trusted him.
He looked around as if expecting to find bloodstains on the walls. “Are the kids okay?”
I nodded, my voice small. “They’re asleep.” I blinked, my act faltering because, right now, in my apartment, in Catherine’s apartment, I want to kill him.
But no…not now.
The game was far from over.
“Catherine…” He stepped closer, his voice lowering. “I don’t think it’s safe for you to be here alone. I can call someone to stay with you, or—”
I stepped back. “No. I just needed to see a familiar face. Someone to talk to.”
His expression softened. I could see him drop his guard, just a little.
Good.
I would let him think he still had control—for now.
Then we talk for hours, talking about anything under the sun.
Then he left with a smirk of a man that was sure of himself.
Too sure that he had me under his palm.
In your dreams dickhead.
The Police Station - Next Morning
I walked into the precinct holding Jhing Jhing’s hand, while Mylene followed behind with the kids. The station was a sea of chaos. Reporters loitered outside. The air inside was dry, cold, and smelled of sweat and stress.
The officer at the front desk barely looked up.
“We’re here about the man who died in custody,” I said.
Before the officer could respond, Jhing Jhing lost it.
“Your damn people let that man die!” she shouted, slamming her palm on the counter. “He was the only one who could tell us what’s going on! And now you expect us to sit back while you file paperwork?!”
The officers turned. One stood. The tension grew thick.
Mylene tried to calm her down, but she was already in tears too. “We’re mothers! What if the next guy goes after our kids? What if—what if Catherine hadn’t stopped him?! You didn’t even protect the one lead we had!”
I clutched my coat tighter around me, tears welling in my eyes—but not just from grief. From exhaustion. From fear. Of course, I need to act like I'm about to lose it.
“I want the surveillance camera footage pulled,” I said, my voice low and steady.
“It was broken,” an officer said. “Before the incident.”
Convenient.
Too convenient.
I bit down on my lip until I tasted blood. This was really how Alec played.
Behind me, Mylene was now sobbing into a tissue. “We’ve all been followed. Watched. We thought it was nothing. But now someone’s dead, and we’re being told nothing?”
One of the detectives finally motioned for us to follow him.
“We’ll take your statements,” he said, guiding us into a cramped, too-bright room.
And I thought, as I sat down under the flickering fluorescent light—
Alec made sure the man couldn’t talk. He knew I was getting too close. So he took care of it. Silently. Efficiently. Coldly. But he made one mistake.
He thought I’d be scared enough to run back to him.
He didn’t realize I was done playing the victim.
I am Leon fuckng Darrow. I was the shadow crawling behind the thrones of kings and the silence before the trigger is pulled. I didn’t answer to the gods—I made devils kneel.
And I ate half eaten apple jam and sardine sandwich from five days ago as a snack.