They Protected My Murderer, So I Walked Away from Them All Chapter 08

They Protected My Murderer, So I Walked Away from Them All Chapter 08

Two straight all–nighters. The final numbers were logged.

I rubbed my burning eyes as a cold soda hit my desk.

“Months off, starting right now,” Sean said.

I cracked the tab. The ice cut through the brain fog.

“I’m sleeping for a week. I haven’t had six hours of rest since my plane touched down. If I knew your lab was

this brutal, I wouldn’t have signed on.”

Sean leaned on the desk.

“Like you could pass up this project.”

I slumped in my chair and gave up.

“Fine. I couldn’t.”

Sean snorted.

“You should’ve taken the slot three years ago. Never would’ve been in that wreck. You wouldn’t have lost

three years in a bed with pins through your bone.”

I stared out the dark window.

We were physics majors at the same school.

Different years, same advisor.

When he graduated, he took a post at the Rutherford Lab outside Oxford.

We’d talked about their particle beams for years.

He told me he’d save me a seat.

Then I graduated.

I couldn’t leave my family behind. I couldn’t walk away from Damian, or Valerie.

Three years ago, Sean asked again.

I said no.

Back then, I thought blood and love came before my own life.

Until reality cracked my head open.

I cut the thought off and shook my head.

“Sean. Drop it.”

He let it go.

“Fine. The team is heading out to celebrate. Dinner and drinks. You coming?”

I hadn’t spoken ten words outside work since arriving. I nodded.

Most of the researchers came with Sean. A couple beers in, they started talking.

“Aurora, Sean never shut up about you before you got here,” one of the postdocs slurred, grinning into his

pint.

I looked up. “What, complaining about my data?”

The guy laughed.

“Told us you two were in lockstep on every paper. Talked until our ears bled-”

Sean shoved another beer into the man’s chest.

“Drink your beer, Cooper. Shut your mouth.”

I sipped my drink, watching them laugh.

Cooper wasn’t wrong.

Back in school, everyone thought Sean and I were a package deal.

Even Valerie swore I’d end up with him.

Then Sean moved to Oxford.

Damian showed up, loud and territorial, hunting me down until I folded.

I walked straight into the Russo empire with my eyes wide shut.

After dinner, the table cleared out into the street.

Just Sean and me left on the pavement.

“Come on,” he said. “I’ll walk you back.”

The institute housing was three blocks down.

We walked through the fog befofe Sean spoke, keeping his voice down.

“They know about the wreck.”

My steps hitched, but I kept walking.

“Back home, they’re tearing the city apart,” he said, hands in his pockets.

“My project clearance keeps your flight trail buried on this side of the Atlantic.”

“But back home? Both families own the docks and the precinct captains.”

The cold settled in my chest, but my pulse stayed flat.

“Let them hunt. I’m done looking over my shoulder.”

Sean stopped under the streetlight, watching me.

“Aurora, you’re still doing it.”

“Doing what?”

“You’re soft. You bleed for people who don’t deserve it.”

An old memory surfaced. College lab.

I handed my calibration models to a classmate, and he published them under his own name.

Sean almost broke the kid’s nose behind the stadium.

I pulled my coat tighter against the wind.

“I’m not that naive anymore, Sean.”

He watched my eyes for a second, checking for cracks. Then he gave a short nod.

“Get some sleep. Anything feels off, call my cell.”