He Was Too Soft to Hurt Anyone Until They Took Me Away Chapter 03

He Was Too Soft to Hurt Anyone Until They Took Me Away Chapter 03

The next few days were easy. Quieter than anything I’d had in years.

I went with Julian to apologize to Ethan and Maya, and after that, I didn’t ask how he handled the fallout.

The system said it would stage a car accident in a few days and write me out of the story.

Fake my death. Slip out. Go home.

Fine by me.

No more missions. No more tormenting a man who’d never deserved it.

Something in my shoulders loosened for the first time in five years.

I caught him sending money to his parents again. The same parents who abused him. This time, I just looked away.

Julian noticed. His lips pressed together.

“My dad had a heart attack. He needs surgery.”

A month ago, I would’ve lost it. Now I just shrugged.

“Oh. Yeah. I hope it goes well.”

Julian went still.

“You’re not upset?”

I shook my head.

“If it matters to you that they’re okay, then I hope they’re okay.”

“That’s all I want. For you to be happy.”

I’d had a lot of time to think.

People make their own choices. I was leaving soon, and none of this would be my problem anymore.

Julian looked at me, a heaviness settling in his eyes. I’d been so agreeable lately. It must have scared him.

He looked like he couldn’t shake the feeling that he was losing me in some way he didn’t understand.

“How about a trip, just the two of us? In a couple of days?”

I figured I might as well enjoy whatever time I had left.

“Okay.”

One last outing, then the system would stage the accident and pull me out.

But of course.

On the day of the trip, neither the system nor I saw it coming.

Nathan, supposedly on another continent, had snuck back into the country.

He ran my car off the road and grabbed me.