The System Patched the Bug, Sending Me Home and Leaving Him in Ruin Chapter 07

The System Patched the Bug, Sending Me Home and Leaving Him in Ruin Chapter 07

The thunderous slam of the door jolted a sleeping Renee Lane awake.

She scrambled after him, begging desperately for him to stay, and fell hard to the ground. By the time she looked up, Finn was already gone.

Finn got into his car. His assistant tried to stop him.

“Mr. Carter, you’re far too worked up to get behind the wheel right now. Wait—I’ll send a driver.”

Finn’s voice was ice-cold.

“The address.”

“Mr. Carter—”

“I said give me the damn address, now!”

His hands trembled on the steering wheel.

“It’s just one woman at the end of the day. Don’t act like she’s capable of unraveling my whole composure.”

The assistant gave him the address.

Half an hour later, Finn stumbled frantically into the county morgue. His eyes went straight to a body laid out in the center of the room, covered with a white sheet.

Chloe’s partner Erica stood nearby, her eyes red and swollen.

“You must be Chloe’s boyfriend,” she said.

“She told me about you. She said she’d loved someone for seven years.”

Finn’s hands shook as he lifted the sheet. Chloe’s face came into view
—pale, still, her eyes closed.

He seemed to collapse in on himself. He took her cold hand, his voice rough.

“Did they try to revive her? Why wasn’t she taken to a hospital? Why—”

“We didn’t make it in time,” Erica said, her voice breaking.

“She was already gone when we got there. Multiple stab wounds. She bled out. We’ve identified the suspect—he’s the same man who kidnapped Renee.”

Finn whipped his head around, his stare furious.

“That’s impossible! Renee said they were meeting in South Haven!”

Erica blinked.

“There are two possibilities. Either Renee was tricked by the kidnapper and gave us bad information, or she was working with him from the start.”

“That’s not true.”

A deafening buzz rang through Finn’s skull. He reached out and touched Chloe’s face.

“No… Chloe, that’s not true, is it?”

If Erica was right, then he had been the one to hang up on Chloe’s desperate call for help. He was the one who’d condemned her straight to hell with his own hands.

But Chloe would never speak again. Her face bore wounds that would never heal.

Finn’s eyes burned as he pulled the sheet all the way back. Bruises and stab wounds marked her body. Her skin was ghostly pale from blood loss, and her brow remained furrowed, as if trapped in the despair of her last moments.

Erica had no idea what kind of man Finn really was. She treated him like family, handing over Chloe’s belongings and patting his shoulder.

“We’re not gonna rest until we lock up whoever hurt Chloe. I’ll reach out to you the second we turn up any new leads at all.”

She wiped her tears, managing a sad smile.

“You two were about to get married, weren’t you? Chloe kept talking about going home lately. You know she lost her parents young and spent years on her own. Finding you must have meant everything to her… You must be a good man. I’m so sorry for your loss.”

Finn’s whole body shuddered. He nearly dropped Chloe’s things.

His assistant had been right. He couldn’t drive.

When his assistant found him, Finn was sitting on a planter outside the station, soaked by the spray from a nearby fountain.

Renee ran out of the car and threw herself at his feet, sobbing.

“Finn, what’s wrong with you?”

Finn’s gaze drifted slowly up to her tear-streaked face. Where it had once stirred his tenderness, now it only filled him with disgust.

“Chloe is dead.”

Renee gasped, her eyes going wide. A single tear hung perfectly on her lower lashes, making her look pitiful. She pressed herself against him.

“Those men were terrifying, Finn. Can you just hold me, please?”

Finn didn’t move.

“I never stated outright that the kidnapper was the one responsible for her death.”

Renee froze.

“I—I didn’t—”

Finn shoved her away.

“You wanted to get married, didn’t you? Go ahead. Stop clinging to me.”

Renee burst into tears.

“Don’t push me away, please.”

Finn stood up.

“I never understood why you agreed to marry that man. Now I don’t care to. Your invitations are already out. I’ll make sure the wedding goes smoothly. I wish you two a lifetime of marital bliss.”

Two men stepped forward and took hold of Renee.

She panicked.

“Finn, don’t do this! I never seriously intended to marry that man with the leg injury! I only said it to get a rise out of you, to make you jealous. The only person I’ve ever wanted to marry is you.”

Finn wiped the spot where she’d touched him, gathered Chloe’s things, and walked away into the night.