Glass Hearts [BL] Chapter 8: Did He Just Save My Life?

"Who brought this in?" he asked, glancing up.

"Dominic Vale," the female officer replied.

His eyes narrowed. "Dominic?"

"Yeah. Said he went through the backups after Ash was arrested. Didn’t want an innocent kid to take the fall."

My throat closed up.

Dominic.

The sa guy who stood there and watched get humiliated.

The sa guy who said nothing when Ian hit .

He just saved my life.

I dropped my head into my hands, shaking.

It was finally over... or at least I thought it was.

Detective Harris arched a brow, then turned his attention to the footage. He plugged in the USB to the laptop.

The video began playing. It wasn’t perfect. Not even close. The angle was skewed, the lighting terrible, and the tistamp glitched a few tis

First, it showed climbing the rooftop stairs. Ten minutes passed. Then Liam appeared, walking up with soone else...soone taller, bulkier, hoodie and a Facemask.

My breath caught.

Fifteen minutes later, that sa hooded figure ca running down the stairs, fast, reckless. He shoved soone in his panic—a lady near the door...then disappeared into the dark. A passing cab picked him up, and the footage stopped.

Harris stayed quiet for a mont, studying the screen with a hand over his mouth. Then he leaned back in his chair with a sigh.

"It doesn’t exonerate you completely," he said at last. "But the fact soone ran ans sothing happened up there that we don’t fully understand."

Officer Joan took a step forward. "Sir, we have no solid evidence that Ash hurt Liam. No weapon on him. No prints. And now this footage shows soone else might’ve been involved."

"Technically," she added, "the rest of the mansion’s caras were fried. Probably tampered with. But soone forgot about this one...an external cam Dominic had installed recently without telling the staff. It auto-backed up to his private cloud."

Detective Harris let out a grunt. "That’s a hell of a coincidence."

"It’s not enough for charges," Officer Joan pressed. "Let the kid go. At least temporarily. He needs to see his mom, sir. She’s still in the hospital."

I stared at her, stunned. This woman...Officer Joan, she didn’t even know . But she was fighting for ..

"Please," I turned to the detective.

Harris looked at her. Then at . Then sighed.

"Fine. But listen up, kid." He pointed his finger my way. "You’re not cleared. Not yet. You’re still a suspect until we find evidence or Liam’s statent confirm otherwise. Don’t disappear."

"I won’t," I whispered.

Relief flooded my chest. I couldn’t hold it in...I got up and hugged Officer Joan as tears rolled down my cheeks. She let , then gently patted my back.

"Let’s get you out of here."

I was released through the side entrance of the station at dawn. They handed my clothes stained shirt, cracked phone, wallet with no cash and told I was free to go. For now.

Outside, the sky was a gray, not quite morning, not quite night. It was cold. I could feel every bruise now that the adrenaline had worn off. My shoulder still stung from where the blade had sliced .

I checked my phone.

Thirty missed calls. Half from June. The other half from Marcus.

I sat down on the cold tal bench by the station door. I was emotionally wrecked, ntally gone, physically drained.

Then I heard a voice.

"Ash."

I turned.

It was Dominic.

He had his hands in his coat pockets, his hair was a little ssy. He had this uneasy, almost guilty expression.

"Sorry about earlier," he muttered, scratching the back of his head. "I didn’t believe the hooded figure thing until I saw the footage."

I stared at him for a second, unsure of what to say. Then finally...."Thanks. For bringing it in."

He nodded, almost embarrassed. "Yeah. Well... guess I owed you one."

He turned to leave. I stood up, pulling my shirt tighter against the cold, hoping there was a bus stop sowhere nearby. My phone was dying. I had no ride. No money.

I wasn’t even sure where I was.

"Let give you a ride," Dominic said suddenly, pulling up in his black car.

I hesitated. "Nah, I’ll get a cab," I said quickly, trying to wave him off.

But no cab ca. No buses, either. Just cold air and empty streets.

After a few minutes, he called out again.

"I overheard the officers talking about your mom... I’m headed to the hospital too. Liam’s still unconscious. Let drop you off."

I looked at him. For a mont, I considered saying no again.

But I was freezing.

I was exhausted.

And I needed to get to the hospital.

"Okay," I finally said, as I climbed into his car.