The Devilish Assassin Meets The Angelic Detective

Elle saw him averted his gaze to the person beside her. It was Selena. Then he moved his eyes back to her face as he gave her a questioning look.

Series of emotions could be seen in Erick's eyes: disbelief, worry, relief, and hurt. He had mixed emotions and Elle could not guess what was going on in his mind by just looking at the expression on his face.

'It's over!'

Those two words were stuck in her mind. She felt like she was hanging on the edge of a very steep cliff, ready to fall at any moment. Her heartbeat seemed too loud in her ears.

Fears and worries were written all over her pale strained face.

'He caught me red-handed. There's no way I can escape this. No lies… no alibis could help me cover this up.'

At that moment, her mind was filled with troubling thoughts. She wanted to run away and disappeared from his sight right away. She was not yet ready… she was not yet prepared for this confrontation.

Elle could not help but take a step back, getting ready to run away from the man in front of her.

'This is what I am afraid of. Erick, why did you come here? Why?!' she couldn't utter any words but she was screaming in her mind.

On the other hand, Erick was still having a hard time accepting the truth unfolding before him. He saw Elle wearing all black which seemed to be her assassin clothes.

She was holding a dagger on her left hand and a gun was stuck in her waist. D*mn! She looked very fierce and alluring with her get-up; a goddamn gorgeous! But that was not the point. ^^,

Beside her was the blindfolded Selena, who was unconscious and being tied down on the chair. He had a lot of questions he wanted to ask Elle as he looked straight in her eyes.

He felt very desperate. He was trying his best to balance his role as a man of justice and as a husband of the woman in front of him. Even he was asking himself right now, how he was supposed to act? What should he do?

He was put in the boundary between love and duty. This was the most difficult time he had ever experienced in his life so far.

However, the moment he saw Elle took a step backward, he felt alarmed. The troubled expression in her face gave him the idea of what she was thinking right now. He remembered her message written in her goodbye letter.

'Will she try to leave me again?'

And finally, Erick found his voice to speak up.

"Stop, Elle! Just stay there. Don't you ever try to run away from me again!" He was pleading. His voice was firm but soft at the same time.

With that, as if Elle's body had a mind of its own, she stopped after hearing Erick's voice. Though confused about what he meant by saying that, Elle remained still on her spot, unmoving.

When Elle was about to loosen up a little bit and regain her composure, from a distance, she saw a figure at the back of Erick.

The familiar sinister smile of Black Shadow greeted her sight. Elle's eyes widened in panic as she saw him, pointing his gun at Erick. Her face darkened, hostility, and fury was reflected in her dark eyes.

With no time to warn Erick, Elle immediately picked up her gun. On the other hand, Erick noticed a sudden change in Elle's expression. When he saw her holding her gun, his mind was put in chaos.

"Elle, No!" Erick's scream echoed inside the abandoned warehouse and it was followed by the sound of a gunshot.

Bang!

Thud!

A gun was dropped on the ground.

Then the surroundings were engulfed by a deafening silence.

James and Spike who were just watching from the sideline were both startled for a moment as they witnessed the whole scene. Black Shadow was utterly surprised as well.

Seconds later, after James recovered from the shock, a satisfied grin appeared on his face as he was happy with the outcome of this event. He was enjoying a drama with a tragic ending.

But the actor and the actress were not enjoying this drama at all. All you could see was their pain.

Then they heard another sound of a gun dropping on the ground.

"W-What… I-I have done?" Erick mumbled. Then he called her name.

"Elle…?" 

Elle didn't say a word, not even take a glance at him. She was looking down at her feet, watching the blood dripping on the ground, coming from her hand.

She didn't feel the pain of her wounded arm, but she felt the pain in her heart. Her arm was wounded but it was her heart that was hurt and aching right now.

Seeing the smile on James's face, her mind slowly grasped the situation. She smiled bitterly at herself.

'Yeah. Game over! James, you win! You planned it well. The moment Erick arrived here, I lost already.'

Without responding to Erick's call, Elle used her remaining strength to move her feet, turn around and run away from that place without even looking back.

She needed to leave. She couldn't afford to shed her tears in front of those men.

Erick felt like he was down in the dumps seeing Elle run away from him just like that. At that moment, he couldn't move his feet to chase after her after what he had done.

He hurt her. He shot her. His mind had no time to react as his body just acted on impulse. He didn't know what Elle was going to do when he saw her eyes burning with fury as she picked up her gun.

He thought she was going to shoot Selena, that's the reason why he shot her arm which was holding the gun. Despite his feelings for her, deep down his consciousness he still thought of her as an enemy, someone who was capable of killing somebody.

He had no intention of hurting her, he was aiming for the gun but accidentally her arm got hit in the process. He was afraid at the moment. He didn't want to see Elle hurting someone and in the end, he was the one who hurt her.

He regretted it so much. He could not accept the fact that he really shot her. He broke his promise. He said he would protect her but he did the other way around. His heart sank. He felt that every ounce of his energy was drained.

He felt like his heart was dead as he gazed into the direction where Elle had disappeared from his sight. There was despair in his eyes. He looked like he was about to go mad.

With tears in his eyes and face covered with pain and regrets, he shouted her name.

He felt like sharp and heavy objects were stuffed into his heart, making it all broken and bloody. It hurt so bad that he felt it was torn apart. 

Then he heard a voice at the back of his mind.

'Erick, what are you waiting for? Run after her! Follow her or else you will lose her forever and this time, she might not return nor stay to your side.'

As Erick found his courage, he immediately ran to chase after her. However, James wouldn't allow that to happen. Just by watching Erick's reaction, James could see that Erick still cared about Elle and he didn't see any hatred at all.

If he let him catch her, then his plan would be ruined. So James turned to Spike as he gave his command to stop Erick. Spike just nodded at him before he followed Erick.

Meanwhile, Black Shadow already disappeared inside the warehouse. When he was done with his assigned task, he left the place. 

Outside the warehouse, Spike was able to catch up with Erick. When he closed the distance between them, he quickly grabbed Erick to stop him.

"Chief Lee! Where are you going? Please come back inside. The bomb! There was a bomb attached to Lady Selena's body. We need your help." Spike said to him, trying his best to convince Erick to return and forget about chasing Catseye.

Erick paused for a moment after hearing that. His gaze moved back and forth between the vanishing figure of Elle and the warehouse where Selena was being tied down with a bomb attached to her body.

Erick cursed inwardly as he tugged his hair. He was put in a dilemma.

Seeing that Erick was still undecided about what he should do, Spike spoke again.

"Chief Lee, please! There's no time left. Lady Selena's life is in danger! The bomb will explode if we will not do something. We must hurry and disarm the bomb." 

After saying that, Spike finally convinced Erick to return inside the warehouse. After all, someone's life was on the line. With a disheartened expression, Erick followed Spike behind as they went back to the warehouse.

'Elle… I will find you no matter what. Just wait for me. We need to talk and sort our problem together.' he promised to himself.

Meanwhile, Elle already reached the location of her car. She went inside and leaned back with her eyes closed. She was trying to calm herself down. This incident exhausted her physically, mentally, and emotionally.

"D*mn you, Elle! You are running away again like a scared cat," she mumbled to herself.

She was not blaming Erick. All of this was a grand scheme to stir a conflict between Erick and her which was planned by James. Despite everything, she felt relieved that nothing bad happened to Erick. 

However, it would be a lie if she would say that she didn't feel heartbroken at all. After all, he shot her because he somehow doubted her and that was a painful truth.

She sighed deeply while looking at the direction of the warehouse. She started the car and she was about to leave the place when she heard a knock on her car window. 

She gritted her teeth the moment she saw that person, and with her bloodshot eyes, she glared daggers at him.