Chapter 273: Died
Ethan Austin waited for building security to arrive. He had them guard the entrance to ensure the masked man couldn’t slip away, then he hurried upstairs.
He had followed the masked man’s trail here. Seeing Nina Halloway held at knifepoint, he wanted to rush in and fight, but he was afraid Nina would get hurt in the struggle.
All he could do was back away.
As he retreated, Leon Grant strode forward. Right under Ethan’s nose, he ducked into an elevator and went up.
When he saw the elevator was going straight to the top floor, Ethan immediately ran up the stairs.
He chased him to the rooftop.
A cold wind whipped across the roof. Nina Halloway was shivering uncontrollably, wearing only a thin dress.
Leon Grant still had her in his grasp, dragging her to the edge of the rooftop.
A crowd of onlookers had already gathered below. Police cars and rescue personnel had arrived, and an ambulance was parked steadily at the base of the building.
Leon Grant looked satisfied. He turned to face the approaching Ethan, pressed the butterfly knife in his hand against Nina Halloway’s side, and roared at Ethan, "Don’t come any closer."
By now, Nina Halloway was so cold her body was stiff. She had no strength left to struggle.
She could hear the whistling wind and see the onlookers below. From this height, they looked like ants clustered together, craning their necks to look up.
The special police unit had already charged into the building and were rushing to the rooftop.
Before long, the police burst onto the roof.
Leon Grant had been waiting for them. He was going to confess to his crimes.
Facing the dark muzzles of their guns, he showed not a shred of fear. Instead, he berated the police for their incompetence.
"Release the hostage! You’re surrounded! Surrender now!"
The voice of justice rang in their ears.
Leon Grant let out a crazed laugh. He took off the skull mask, looked at the police surrounding him, and lowered Nina Halloway, holding her in front of him as a shield.
His strong arm was tight around Nina Halloway’s neck as he dragged her backward.
His back hit the rooftop railing.
He pressed his face close to Nina Halloway’s ear and whispered in a voice only she could hear, "I’m going to jump from here. Don’t worry, you’ll be fine."
A roar went through Nina Halloway’s mind. Only now did she realize what Leon Grant truly intended to do.
’He waited for the police so they would witness him commit a kidnapping. He wanted to confess his crimes... and then, he was going to kill himself. He didn’t want to live anymore.’
"Mmph—"
She let out an agitated, muffled cry, but her mouth was gagged, and no other sound could escape.
She shook her head frantically at the police and Ethan, trying to signal them not to approach. But no one listened. The armed officers inched forward whenever they saw an opening.
"Don’t waste your energy."
Leon whispered in her ear, his voice choking up slightly. "I’ll get the death penalty if I’m caught anyway. I’ve killed someone!"
Stabbing someone twenty times and burying the body, then later committing a kidnapping and attempted murder.
Even if Jaden’s memory never returned, his crimes were real. The death penalty was a certainty.
Rather than die in prison, he preferred to choose his own way out.
He looked at the closing-in police and screamed at the top of his lungs, "I confess!"
"I killed Sean Wright! I locked him in the basement of the old house under my grandmother’s name and stabbed him twenty times."
"And Jaden! I kidnapped him. I meant to kill him, to smash his head in, but he didn’t die. Even after being buried, he managed to crawl out and save his own life."
"I did it all!"
His hysterical voice echoed endlessly in Nina Halloway’s ears.
"And now, I’m going to take this woman and die with her."
As he spoke, he laughed maniacally again. "Let’s see what’s faster—your bullets, or me jumping off this building with her."
Nina Halloway stood over five-foot-seven. Held in front of Leon Grant, with him hiding behind her, it was difficult for the police to get a clear shot at him.
Because of this, none of the officers on the scene dared to fire.
But hearing his threat, one of the officers found an opportunity and aimed for the shoulder of the arm holding the knife.
BANG.
The bullet flew.
After being shot, Leon Grant’s body lurched backward.
In that instant, Nina Halloway felt the arm around her neck loosen. At the same time, a large hand gave her a hard shove on the back.
She was pushed forward, falling flat on the ground.
As for Leon Grant, after being shot in the shoulder, the knife slipped from his hand. His whole body fell backward, tumbling over the railing and off the rooftop.
"Mmph—"
She let out a choked cry. Watching Leon Grant fall, tears instantly streamed down her face.
Countless figures ran toward her.
Ethan Austin was the first to reach her. He took off his coat and wrapped it around her, his trembling hands untying the ropes on her hands and feet.
The moment she was free, she scrambled to her feet and leaned over the rooftop railing to look down.
Leon Grant had already hit the ground.
The emergency responders hadn’t finished setting up the air cushion. Leon Grant plummeted to the ground, and blood spattered on impact.
He lay flat on the ground, his arms spread wide, as if he were looking up at her.
"Aah—"
A scream tore from her throat.
Nina Halloway let out a cry that shocked even herself.
In that moment, she couldn’t form words, only screams.
Ethan Austin thought she was terrified by the bloody scene. He quickly pulled her into his arms, patting her back to comfort her. "It’s okay now. Don’t be afraid."
"Aah—"
After another scream, Nina Halloway collapsed unconscious in Ethan Austin’s arms.
Ethan Austin caught her securely, wrapping the coat tightly around her.
"The ambulance is here. Take Miss Halloway down first," Officer Young said.
Ethan Austin nodded, bent down to pick up Nina Halloway, and led the way downstairs.
By the time he walked out of the building, the police had already placed Leon Grant’s body in a black body bag and were loading it into a vehicle.
Sean Wright’s family was in the crowd of onlookers. When they saw the unconscious Nina Halloway, they tried to rush forward, but Ethan Austin quickened his pace and got into the ambulance.
...
When Nina Halloway woke up, she was in a private hospital room.
She opened her eyes to see many people gathered around her bed, all of them familiar faces.
As she looked at their worried expressions, the image that flashed through her mind was of Leon Grant falling from the rooftop.
"Leon Grant... is he dead?"
Ethan Austin nodded. "Yes. He died on impact."
Before he was shot, Leon Grant had confessed his crimes to the police. The cases were all being prepared for closure.
Everyone thought Leon Grant had gone mad from unrequited love and kidnapped Nina Halloway. Only she knew that he simply didn’t want to live anymore.
Maybe it was unrequited love, or maybe it was something else, but that man had used his own life to show everyone that she was the victim.
She stayed in the hospital for a day and was discharged the next morning.
Ethan Austin took her back to her apartment.
The door had been replaced with a new one, and the word ’MURDERER’ that had been scrawled in red paint in the hallway had been cleaned off.
Sean Wright’s family continued to harass her, but they no longer demanded one billion in compensation. They agreed to her previous offer and accepted one hundred million.