Chapter 30: Chapter 30

Author’s POV

Four years ago...

Both Chase and Law were seventeen years old high school students in Victoria High.

As always Chase was not so friendly with anyone around him, except George and John. He has always been good in minding his own business without caring about others.

As for Law, he knew Chase as it was almost impossible to not know one another in this small town when both of them came from rich and influential families.

But they weren’t close. Both of them had never talked with one another before. But they were not sworn enemies either as they are in present.

But all of it changed after that day.

Chase was minding his own business at the backyard of old building of this school which was not in use right now.

He was sitting on an empty bench doing something in his phone. He was alone at that moment as both George and John were attending their classes.

Suddenly he heard sound of someone sobbing. At first he just ignored the sound thinking that whoever it is will stop crying after a while.

But when it didn’t stop and instead got a lot more louder, he sighed and finally moved his gaze from his phone and looked around.

He couldn’t see anyone. But he could still hear the sound of sobbing.

So he decided to get up on his feet and walked towards the old building and opened the door of the storeroom which was right beside the old school building.

As soon as the door opened, he heard someone gasping in surprise. His eyes fell on a girl who was sitting on the floor of storeroom.

The girl lifted her tear filled eyes to stare into Chase’s eyes and sighed in relief for some reason Chase was unaware about.

It was Kate. Chase knew this girl. She was in the same class as him. He didn’t know much about her except the fact that she was a scholarship student and was an orphan.

He had never talked to her before and had just seen her. He knew that she was dating Law.

He wondered why she was crying like this but he didn’t say or asked anything to her. He was never a kind of person who cared about other people’s business.

He was just about to turn on his heels when his eyes fell on her bare arms. The sleeves of her t shirt were rolled above her elbows, leaving her forearms bare.

His eyes slightly widened when he saw some burn mark on her arms. It looked like she was burned by the cigarettes. Some wounds looked old but some of them were new, maybe a day or two old.

His gaze moved on its own accord and he did a quick once over her whole body and saw some purple bruise marks around her neck.

Kate noticed him checking her wounds and quickly rolled her sleeves down and covered her neck with her hairs.

Chase moved his gaze from her neck to stare at her tear stained face which had panic written all over it.

And this time Chase couldn’t ignore her. “Are you okay?” he asked even before he knew.

The reason behind this change in his demeanor was because the wounds on her body were reminding him of his sister Valarie.

He saw the similar kind of bruises all over her body when he saw her dead body after she died.

That is why seeing those bruises on Kate was making him feel uneasy.

But before Kate could open her mouth to reply, Law came there.

“What are you two doing here all alone, huh?” Law asked in cold tone.

Both Chase and Kate’s eyes fell on Law who looked very pissed for some reason.

Chase didn’t bother answering him and again averted his gaze towards Kate to find her staring at Law with fear in her eyes.

“I asked what are you doing here? Do you know him Kate?” he asked with gritted teeth making her flinch at his tone.

This time Chase didn’t turn to look at Law and kept staring at Kate.

She hurriedly got up on her feet. She looked more than scared at the moment.

“No, I don’t know who he is” Kate replied and the tremour in her voice didn’t go unnoticed by Chase.

“Are you sure?” Law asked again while glaring at Chase. Chase felt his gaze on himself and turned around to look at him.

It didn’t take a genius to guess why Kate was so scared at the moment. Why she was staring at her own boyfriend with terror in her eyes.

He wanted to confront the bastard for hurting a girl like this and beat him up to make him feel the same pain.

But he reminded himself that it wasn’t his business. He shouldn’t meddle in other people’s matter.

It’s possible that Law didn’t hurt her like this. At this point Chase was just guessing that it might be Law who hurt her, just by looking at her bruises and fear in her eyes. But he could be wrong.

That is why he decided to do, what he is good at. He ignored both of them and walked away from them, without answering Law’s question.

After that day he didn’t see Kate as she was not coming to school for some reason.

He ignored the matter hoping he was wrong about Law and got busy with his own life.

Almost after a month he again ran into her but this time not in school. He saw her in hospital, wearing hospital gown.

He was accompanying George to hospital, as he hurt his ankle in school while playing soccer.

Chase was not expecting to see her there. At least not in the condition she was in at the moment.

Her face and body had multiple bruise marks as if she was beaten up by someone very brutally.

He saw her sitting on a bench in the garden of the hospital. It seemed like she didn’t notice him as she was zoning out. It looked like she was in deep thoughts.

Unlike his usual self who doesn’t like interfering other people’s business, this time he couldn’t stop himself and made his way towards her.

This girl was reminding him of his sister. And that is why her beaten up state was bothering him a lot.

She came out of her thoughts when he stood in front of her eyes and called her name, “Kate”.

Her eyes widened and in an instant they filled with fear when she saw him. She jerked up standing on her feet.

Her reaction made Chase confused. He could see fear in her eyes. The same kind of fear he saw the other day, when she saw Law.

“Are you okay? What are you doing here?” Chase asked.

Instead of replying she turned on her heels and started walking away from him. But her trembling legs didn’t let her take even few steps and she fell on the floor.

Chase rushed towards her and tried to help her up but she scooted away from him.

“Please… don’t touch me” she stammered in her shaking voice. She was panicking, Chase could see that. And he also felt that she was getting scared of him.

That is why he didn’t go near her and tried to say in a calm tone.

“Okay relax. I won’t come close. I just wanted to know if you were okay?”

Chase saw her swallowing hard. Her eyes were starting to tear up.

“Don’t talk to me. He… he doesn’t like it” she stammered again.

Chase’s frowned in confusion for a moment but soon he understood the meaning behind her words.

“Are you talking about Law?” he asked.

Her eyes widened hearing his name and she started trembling like a leaf.

Chase spoke again when she didn’t say anything. “Did he physically abuse you?” he asked cautiously.

“No… no… don’t say it. Don’t talk to me” she stuttered. By the way she was trembling in fear just at the mention of Law’s name, Chase knew that he was indeed right.

George came out of the hospital after meeting doctor to find his friend crouching down on the floor beside a girl.

He made his way towards Chase. “What are you doing…” George started asking his friend but stopped in the middle when his eyes fell on the girl sitting in front of Chase.

His eyes widened in shock when he saw the state of that girl.

“Kate…” a whisper left George’s mouth.

She moved her gaze from Chase to look at George. As soon as her eyes met with him, she broke into the fit of sobs.

George stormed towards her and crouched down beside her. The girl instantly wrapped her arms around his neck and broke down in his arms.

Chase was confused to see them. He didn’t know that George knew this girl.

“You know her George?” He asked and his friend just nodded his head without saying anything.

She cried for some time in George’s arms until she started feeling exhausted.

George brought her in the hospital and made her lie down on her bed in the general ward.

Within few minutes she fell asleep as she was very tired after all the crying.

George wanted to know why was she in the hospital? Who was responsible for her bruised and beaten up state?

He was feeling bad for her.

“How do you know her?” Chase asked his friend after she fell asleep.

“She used to live in an orphanage that my parents manage” George replied.

George’s parents are both well known in the business world. But along with owning multiple companies and hotels, they also manage two orphanages. One in city and one in nearby town. They were well known philanthropist in the town.

Since childhood George used to visit those orphanages with his parents. There he became friends with many kids. One of them was Kate. She is like a sister to him.

He knew that she got admission in the same school as scholarship student and was happy for her.

“I didn’t know you knew her” Chase said.

“Bro, that’s because you never attend any classes and we don’t talk about school or anything related to it when we are hanging out” George said.

“You are right.” Chase said while glancing in the direction of sleeping Kate.

“But how do you know her? What were you talking about with her?” George asked.

Chase told him everything about how he met her for the first time and how she reacted earlier when she saw him.

“Do you think it’s Law’s doing?” George asked with gritted teeth.

“It seems like but we will know for sure if she tells us about it. You can talk to her and ask her what is going on” Chase said and George nodded his head.

After few hours she woke up. George made her drink some water. She was still looking scared but it was better than earlier.

After few minutes of silence George decided to ask, “What happened Kate? Why are you in the hospital? And who did this to you?”

Again fresh tears started flowing from her eyes. Her hands were trembling.

George took her hand in his and gave it a slight squeeze in order to comfort her.

“It’s okay Kate. Tell me. I will help you” he said. She glanced in the direction of Chase.

“He is my friend. Don’t worry and tell me who did this to you? Was it Law?” he asked.

Kate hesitated a little but still nodded her head slowly.

“But why?” George asked starting to get angry.

“The other day he saw me…” she paused to again glance in the direction of Chase and swallowed the lump in her throat.

“Because he saw you with me?” Chase asked in disbelief and she nodded her head again.

“What the f**k? Did he thought you were cheating on him?” Chase asked with raised brow.

A cracked sob left her mouth as she started telling them everything.

Apparently she was a victim of dating abuse. Law has been abusing her physically.

Law had delusional jealousy. He gets jealous even if someone glances in her direction and he takes out his anger by abusing her.

He beats her every time he sees her talking with some other male. She was not allowed to even look at other boys.

She wanted to break up with him, she even told him that she doesn’t want to date him anymore. But every time she said those words, he got a lot more angry and it resulted in a lot more beating.

She became so scared of him and his obsession with her that she even stopped thinking about breaking up with him even though she was getting tormented by him.

Last time when Law saw Chase and her together, he was raged. Without thinking about consequences he beat her to the level where she had to get admitted in the hospital.

This is why she was not coming to school.

Hearing her words was making both Chase and George lose their temper.

“What a f**king crazy bastard?” George cussed out in anger.

“Didn’t you file complaint against him?” Chase asked calmly even though he was far from being calm at the moment.

“I did. But nothing happened. He is a son of rich person. Police didn’t even call him to station to confront him”

“That’s when I realised that a person like me can’t do anything to someone of his status. In the end going to police to ask their help, resulted in nothing but more abuse, more pain”

The pain in her tone was breaking both Chase and George’s heart.

“Don’t worry Kate. You can’t do anything to him but I surely can. We will help you” George said and looked at his friend Chase’s face. Chase just gave him a slight nod.

Kate shook her head. “His father is very powerful man. He won’t let his son get punished at any cost” she said matter of fact.

“But..” George started but was cut off by Chase when he said, “She is right George. Even if we file complaint, police might take him in custody for questioning. But I am sure he is going to be released in the end”.

“So what can we do? I want to help her get out of this mess” George asked raking his hands through his hairs.

Both Chase and George’s eyes widened when Kate decided to tell them how they can help her.

“Can you help me move out of this town to a place where Law can never find me?”

***

Present...

“Your boyfriend separated me from my love. He made police take me in the custody and send her away” Law said as anger started taking over his features again.

After two days when Kate requested them to help her get away from this town and Law, George decided to file a complaint against Law.

And this time police couldn’t take the complaint lightly as it was filed by someone who had power and influence.

Police didn’t have any choice but to start investigating the case. Law was summoned to police station for questioning.

But it didn’t last long as Law’s father did everything in his power to protect his son and he was released by police without any charges.

This is what Chase and his friends had expected. They knew that Law’s father would not let his son go to prison or get punished.

By filing the report they were trying to gain some time. And they succeeded in sending Kate to a place where she wanted to go and made sure that Law doesn’t find out about it.

Also George’s parents helped them in doing all of this without leaving any traces behind.

George’s parents told Kate that she doesn’t have to run away like this, leaving her school and everything behind.

They assured her that they can help her get away from Law without her having to sacrifice her life here in this town.

But Kate chose to go away and start afresh, without having any fear in her heart.

“So now I want to separate you from him. I want him to feel the pain he made me feel”.

Cara was staring at his face in disbelief. Now she understood why he hated Chase so much. She understood why Law has been trying to hurt her.

But were his reasons justifying his actions? No, they weren’t.

“Is this the reason why you approached me from the beginning?” she asked.

Cara had always doubted that Law had been trying to get close to her because of some ulterior motives.

Law smirked and said, “You were always so good in reading people, weren’t you? You always knew that I was trying to get close to you so that I can hurt Chase, right? That is why you never believed me and fell for my tactics”

Cara just kept staring at his face without saying anything.

“Yeah, you are right. I approached you because of Chase”.

On the day when Chase and Cara met for the first time in the café where she works, Law was there.

He saw the interaction between Chase and her when she saved her friend Aria from losing her job and he instantly knew that there was something between them.

And when he found out that John was trying to dig some information on Cara, he was sure that this girl was important for Chase.

That is why when he found out that she is the new student in their college, he approached her on her first day.

He wanted her to be his and wanted to see how Chase is going to react once he finds out about them.

His doubt got confirmed that Chase has feelings for this girl when he kissed her in front of Chase’s eyes and he lost his temper.

Law was finally able to find Chase’s weakness and he was determined to use it against him.

“But you know what, in the midst of all of this planning and plotting I really fell for you. I really started liking you” Law confessed making Cara shocked again. She didn’t know what could make her more surprised than she was right now.

But then her mind went back to the moment when he had confessed his feelings for her in the classroom on the same day Chase declared that she was his girlfriend.

She remembered how it looked like Law was being genuine at that moment. For the first time Cara couldn’t see any lie or ulterior motive in his eyes or behind his words.

‘He was actually being genuine at that time' she thought to herself.

“I confessed my feelings for you but you chose that bastard Chase just like Kate did in the past” Law complained.

“And don’t you know the reason why no one chose you?” Cara asked.

“What could it be? You find him more attractive? Cause his father is Mayor? Or he is….” Cara cut him off.

“No, it’s none of those reasons. It has nothing to do with Chase but everything to do with you and only you”. Law frowned at her words but didn’t say anything.

“The reason why I didn’t choose you is because you were never sincere with me. You just saw me as the tool you can use for your revenge” she said.

Law shrugged his shoulders and said with smug expressions on his face, “Maybe”.

“And do you know why Kate decided to run away from you?” Cara asked again making him stare into her eyes.

“It’s because you were a jerk to her” the smug look got wiped off of his face replacing it with a hard expression.

But it didn’t stop Cara from continuing, “An obsessive jerk who was hell bound on ruining her life. She ran away from you because she couldn’t be in a relationship with a man who thinks beating a woman who is weaker than him is something to be proud of. Because she couldn’t bear to be with such a coward who….”

She couldn’t complete her sentence as the silent room filled with a loud sound and her head whipped to the side.

She felt a burning sensation on her cheek when he slapped her. She even tasted blood in her mouth because of how hard he hit her.

But for the first time in such a long time she didn’t feel any fear in her heart because of violence.

She turned her head around to look at Law who was glaring at her with anger in his eyes but it didn’t scare her even a bit instead she scoffed at his action and said,

“See, this is what I was talking about. You think abusing someone who is weaker than you is a very manly thing to do, don’t you? But let me correct you. It doesn’t make you anything but a coward” Cara said.

“You b**ch!” he cursed and again lifted his hand to slap her again. Cara just braced herself to get slapped again without moving back or flinching in fear.

But before his hand could touch her face the big door opened. Both of their heads whipped in that direction and saw Albert making his way towards them.

Law withdrew his hand and got up on his feet when Albert said, “Finally the person I have been waiting for is here”.

Cara’s heartbeat started increasing as she shifted her gaze in the direction of door and saw a shadow of man walking inside and she didn’t have to see his face to know who he is.

“Chase…” an inaudible whisper left her mouth when he came in the light and her eyes met with his gray ones.

Fresh tears started flowing from her eyes when she saw his bloodshot red eyes and concerned expressions.

She just wanted to get up on her feet and run towards him. She wanted to hug him so tight and melt in his arms.

On the other hand Chase was relieved to see that she was not hurt in any way except a red hand print on her left cheek, clearly telling him that someone slapped her.

Her red cheek stained with tears was burning his insides in anger. His hands were balled to his side. But he knew better than to act on his impulses right now when Cara was still in enemy’s hands.

He averted his gaze from Cara to glare at Albert and said with clenched jaw, “As you wanted, I am here. So let her go”.

Albert chuckled at his words and said something which made both Cara and Chase anxious,

“What’s the rush? The game is just about to start”.