Page 174 of Ruin Me Gently

The rain.

The darkened alley.

A fist to my face.

A boot to my ribs.

“I can’t believe they haven’t caught him yet,” she sighed.

I let out a sharp breath. “I know, it’s ridiculous.”

“To be fair, I’d probably be deep in hiding too if my face was plastered all over the news.”

Something in my chest tightened. “Huh? What?”

She hesitated, her brow furrowing slightly. “You don’t know?”

“Don’t know what?”

She glanced at Silas, and I followed her gaze to where he was stood at the island, deep in conversation with Finn.

I turned back to her, my pulse picking up. “Molly. What?”

She twirled the ends of her hair between her fingers. “Look, it’s not the full thing,” she said carefully. “But it’s been all over the news since it happened.”

“What do you mean all over the news?”

She shifted uncomfortably. “I mean, there’s footage.”

A strange ringing filled my ears. “Footage?”

“A few people were there. They filmed it.”

“Seriously?”

She let out a bitter laugh. “Yeah. Instead of stepping in, they just pulled out their phones and recorded it.” Anger bled into her voice. “I swear to God, I’ll never understand people. They saw you get attacked, and they—what? Thought it’d make a great viral clip?”

My lungs constricted. “Molly—”

“They just stood there, Lils. Watched. Filmed. Like it was some kind of spectacle.”

Nausea rolled through me, saliva flooding my mouth. This wasn’t just something that had happened in the dark, in private. People had seen it. Recorded it. Shared it.

“Show me.”

“Lils…”

“Show me.”

Her gaze flicked over to Silas and Finn again before she sighed and pulled out her phone. Her fingers moved quickly, bringing up an article before she passed it to me.

SEARCH UNDERWAY FOR NEWS ANCHOR CLARK THORN AFTER BRUTAL ATTACK ON EX-GIRLFRIEND.

Beneath that—a video link. I didn’t even think. I clicked it.

Shaky footage. Dimly lit. The moonlight barely casting enough glow over the alleyway. A figure—Clark. Standing over someone curled on the ground. It took no time at all to realise that someone, wasme.

He kicked.

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