Chapter 4 Chapter 4 It Was You That Night, Wasn’t It?

“Emergency situation! A large-scale gang fight has broken out in District Five. All units respond!”

The alarm blared through the entire office floor.

I had no choice but to rush into the patrol car with the rest of the team. When we arrived, the stench of smoke and blood hit us head-on. Two rival gangs were clashing with steel pipes and machetes, and the scene was completely out of control.

“Secure the area!” Darren’s voice came through the loudspeaker, calm and authoritative, carrying a commanding force that made people instinctively obey.

I glanced over discreetly.

He was wearing a bulletproof vest, standing on the front line, holding his gun steady. His movements were sharp and decisive, like the lead in a Hollywood action film. Even in the chaos, he was impossibly hard to look away from.

“Oh my God, the sheriff is so hot…” Lily sighed dreamily beside me. She even deliberately unbuttoned two buttons of her uniform, exposing deep cleavage, and leaned toward Darren while escorting a suspect. “Sheriff Gellar, you were so brave just now. Want to come over for a drink tonight?”

A chill ran down my spine.

Seriously? This is an active gang fight.

Sure enough, Darren’s expression darkened instantly. His gaze swept over Lily like she was trash.

“My department doesn’t need fangirls. Pack your things and report to administrative duty.”

Lily’s face turned deathly pale. At that exact moment, the burly gang leader she was escorting suddenly exploded into action. He slammed into her and snatched the gun from her holster.

“Watch out!”

My brain hadn’t even caught up before my body had already moved.

The man raised the gun toward the crowd and yanked me against him, the cold barrel pressed hard to my temple.

“Nobody move, or I’ll kill her!” he roared, spittle spraying across my face.

Every officer raised their weapon, but no one dared to fire. The air froze.

I saw Darren standing not far away, his brow tightly furrowed. One hand was hidden behind his back as he subtly signaled Bob to move in from the side.

But I couldn’t wait.

The gun dug painfully into my head. That familiar surge of adrenaline spiked again, just like it had that night at the hotel.

The instant the gang leader was distracted by Darren, I dropped sharply downward, slipping out of the line of fire. I locked both hands around his gun wrist and twisted hard.

Crack.

With a scream, the gun fell to the ground. I spun behind him in one smooth motion, wrenched his arms behind his back, and drove my knee into the back of his leg, slamming the two-hundred-pound man flat onto the pavement.

“Stay down!” I shouted, the movement fluid and unbroken.

Silence fell around us.

Even I froze.

I was done for.

That arm lock.

That angle.

It was exactly the same move I’d used that night in the hotel, when I’d pinned Darren to the bed and cuffed him.

Stiffly, I looked up and met Darren’s gaze.

He wasn’t looking at the suspect on the ground. He was staring at my hands. In those deep eyes, shock flickered, followed by unmistakable suspicion.

“This technique…” he murmured, his gaze slowly lifting until it locked onto my face.

At that moment, a stray gang member suddenly charged out of the alley, swinging a steel pipe toward the back of my head.

“Careful!”

Darren lunged forward and pulled me into his arms. The pipe slammed into his back with a dull thud. He let out a low grunt but didn’t even flinch, knocking the attacker unconscious with a single punch.

He was too close.

The familiar scent of cedar enveloped me, exactly the same as that night. Trapped in his arms, I could feel the powerful thudding of his heartbeat against my chest.

He looked down at me, his expression so complex I couldn’t read it. His eyes flicked to the name tag on my uniform.

“Nora King… what were your combat scores at the academy?”

I wanted to bury my head into the ground.

“All… all A-pluses.”

Darren narrowed his eyes and took a step back, as if reassessing me from scratch. The scrutiny made my scalp tingle.

My heart climbed straight into my throat. I was already preparing to deny everything, or run if I had to.

Then suddenly, he leaned in close again. His breath brushed the back of my ear as he spoke in a low, intimate whisper.

“It was you that night at the hotel, wasn’t it?”

My pupils contracted, and my heart began to pound wildly.