After waiting so long and still seeing no one show up, Aurora figured the person wasn’t going to appear after all. All the time she’d spent here had been for nothing. What she didn’t know, though, was that someone inside the police station had already made a call. As for those thugs, they’d already been silenced. Now they were just waiting on Megan’s injury report. After all, with the current evidence, it still wasn’t enough to determine exactly what those thugs had done. And since Aurora had arrived early, they hadn’t managed to succeed in their plan, so technically, it didn’t count for much. With all those factors combined, the police station had been holding those men back without letting Aurora see them. Otherwise, those thugs would be done for. That much was clear—everyone knew it, even if no one said it outright.

Seeing how there was still no progress after all this time, Aurora felt a wave of disappointment. There was a dull ache in her chest she couldn’t quite name. She didn’t want to walk away like this, not when she’d come so far. In her memory, this whole incident had ended in a deadlock. In the end, the thugs had been sentenced, but not for long. Back then, they’d insisted they acted alone. No matter what they were asked, they stuck to “I don’t know.” And because there was video evidence from the camera, their sentence had been extended. Thinking about that, Aurora couldn’t help feeling a strange admiration. Even under those circumstances, those thugs exposed the person behind the scenes. It made her wonder—could Tessa really have been behind it all? She would’ve only been seventeen or eighteen at the time. Was she really capable of something like that?

The allowance Grace gave her shouldn’t have even been enough to fund something like this. Thinking of that, Aurora became even more certain that someone was backing Tessa. But as for who that person was, she had no clue at all, not even the slightest lead. As far as she knew, Tessa had always stayed home due to her poor health and didn’t really interact with anyone else. That was what made it all the more bizarre. Just like that, Tessa still managed to pull all this off? That was impressive in itself. Aurora took a deep breath, still finding no way forward. Then what was the point of fate bringing her back here? What good did it do to go through all this again, when nothing could really be changed? That thought filled Aurora with even more hatred toward her own helplessness. So, was fate just mocking her? Watching her struggle?

Back inside the police station, the chief was in his office, reviewing the latest case files. Just as he was about to leave for the day, the landline on his desk suddenly rang. He picked up the phone and answered sternly, “What is it?” Once the caller identified himself, the chief’s tone changed at once, “Ah, Mr. Lee, my apologies, I didn’t realize. The case with the three thugs? The girl with the last name Quinn?” Whatever the caller said next made the chief’s face darken. He looked troubled, clearly in a difficult position. “This… Mr. Lee, it’s not that I don’t want to help, it’s just that this really puts me in a tight spot. After all, I still have people above me keeping watch. Besides, I’ve heard the girl from the Quinn family isn’t without influence herself.”