Letting out a groan as I manage to push the top half of my body off the ground so I’m sitting, I see Ashton glaring at me from where he is stepping back into the crowd. We don’t want to make this look like it was a set-up, so the less intervention from him and his staff, the better it looks for the case we have built. I know he’s not happy that I have an injury, but as I struggle to get up on my feet, I give him a subtle chin lift to let him know I did as I promised.

Do I feel guilty for the way we provoked and set up Chester? Not a fucking chance. He chose to come looking for me. He was the one who threatened me and to straight-out tell me he wanted to kill me and then go after Harper, so he deserves everything that happens to him. For now, he will end up back in jail, and I will have to go through a court case, but I don’t care. As long as he is off the streets then I can rest easy and go home. Well, maybe not today, I might need a stitch or two in this gash. I look at it after lifting my shirt up. Police are walking toward me, and I guess I’m in for a long night.

“Are you okay, sir?” The policeman looks at me holding my side with blood on my fingers. “Call an ambulance to check him out.” He looks at his partner who starts talking into his two-way radio.

“I will be now.” It’s the best answer he is getting from me until I can sit down for a minute and take a breath of relief.

I watch them drag Chester away, still yelling and screaming that he will kill me one day, and it just shows to all the police on site how unhinged he truly is. It makes me feel satisfied that all the pain I’m feeling right now is worth it.

The rest of the night is a bit of a blur—being taken to the hospital to be examined, a few stitches in my side, and then down to the police station to give my statement and make sure they had all the video footage from the witnesses. They played me the ones they had. Some are grainy and poor quality, but I could pick the one that came from our team because it was crystal clear and captured the whole thing from start to finish, including him being taken away and still screaming. The voices were easily heard, and there is no doubt who started it and what transpired.

* * *