The Silent Witness Chapter 7

I lay on the ground, looking at her face, my emotions a tangled mess.

By now, Mr. Reed was convinced I was the attacker. Everyone around us had decided I was guilty.

Even if she cleared my name, how many people would actually believe her?

One of the officers walked over, separating the crowd, and spoke to Lily. "Miss, please calm down and speak slowly. You're saying you saw the attacker clearly? Who was it? What did he look like?"

Lily sniffled, wiping the tears and blood from her face. Just as she was about to speak, Mr. Reed suddenly interrupted.

"Lily, don't say anything crazy! Are you confused again?"

I was sprawled on the ground, my back wounds stinging from the cold sweat.

The night Lily was dragged into that alley, her mind had locked up like a rusted padlock, trapping all her memories of the attacker inside.

It wasn't that she didn't want to tell. The trauma had buried those images so deep she couldn't reach them.

This was the first time she'd been able to pull the attacker's face out of that chaos.

Lily's body shook harder and harder. She bit her lip until it went white, tears streaming down her chin.

She lifted her head, her gaze sweeping over the crowd before finally, slowly, settling on Mr. Reed.

"It was... it was him."

Those few words detonated like a bomb.

Mrs. Reed stood frozen for two seconds before screaming and shaking Lily by the shoulders.

"Lily, that's your own father! He took you to amusement parks when you were little! He stayed up all night when you were sick! How could he possibly do something like that to you?"

"How can you accuse your own father? You must be out of your mind!"

Mr. Reed's face drained of all color in an instant. He stared at Lily, his eyes bloodshot, like he wanted to devour her.

"Lily, look at me! Say that again! Did Jason put you up to this?"

No one spoke. Lily just cried.

Mr. Reed suddenly broke down. Tears poured from his eyes without warning. Then he lunged at me, grabbed my hair, and slammed my head against the ground.

Thud. My vision went black. Blood ran down my forehead and into my eyes.

"It's all your fault! All your fault, you piece of trash!"

He kept slamming my head down, his voice raw with insane hatred.

"My daughter was fine until you came along! You're the one who made her say these things! You made her slander her own father! I'll kill you today, you bastard!"

My head spun. I tried to fight back but couldn't move.

The pain was overwhelming. I was on the verge of passing out.

Finally, people around us reacted. Some shouted "Stop!" but no one actually stepped forward to stop him.

Most of the crowd just whispered among themselves, all of them siding with Mr. Reed.

"Yeah, what kind of father would hurt his own daughter?"

"I think Jason's behind this. He probably told Lily to say it so he could get off. He's trying to frame her dad!"

The words pierced my ears like needles, but I wasn't surprised.

Mr. Reed's reputation in this area was impeccable.

He ran a factory, donated to charity, and even local officials treated him with respect.

Add to that the father-daughter relationship—

Who would believe a "mentally unstable" girl over a respected businessman?

Eventually, the police pulled Mr. Reed off me and crouched down beside me, their tone cold.

"Get up. You're coming to the station with us."

"Lily's testimony is unreliable. You're still the primary suspect."

An officer reached out to help me up, but I shook him off.

Using my arms, I slowly pushed myself off the ground.

"You don't need to investigate. I already knew you wouldn't believe her."

"I knew from the moment Lily came to me that it would end like this."

"So this whole thing—all of it—was just an act that Lily and I put on together."