Chapter 232

Chapter 232

Was there still time?

Dante mocked himself. Just the thought of letting Elena go made his whole body ache unbearably, as if someone had torn a hole in his chest.

It was already too late.

He struggled to part his lips, about to speak, when suddenly a figure flashed before his eyes. Before he could react, a fist came violently at him, smashing into his face.

Dante fell heavily to the side, barely managing to steady himself against the wall. His face hurt so much it was almost convulsing. He looked up to see Marco's furious gaze as Marco grabbed the fabric on Dante's shoulder - these past few days, he had finally found his chance.

"You bastard!"

Marco unceremoniously raised his hand for another punch. Dante was forced to take it, blood seeping from the corner of his mouth, his face instantly swelling and bruising. When he came to his senses, he stepped forward and without hesitation gave Marco a punch.

The two men grappled together, fist to flesh, trading blow for blow in hand-to-hand combat. Because they used no actual technique, both men were soon injured.

"Enough!" Lucas didn't know how to break up the fight from behind, so he could only frown and shout roughly to stop them.

Marco angrily grabbed Dante's collar and scolded: "How do you still have the face to appear here! You misjudged Elena and caused her to spend three years in detention. If I were you, I would have hidden away in shame long ago, and yet you still won't let her go!"

Dante's eyes were bloodshot, but he couldn't say a word. He just grabbed Marco's wrist and after a long moment said restrainedly: "How are you any better? Four years ago, you were the one who ran away without a word. Anyone can criticize me, but you have no right!"

At these words, even the usually gentle Marco couldn't help but grit his teeth, and he gave Dante another punch without consideration.

Dante naturally wouldn't back down either. Rather than fighting, it was more like they were venting on each other.

Until the door beside them suddenly opened and Elena appeared with a wooden expression. The two men grappling together immediately stopped.

Dante first glanced at Elena's indifferent face, then at her hand, which was still dripping blood - she had obviously pulled out the IV needle herself.

She seemed unaware of it. Without looking at Dante, she looked directly at Marco: "Stop fighting."

Her voice was filled with exhaustion. Her pale face was even more ghastly white, her eyes hollow like a dry well, with no trace of light visible.

Marco immediately stopped fighting with Dante. He really didn't want to fight in front of Elena.

"Elena." Marco frowned, feeling a subtle unease in his heart, and spoke carefully: "Are you alright?"

Elena walked out step by step, but she was also unsteady. Her hand was bleeding because she had pulled out the needle too roughly without any treatment. Blood flowed directly to her fingertips, congealing into a drop that remained there.

Dante's heart skipped a beat. He raised his hand to touch her, but Elena grabbed Marco's sleeve with her other hand, avoiding his touch: "The court session is about to start. Let's go."

"Okay."

Marco hurriedly took off his coat and wrapped it around Elena's shoulders. The more he did so, the more he could feel the woman's thinness. He was so angry he almost gritted his teeth, glared fiercely at Dante, and left with Elena.

Dante stood frozen in place, motionless, his dark eyes fixed as he watched the two figures walk farther and farther away.

He thought about how from the moment Elena opened the door, her gaze had never lingered on him for even a moment. At that moment, he had already lost. In this fight, he had lost miserably.

Lucas watched Dante looking so dejected and let out a heavy sigh: "She gave her answer. Let's just end it here."

He patted Dante's shoulder and walked away first.

Dante followed for a few steps but felt dizzy and disoriented. Marco's punches hadn't been gentle - his face felt like it was on fire, affecting his head with tearing pain that forced him to stop and rest.

Ten minutes later, the court session began.

Dante was the last to enter. He immediately saw the victim's family section where Elena sat alone, her back straight, eyes downcast, silent and expressionless.

Behind her, Marco accompanied her. The injuries on his face had been briefly treated - there was a wound on his jaw with a bandage applied vertically, extending straight down to the underside of his jawbone.

This was Elena's handiwork. Her way of treating wounds was always different from others. When conditions allowed, she would almost want to write her name on the bandage to tell everyone this was her masterpiece.

But this used to be his exclusive privilege.

Thinking of this, Dante's brows furrowed, and he felt a stinging pain at the corner of his mouth that was unbearable.

After a moment, he sat down beside Lucas.

Soon, Sofia was brought into the courtroom. She opposed all evidence, calmly explaining: "Your Honor, the video does show that I swept Roswell's life-saving heart medication into the trash can, but I didn't know he had heart disease at the time.

He had assaulted me then, and I was in a rage. It's not surprising that I did such things - I was just protecting myself. I had no intention of killing Roswell. As for the recording, couldn't anyone with a voice similar to mine have recorded it? If you listen carefully, the voice is somewhat childish, completely different from my current state."

She simply deflected all the evidence.

Elena stared with burning eyes, staring deadly at the woman on the stand.

After a series of arguments and discussions, Sofia insisted that she didn't know Roswell had heart disease.

This was the fatal key point, representing whether Sofia intentionally killed or committed manslaughter. If it was intentional, she would naturally be sentenced to death. If it was manslaughter, combined with Roswell's prior assault, the result would become delicate.

The court and jury discussed this matter for nearly half an hour. A case from four years ago wasn't so easy to overturn. Finally, the judge unanimously decided on a second trial.

This meant Sofia would live for several more months. Elena sat in her seat, restraining herself as her face tensed, her fists unconsciously clenching, staring deadly at Sofia, wishing she could personally judge all this.

But she wasn't the judge of this case after all, and could only watch helplessly as Sofia was about to be taken away by police personnel.

When Sofia passed by Elena, her eyes showed a hint of provocation. She would die, but not now. Making Elena suffer and agonize for three whole months seemed enough.

The two women looked at each other for only five seconds before Sofia looked away, smiling as she prepared to leave.