The Truth Surfaces Five Years After My Death

The head of the narcotics unit handed Gabriella an application form filled with signatures.

"Chief Campbell, here's the application form to conduct drilling at Pier 17 of the Joy Bridge. Everyone in the narcotics unit has signed it.

"We have to get to the bottom of this, regardless of whether Oliver was telling the truth. We owe the truth to our fallen comrades and the public!"

Gabriella swept her eyes across the application form before crumpling it into a ball.

"Application rejected."

"Chief Campbell!"

"Enough." Gabriella looked at the head of the narcotics unit. "From now on, you're suspended from duty. Go back and reflect on your behavior. Do not return until you've thought things through."

My soul hovered over the passenger seat as I watched Gabriella open the door and get into the car. As soon as the door shut, the facade she had maintained at the press conference instantly fell apart.

Gabriella leaned back in her seat, still stern and aloof, but the corners of her eyes kept twitching. We had been together for ten years, and I knew every subtle shift in her expression by heart.

My soul hovered at her side, trembling with surging emotions. "Gabriella, are you scared?"

In the car, only her increasingly heavy breathing remained. As the silence lingered, light flickered across her face.

There was no sign of the smiling young woman who had once helped me put on my goggles at the shooting range years ago.

After a long time, Gabriella opened WhatsApp. The same chat had been pinned for the past five years, and the profile photo was my ID picture taken at the entrance of the narcotics unit. I was dressed in my police uniform, my eyes shining.

Gabriella stared at my profile photo for a long time before sending me message after message.

"Victor, what on earth are you up to?"

"Five years ago, you went rogue and got hundreds of our comrades killed. Wasn't that enough?"

"Daniel's dead. They said you were a traitor. I refuse to believe that."

"As long as you say you didn't do it, I'll believe you."

Gabriella's fingers trembled for a moment before settling on the last message.

"Victor Patton, I hate you."

In the end, she slammed her phone onto the passenger seat.

As I read those messages, I felt as if I had been thrown into ice water, a chill spreading through me.

When I went undercover for Oliver's operation, I was one step away from the final takedown, but I didn't know how my cover almost got blown.

It was Daniel who sacrificed his life so I could stay undercover. He even took the fall for the compromised operation.

On the day he died, his last words were for me to keep going and not let the force down. But with his death, the last person who could prove my innocence was gone.

I watched Gabriella bury her face in her hands. The resentment, grievance, and searing pain kept wearing down my soul.

After a long time, Gabriella regained her composure. She slowly smoothed out the application form she had crumpled earlier.

She stared at the names signed on the form. These were the comrades who had once risked their lives with us.

"Victor, perhaps it's time I gave up on you for good."

She pulled out a pen from her suit pocket and prepared to sign the form, but at that moment, her phone rang—it was Christopher.

Gabriella answered the call, her expression softening instantly.

Christopher's voice, filled with pain, came through the phone. "Gabriella, my chest hurts."

Gabriella sat up straight immediately, her voice turning tense. "What's going on? Where are you?"

"I'm at home. I just watched the news about Oliver's live trial. I suddenly thought of Daniel and felt overwhelmed.

"I've been like this for a while, but I just can't calm down. Now my chest is starting to hurt."