Chapter 6: The Girl on the Rooftop (6)
1897 Words
Inside the one-way observation room, Lucy ground her teeth in frustration at the scene unfolding before her,
“I spent the whole morning running around like a headless chicken, she didn’t even glance at me. Adrian plays on his phone for fifteen minutes, she volunteers to talk.”
Alex, standing beside her, shrugged.
“Push-pull type. People always chase what’s out of reach.”
Back in the interrogation room, Adrian didn’t seem moved at all by Vivian’s offer. He looked at her, gave a calm, reassuring smile, and said:
“No need. Just relax.”
With that, he lowered his head and returned to his phone, as if the game he was watching was more important than taking her statement.
Vivian, clearly displeased at being ignored, took the initiative to ask,
“Are you a cop too?”
Adrian looked up at her again and replied,
“No. I’m a professor at the University of California, Los Angeles. Currently, I’m a part-time consultant for SCIU.”
Vivian nodded knowingly and said with a smug grin,
“Knew it. You don’t look like one of those broke, low-level cops at all.”
Adrian chuckled at her colorful comparison.
He raised a finger to his lips, signaling her to keep quiet, then pointed toward the glass wall, implying that the very people she’d just called “broke and low-level” were sitting right behind it.
Vivian followed his gesture, then stuck out her tongue at the glass with a mocking pout.
The atmosphere in the interrogation room gradually lightened.
It was undeniable, Vivian was drawn to Adrian.
Not in a romantic way, but rather by the way he treated her as an equal, like a peer.
It made her feel at ease, and she wanted to keep the conversation going.
So she asked another question,
“Do you always dress this nicely for work? Or is it just today?”
Of course, he looked sharp every day.
Because the world was filthy and chaotic, and all Adrian ever wanted was to live a life that was just a little cleaner, a little more beautiful.
But that wasn’t something he was going to tell Vivian.
He took off headphones, turned off his phone screen, and continued the conversation with her,
“You caught me. I have an important date after work today.”
As he spoke, he put in one of his wireless earpieces, connected to the observation room, and shifted into work mode.
Vivian raised an eyebrow, wearing a smug expression.
“Who are you meeting that you dressed up like this for? Your girlfriend?”
He looked at her and winked.
“My future girlfriend.”
Vivian thought to herself that with a face like Adrian’s, his girlfriend must be a total knockout.
So she asked aloud what was already on her mind.
Adrian gave a firm answer,
“Of course. She’s tall, has a great figure, long hair, and a face like a movie star.”
As he spoke, his gaze turned dreamy, as if the woman in his imagination truly existed.
Vivian hated it when people praised beautiful women in front of her, for the simple reason that she wasn’t one.
She leaned slightly toward Adrian, curled her lip, and sneered,
“Those big-breasted women usually have tiny brains.”
Adrian reacted immediately, as if rushing to defend the girl in his heart.
“No, she’s different. She used to be my student. Not only is she beautiful and intelligent, she also graduated top of her class. That kind of comment doesn’t apply to her.”
Then, as if even that description felt too abstract, Adrian paused and added thoughtfully,
“Right, she’s like Natalie. Beautiful, smart, hardworking. Everyone loves girls like that.”
The moment the name Natalie came up, Vivian reacted like a cat whose tail had been stepped on. She leaned back in her chair, as if trying to put some distance between herself and Adrian.
“That w***e? No one liked her. She was just a toy for us to mess with.”
Adrian frowned, clearly displeased by her attitude. His expression turned serious, and his voice carried a stern edge,
“You’re still saying things like that, even sitting here? It’s a good thing Natalie didn’t jump off that rooftop. If she had…”
Vivian lifted her chin arrogantly, her voice laced with pride,
“So what if I’m in here? Worst case, I get locked up for a few months. Once I’m out, I’ll go right back to being my daddy’s little princess.
But that w***e, her life is ruined. I made sure of that. Honestly, she should’ve just jumped. After all the trouble I went through for her, she didn’t even die. What a waste.”
“You... you… how could you…” Adrian’s words faltered, his face flushing red with anger.
Of course, it was all just an act, something he staged for Vivian to see.
But she believed it was real.
She thought she had succeeded in making a handsome, refined, and well-educated man speechless with rage.
To her, that was a major victory, something worth bragging about to her friends later.
She let out a smug laugh. “What about it? Is there anything I wouldn’t dare to do?”
“Don’t think just because you’re a minor, you can say whatever you want,” Adrian said, choking back his anger.
“I’m not just a minor,” she said proudly. “I’m also the daughter of a millionaire.”
“So you’re admitting to all the crimes you committed against Natalie?”
“Yeah, so what? I was the one who drugged her, threw her into that room with Andrew and the others. I filmed it to blackmail her. Made her our slave.”
Adrian could no longer stand her cold-blooded demeanor. He raised his voice,
“All because Natalie was prettier than you? That’s why you got jealous and treated her so cruelly? Out there, more than half the population is better-looking than you. Are you going to take revenge on all of them too?”
Vivian was stunned for a moment, then immediately snapped,
“Shut up! Who said I was jealous? That w***e had nothing I’d ever want!”
He didn’t respond to her outburst, instead continuing in a calm but cutting tone,
“I know you’re insecure about your looks. But you could’ve waited until you turned eighteen. Once your features settled, you could get plastic surgery, fix the things you’re not happy with.
Sure, the result won’t age as well as natural beauty, but at least you’d get a few good years out of it during your youth.”
The flicker of pity in Adrian’s eyes infuriated Vivian.
Who did he think she was? She was the daughter of a millionaire. Her father was the largest shareholder of Crownwood High.
She was born at the finish line, why would she need anyone’s pity?
“Shut up! Like I’d ever want plastic surgery!”
“Vivian,” Adrian said gently, “I can understand how hard it is to feel invisible in a crowd. But everyone is born an imperfect apple, God gives us some things and takes away others. You were born into wealth and power, so perhaps your appearance was the price.
Natalie is a good girl. She’s beautiful, hardworking, and intelligent. What you did to her is inexcusable.”
Right now, the thing Vivian hated hearing the most was someone praising Natalie in front of her.
In her eyes, Natalie was nothing but a discarded shoe, something fit for the trash.
To compare her, a princess, with that girl was nothing short of an insult.
Vivian lifted her chin defiantly and snapped back,
“What’s so inexcusable about it? That w***e was born to be stepped on.
Anyone could sleep with her, use her, humiliate her.
Let me tell you, those videos of her online? I posted them. I wanted the whole world to see how cheap that slut really is.
So what if she’s pretty and smart? In the end, she’s still just a filthy w***e no one could ever truly love.”
On the other side of the one-way glass, the members of SCIU sat in silence, their brows furrowed, chests rising and falling in visible anger.
Years of police work had taught them just how rotten humanity could be.
But now, from the mouth of a child not even grown, they saw something else:
A twisted world, festering, crawling with maggots, sickening to the core.
Was it indulgence that created this? Faulty parenting?
Or had some children simply been born with the heart of a monster?
Empathy is the thread that weaves people together. It is the seed of kinship, of love, of friendship, of community.
It is the foundation on which any society is built and sustained.
But in these children, that thread did not exist.
They were selfish, obsessed with being the center of the universe, unable to accept even the slightest rejection.
They were backed by powerful families and enormous wealth.
If it weren’t for the restraints of the law, the entire world might have already fallen into chaos at their hands.
Adrian looked into Vivian’s eyes for a long moment.
What he saw was nothing but her ugly, festering jealousy.
He gradually shed the appearance of a man flushed with anger, returning to the calm of still water.
Then he spoke slowly,
“You’re wrong.
A benefactor has stepped forward.
After the trial, Natalie will be helped to transfer schools, change her name, and even undergo facial reconstruction.
She’ll get a completely new life, still beautiful, still brilliant, still a goddess in the eyes of many boys. But you… you’ll walk out of this with a criminal record, and at the end of the day, you’re still just a forgettable face in the crowd.”
He never directly insulted Vivian’s appearance, but every word hammered home one fact: She was a wretched little toad, and no matter how violently she thrashed, she would never become a swan.
Adrian had successfully ignited the raging fire inside her.
Vivian jumped to her feet, slammed her hands on the table, and screamed,
“Who said she could leave? Who said she could change her name? I didn’t agree to that! I have money, I’ll chase her to the ends of the earth. When I get out of here, I’ll ruin her life all over again!”
At that moment, a voice crackled into Adrian’s earpiece.
It was Alex. “That’s enough, Dr. Monroe.”
Adrian acted as if he hadn’t heard.
He stood up slowly, leaning forward with both hands on the table, his tone relaxed and unhurried,
“Face it, Vivian. People love beauty.
This world always favors the beautiful.
Natalie has everything it takes.
Once she’s free from you, she’ll shine.
And you? Strip away your family name, what are you?”
Once again, Alex’s furious voice came through the earpiece,
“Shut your mouth and get the hell out of there!”
Adrian let out a soft chuckle.
He straightened up, adjusted his perfectly smooth collar, and turned to leave,
behind him, Vivian was still screaming in a fit of rage.
His pace was calm, almost leisurely,
as if the furious man from just moments ago had never existed at all.
- Writer
