Chapter 121 Give Me the Video

“You didn’t know? Wade, when you started lying about me and dragging my name through the mud, you already knew exactly what might happen. You just didn’t want to face it.

“You’re acting all innocent and pitiful… did you learn that from Kyla? You should just be like Howard. At least he owns up to being a scumbag, and that’s honestly less disgusting!”

Tilda could see that Wade really hadn’t known about everything the Jensons had done.

But did that matter? It still didn’t change anything.

Deep down, Wade must have sensed it long ago.

He just kept pretending he hadn’t seen anything or heard anything, all to numb his own guilt.

Tilda’s words tore through the truth Wade tried to hide.

For a second, Wade’s face looked absolutely awful and ashen.

His clenched fists suddenly went limp.

It was like Tilda could read his mind, cutting right through his defenses.

She used the most direct, cutting words, and every time she spoke, it crushed whatever lies Wade tried to hide.

He felt totally exposed, like he’d been stripped naked and left in the middle of the street.

Every secret, every bit of shame–laid bare for the world to see.

As embarrassment, shame, humiliation, and guilt came crashing down over him, he could hardly breathe.

“That’s enough, Tilda! We didn’t come here to argue with you. Give me the video!”

Howard had no patience for Tilda anymore. He wanted nothing more to do with this mess. If it weren’t for that damned video, he wouldn’t have wanted anything to do with her.

Every time he ran into Tilda, nothing good ever happened. So much for being his little sister… she was more like a jinx to him.

“You want it? Come and get it.”

With that, Tilda spun around and bolted.

Howard was left standing there, dumbfounded.

He never expected Tilda to just take off like that.

In the blink of an eye, she was already more than 30 feet away.

She ran so fast!

“Stop right there!”

Howard took off after her.

The crowd automatically cleared a path for Howard and Tilda.

Just then, Wade finally snapped out of his daze.

“Tilda… I’m really sorry…

“Everything you said… you were completely right… I am a hypocrite…”

That guilt was eating him alive.

With that, Wade chased after them, too.

At the very least, this time, he didn’t want to add to the guilt he felt for Tilda. He wanted to protect her and not let Howard hurt her.

Meanwhile, Howard pushed himself and finally caught up to Tilda in a narrow alleyway.

Nobody else was around.

For Howard, a distance like that was nothing. It didn’t even count as a warm-up.

But…

Tilda was fast.

He nearly lost her several times.

Howard started to wonder if he was imagining things, but it felt like Tilda had even slowed down and let him catch up.

“Tilda, you can’t get away. Give me the video.”

The alley had only one entrance.

Howard had Tilda cornered.

She was cornered, nowhere left to go.

“The video? Oh, you mean this…”

Tilda calmly pulled out her phone right in front of Howard.

She tapped open the video, letting it play.

The whole scene of Rebecca kneeling and barking was right there, volume turned all the way up.

“Not bad, right? Almost a work of art.

“If I posted it online, it would be all over the place.”

“You wouldn’t dare!”

Howard couldn’t even imagine what would happen to Rebecca if the video went viral. He lunged at Tilda in a panic.

He stood at least six foot two, with the build of a pro fighter. When he charged, he exuded an intimidating aura, almost like a lion going in for the kill. The whole alley seemed to shrink in comparison.

His shadow swallowed Tilda’s in an instant.

All Howard cared about was grabbing the phone. He wasn’t even thinking about anything else.

But all his little tricks he had up his sleeve were useless against Tilda.

She dodged his grab easily and lashed out with a kick aimed right at his groin.

Howard’s face turned dark, and he barely twisted out of the way in time.

Her kick sliced through the air with a sharp snap.

That one move made Howard realize something was seriously wrong.

Tilda was a trained martial artist.

She knew what she was doing.

The second that thought entered Howard’s head, it was already too late.

Tilda planted her left foot against the wall, spun in midair, and kicked straight for the side of Howard’s face with her right foot.

As the sunset cast its glow over the alley, it caught the line of Tilda’s cheek.

Her dark hair whipped in the air, her body moving with a grace that looked almost winged.

She looked like a winged goddess of war.

She looked unstoppable.

The flash of movement left Howard blinded for a split second.

He couldn’t even track what Tilda was doing.

All he could do was fall back on years of fighting experience and instinctively defend himself.

He blocked her kick with his right arm.

But Tilda didn’t back down. Her eyes were locked on the weakest spot of his arm–the unprotected elbow joint, where he had no leverage.