The Criminal Diaries

      Three days later. Although Helene is enjoying a job-free day, she does not spend her time in bed and always finds something to do. Today in the early morning, the girl went to the city to walk with her dog Sammy and help him spend his great energy by running long and playing intensively with his favorite toys and anything he finds in his way.       She is not walking alone. She is with Peter, who decided to accompany his girlfriend. It’s still a little hard for him to move due to the trauma of his foot, and he has to take care of his wounded hand and use it as little as possible. Nevertheless, the man tries not to complain and just does everything carefully, with no rush, hoping he will be able to come to himself more or less by the next show of his band.       “Maybe, you shouldn’t have done this?” Helene expresses anxiety, leading Sammy on the leash, while he is following her obediently and sniffing the ground with interest. “You’ve got your foot injured.”       “Don’t worry, sweetheart, everything isn’t so bad,” Peter assures with a slight smile. “And the painkiller that I was prescribed weakens my pain much more.”       “Even if you have just a slight dislocation and bruise, it doesn’t mean you shouldn't take care of yourself.”       “How could I think about some bruises when this situation is happening? When it’s especially dangerous for you to walk alone outside.”       “But Sammy’s with me.” Helene pets Sammy’s head with a sweet smile. “I know he will protect me.”       “I know, Helene.” Peter kisses Helene on her temple, hugging her around the shoulders. “But I’d feel much quieter if I protected you personally.”       “Of course, it’s madly nice for me that you worry about me so much. But I’m much more worried because of your traumas.”       “Did you think I’d be lying in my bed all day and eating tons of delicious food just because I have my foot and hand injured?”       “Actually, you must do this!”       “When I bring you home safe and sound, I will go to lie.”       “Aw, Peter…” Helene gets blushed.       At this moment, Sammy barks quietly but confidently.       “Sammy does agree with me! You must take care of yourself!”       “Yeah?” Peter pronounces surprisingly. “I think Sammy says I must take care of you.”       “Do you think those people will want to do something to me?”       “It will happen early or late. Just because you walked quietly outside before today doesn’t mean it’s gonna be okay.”       “You’re scaring me…”       “I’m in tension, too.” Peter exhales sharply. “Moreover, those assholes did mention that your time would come soon. Which means it’s all a matter of time.”       “My gosh, I don’t understand who got so mad at you?” Helene wonders, embracing herself with both arms. “They’ve attacked you four times already! Four!”       “Yeah, these guys are stubborn. But the men and I think their goal is not to kill me yet, but just to play on my nerves.”       “But they wanted to harm you! One tried to strangle you, another pushed you off the stairs, and the third was in the car! And another man wanted to kill you… After the show…”       “They just completely understand that they would hardly scare me with words. That’s why they shake me up like this.”       “Are you really sure you harmed nobody?”       “Huh?” Peter frowns slightly.       “Maybe, you’re hiding something from the men? Maybe, you have problems that you don’t wanna talk about?”       “Nope, I’m hiding nothing.”       “Don’t worry, Pete, if you ask me, I will say nothing to anyone. But I wanna know why it’s all happening.”       “I swear, Helene, I have nothing to tell you!” Peter exclaims. “I don’t know who’s guilty of all of it. And besides… The one, who was chasing Terrence and me, admitted that I didn’t know that man yet.”       “Didn’t know?”       “Yup, it’s like I don’t know their lord yet, but he knows me. He’s done for a long time, as I understand.”       “And don’t you have any assumptions about who that man could be connected with?”       “I have no freaking idea.”       “It’s kinda strange.”       “Agree…” Peter sighs tiredly. “I lived a quiet life and enjoyed my life, but then someone decided to drink a little bit of my blood.”       “And they ain’t gonna show up.”       “Aha, doing everything with the help of their accomplices.”       “Afraid?”       “Wanna keep the intrigue, likely. Make me guess.”       Sammy barks confidently two times.       “Oh, my head goes around because of what’s happening…” Peter confesses. “I’m even afraid to go outside now. Because a certain asshole is waiting for me anywhere.”       “The girls and I also don’t know who to advise,” Helene replies thoughtfully. “Nobody can say a word. Whoever we talk to.”       “Listen, hasn’t something suspicious really happened to you lately? Maybe someone was chasing you? Maybe, someone came to you and said something?”       “Erm, nope…” Helene pronounces hesitantly, moving her eyes aside and biting her lip slightly. “Nobody… The girls don’t complain about it, either.”       “But why’s your voice shaking?”       “Me? Voice?”       “Yes, you are nervous,” Peter notices suspiciously. “You are a little pale. And your answer doesn’t seem too confident to me.”       “Well, nah…” Helene smiles kind of falsely, touching her face with her fingers and starting to breathe a little heavily. “It… Seemed to you…”       “Don’t you think hiding something from me is really a good idea?”       “I’m hiding nothing from you.”       “Yeah? But I don’t think so.”       “Fear God, Peter! How could you even think that I’m hiding something?”       “But you are nervous.”       “I’m just really scared!” Helene confesses excitedly. “I’m afraid that these people will find me and… I… I don’t wanna die…”       “Look into my eyes, Marshall,” Peter says determinedly. “Look into my eyes and say you’re not lying to me.”       “I’m not lying, Peter, I swear!” Helene exclaims, moving her widely open eyes to Peter. “And I’m hiding nothing from you.”       “Helene!”       “How did you get this sort of mistrust for me? Did I do something terrible?”       “If everything were really okay, you wouldn’t be so nervous. You wouldn’t twirl your bracelet and scratch your eyes, nose, and something else.”       “It’s my nerves thing…” Helene squeezes her wrist nervously, feeling how fast her heart is beating. “And I’m worried about you… And I’ve lately had a tense situation at my work…”       “You’re muddying the water, Marshall…” Peter crosses his arms over his chest. “And you’re lying to me with no shame.”       “My gosh, what bite you? You were in kinda good mood when we just met? What happened to you now?”       “I am thinking about whether you are hiding something on purpose. Something that could help me get away from those bastards, who are the reason I became half-disabled now.”       Sammy whines quietly at this moment, as if he is asking Peter to stop attacking Helene, while she can barely hold down her tears from the offence and puts her head on her shoulders.       “You’re hurting me, sweetheart…” Helene pronounces in a shaking voice.       “As if you are not hurting me!” Peter throws a little coldly.       “What did I do to you? Why are you talking to me like this?”       “You are giving me the reason to think you are a liar. The reason to think you want them to erase from this world.”       “Jesus Christ, Peter…” Helene opens her eyes widely. “It’s like a demon possessed you…”       “And you are hiding too many secrets and lying too hard!” Peter breaks into a cry.       Sammy retracts his ears to his head and puts his tail between his paws in fear, as if he aims to become little and invisible.       “You’re outta your mind, Rose!” Helene throws a little irritably. “Just outta your mind!”       “I am fine!” Peter replies coldly.       “If you’re nervous because of what’s happening now, don’t take it out on me. It’s not my fault. The fault is on the one, who started it all.”       “Oh, yeah, not your fault! So, you are our innocent lamb. That lied to me once.”       “Did you decide to recall the story of my conflict with the girls? You have nothing to do!”       “No, Marshall, the case is different now. Though it also has to do with your insolent lie.”       “Stop, Peter, I’m begging you…” Helene begs with wet eyes full of pity. “You’re giving me a strong pain with your unfounded charges.”       “You say, unfounded?” Peter smirks evilly. “Fucking unfounded?”       “Calm down, I’m begging you. Breathe deeper. Think of something good.”       When Helene tries to take Peter under his arm, he pulls her down sharply, even if it’s an injured one.       “Don’t touch me!” Peter throws rudely.       “My gosh, I’ve never seen you being so wild,” Helene horrifies. “I… I don’t understand…”       “Fine.” Peter stops sharply. “Since you’re pretending to be an idiot and preferring to be a liar in my eyes, I will make something clear now.”       Peter takes Helene painfully under her arms and takes her aside not to prevent other people from going their own way. While Sammy follows his owner and starts barking loudly at the blond as he looks at him with scared eyes.       “Hey, whatcha doing?” Helene resents. “Rose, are you crazy? Let me go, it hurts! Lemme go, I said!”       “Shut up, I am speaking now!” Peter throws aggressively, lets Helene go, and pushes her sharply off herself, looking at her with bloodshot eyes.       Sammy starts barking a little louder.       “Samuel, stop!” Peyer throws. “Stop barking!”       Probably this is the first time when Sammy starts growling quietly at Peter, being ready to protect Helene from the man, who kind of went insane under the influence of some spell, at any time.       “What did I tell you? Stop this hysteria!”       “Stop, Peter, please…” Helene begs in despair, while tears are rolling slowly down her cheeks. “Wake up! Stop acting like this!”       “Now, we will see what you will do after I show you something interesting,” Peter replies in a low, rude voice.       “What do you wanna show me?”       “Now… Now I will satisfy your curiosity with pleasure.”       With these words, Peter takes his mobile phone from the pocket on his jeans and looks for something for a few seconds, breathing like a furious bull and feeling like every single muscle in him is literally breaking from anger.       “And now, beauty, look at this message,” Peter says with his head proudly raised. “Look, look. You can even take my phone to see it better.”       Helene takes the phone from Helene with shaking hands and moves her eyes to the screen with excitement. She sees the messages from the unknown number, the content of which makes her fall into a stupor:       “Do you think your deeply beloved girlfriend is so innocent, sweet, and fluffy? Are you sure you made the right choice and should think about getting married to her? No, Peter Rose, you are deeply wrong! That girl is lying to you insolently. She is not so loyal to you. Not so honest with you. She does not love you so much. I know something bad related to Helene Marshall’s past. I know some of her sins that she is ashamed to tell everyone about. If you know them, you will surely doubt that you are lucky to have her. You will believe you’ve been deceived again. And if you want to learn more, ask that ‘dark angel’ about it personally. I’m not sure that she will tell you something, but who knows. Maybe the gal will reveal it all. Though I really doubt that she will open all the dirty secrets of her wild past and confess that she has had an affair with multiple young men.”       After reading the message from start to end two times, Helene starts breathing heavily with the thought that she feels dizzy, a lack of air, and a sense of losing her ground.       “My gosh…” Helene pronounces in a shaking voice. “No… No, no, no…”       “How would you explain this to me?” Peter demands coldly, taking his phone from Helene sharply and putting it in his pocket. “Don’t you wanna tell me anything?”       “W-who sent you this? When?”       “Yesterday evening. I don’t know who sent this. The number is unknown. But as I understand, they know you very well. They know you much better than I do.”       “Did you really believe it? Did you believe I was really so terrible?”       “Yeah, after reading the messages, I started to try to get rid of these thoughts. It was like it couldn’t be happening. I thought my Helene wasn’t like this. But I kind of had doubts deep inside. Knowing about your past mistakes.”       “The girls and I solved everything a long time ago and reconciled. Nobody talks about it anymore. Nobody remembers what happened.”       “And something tells me that’s not everything you told me on that day,” Peter says confidently. “Everything was on the surface, but nobody got deeper into it. Though I understand I should have done it.”       “Peter, stop this, for God’s sake…”       “By the way, I insisted upon walking with you mostly because I wanted to make this fucking situation clear. Yesterday evening, I decided that I would make you explain it all today.”       “It’s all a slander, sweetie!” Helene excuses herself with pity in her wet eyes. “I’m guilty of nothing for you, and I’ve done nothing bad.”       “So, are you refusing to speak?”       “Do you really want me to say it’s the truth, looking into your eyes?”       “Yes, I want!”       “It’s a lie!”       “Don’t make me enraged, Helene Marshall!” Peter cuts off sharply. “I will not let you make a fool and lie to me all the time.”       “I’ve never lied to you!” Helene sniffs quietly. “You’ve always known all my secrets. Everything about things that happen in my life.”       “Then be the fuck pleased to explain which sins are you afraid to confess so badly?” Peter takes Helene under her arms tightly. “What don’t I know about you? What don’t I know about your past?”       “Let me go, please…” Helene winces strongly. “You’re hurting me…”       “Did you, bitch, decide to play with me like a toy? Just like that bitch Kristina did? Or something much worse!”       “You’re unfair to me, Pete!”       “And I see you are not wasting time! You are fooling me, using you, showing a great love, acting like you’re ready for self-sacrifice… But you are the fuck dating multiple men!”       “What men?”       “Don’t dare to tell me it’s a lie,” Peter says in a rude, low voice, pushes Helene off himself sharply, and clenches his hands into fists tightly, breathing like an exhausted horse. “DON’T DARE TO SAY THEY TOLD ME A LIE ABOUT YOU!”       “I don’t have anyone!” Helene protests in despair. “And I have never had!”       “I said, DON’T DARE TO LIE!”       At this moment, Sammy starts barking loudly and determinedly, standing in a fighting position, while his disapproving glance is set on Peter, who is literally red from anger.       “It’s clear someone is well aware of your adventures. About how you’re jumping from one bed to another secretly from everyone. About how you are playing the fool with me with pleasure.”       “I don’t sleep with anyone!” Helene breaks into a cry. “Nobody! I love you! And just you! I don’t need anyone else!”       “What a scum you are…” Peter shakes his head. “Insolent and false bitch…”       “Please, Peter, stop!” Helene stops holding down her tears. “Wake up! You don’t understand what you’re talking about.”       “I’m giving you a chance to confess everything. Confess which secrets you’re hiding from me. And who those bastards, who you fuck with, are.”       “Sweetie, please…”       “I am warning you, asshole: if you refuse to confess all your sins, our relationship will come to an end.”       “What?”       “You heard it right. I will not handle this and pretend that everything is alright. I will not let one bitch keep having me wrapped around her finger.”       “Please, don’t do this!” Helene begs with tears in her eyes. “Don’t leave me! I don’t wanna lose you!”       “And even if you refuse to tell me everything, I will find out the truth. It doesn’t matter how much time it will take. But I will know everything. I shall know about your secret wild life.”       “What kind of fucking truth!” Helene wonders.       “THAT YOU REFUSE TO SPEAK!”       “There’s no truth! Just like there have never been any men or secrets!”       “EVERYTHING IS WRITTEN IN THIS FUCKING MESSAGE!”       “Don’t you understand they want to slander me? That they want to make us fight and break up!”       “Oh, yeah!”       “I don’t doubt that the one, who wanna kill you, did this. They are the ones, who are trying to turn our relationship into chaos. They want to do their best to defeat you. But you are the fuck succumbing to them. You believe them!”       “SHUT UP, BITCH!”       Peter takes Helene by the forearms so tightly that he can feel her bones, and gives the girl a strong pain.       “STOP EXCUSING YOURSELF!” Peter shakes Helene sharply, setting his icy look into her tear-stained eyes. “STOP LYING AGAIN AND AGAIN!”       “Let me go!” Helene demands, trying to get out of Peter’s grip with no success. “Hey, it hurts! Peter! Peter, stop!”       “Doesn’t it hurt me? DOESN’T IT THE FUCK HURT ME? BECAUSE SOMEONE BETRAYS ME AGAIN! PUSHES ME IN THE MUD!”       “Have I ever given you a reason to doubt me? Call just one case when you thought I could have some secrets! Just one case when you thought I dated another man!”       “You’ve been giving reasons from the very beginning! But I preferred to ignore them! I listened to my friends, who made me sure to give you a chance! Who trust you, too. Hoping you were the one I needed.”       “Please, Peter, don’t do this to me,” Helene begs in a shaking half-whisper, looking into Peter’s eyes with despair and pity. “I love you… I love you so much. You’re the best thing I have in my life.”       “I loved you like an idiot, too! I thought you would be good! I was happy to get the girl, who sacrificed so much for me. But it was a fake. An attempt to put me off guard.”       “I don’t deserve it… I didn’t deserve to be treated by you like this. After everything I’ve done to you.”       “Your grandmother would get an excellent surprise. She would be fucking overwhelmed if she knew what her beloved granddaughter was doing. How much is she ‘loyal’ to her boyfriend. Your grandfather kicked your ass all the time for a reason. He probably knew you were a bitch. He knew you would do many bad things if you weren’t held by the pants.”       “Stop, please…”       “I am asking you for the last time, will you say something?” Peter shakes Helene by the shoulders again and squeezes her wrists. “WILL YOU CONFESS THAT YOU ARE A BITCH? WILL YOU DO THIS OR NOT?”       “I’VE NEVER LIED TO YOU!” Helene explodes with a heavy breath.       “Asshole…”       Peter pushes Helene aside rudely and starts walking in circles nervously, pulling his hair painfully, while the girl is crying bitterly, and Sammy touches her softly on the leg with a quiet whining, wishing to comfort her a little.       “I did the fuck want to marry you! I thought, ‘That’s my future wife and a mother of my children!’ I believed I would love a long and happy life with you. BUT YOU GAVE ME THIS KIND OF SURPRISE!”       “Stop insulting me!” Helene cries.       “I wouldn’t be so mad if you decided to prank me with a fake pregnancy. If you gave me a test with a positive result. But I am not going to forgive cheating. No fucking way.”       “Didn’t the stories of your friends teach you anything? Isn’t the fact that two of them were tried to be fooled in the same way, and another betrayed his girlfriend against his will enough for you?”       “Don’t get the men and the girls involved in it.”       “My God, I don’t understand you…” Helene comes closer to Peter. “How could you believe it all? Why did you think I could actually do this?”       “Don’t pretend to be holy, Helene! Did you forget how you were bullying the innocent girls, who did NOTHING to you, for ages?”       “It’s all in the past!”       “No, my love, it’s not in the past. And you haven’t changed at all. You are still a bitch. A shameless and false bitch that is ready to put anyone in danger and harm anyone she doesn’t like or their ass-lickers.”       “Peter, please, stop…” Helene swallows nervously and sniffs quietly. “Don’t hurt me so much.”       “Hey, do you really think you can make me feel pity? Do you think all these tears, shouts, and begs can help me wake up? And your words can magically help me get sober?”       “I’m crying because I’m offended! Offended because you don’t believe me.”       “Oh no, now I will not believe your words. You can say anything, but I’ve understood everything a long time ago.”       “Peter, please…”       “Peter! Peter! Peter!” Peter teases in a squeaking voice. “STOP! I AM SICK OF THIS!”       “I’m ready to die for you. Ready to sacrifice anything for you. And I wouldn’t choose any wealth over you.”       “Doesn’t it sound funny to you?”       “My feelings for you have always been real. And I wouldn’t even think about losing you and agreeing to be your girlfriend if I felt nothing for you.”       “It’s clear you did if you betrayed me.”       “I’ve never betrayed you!”       Helene wants to come to Peter and touch his forearm softly, but he moves her hand sharply off himself, throwing coldly:       “Don’t touch me!”       “Peter…” Helene pronounces with pity in her eyes and puts her hand on Peter’s back.       “Don’t touch me, I said!”       “Let’s talk about everything quietly.”       “Don’t you hear me?”       “You must believe me.”       “But you must shut up!”       “I’m not guilty!” Helene pronounces desperately. “I did nothing bad!”       “I SAID, SHUT UP!”       When Peter turns on Helene and wants to grab her rudely by the hair, Sammy runs to her shortly, closes the girl with himself, and starts barking and growling at the man being obsessed with anger, clenching his hand into a fist, and forgetting about the pain in his hand and foot.       “Samuel, you better get out of my way,” Peter demands in a horrifying bass voice, threatening Sammy with a finger. “Get out, I said! Don’t make me mad! Or you will regret it!”       But Sammy is not even going to move off and keeps growling aggressively at Peter, standing in a fighting position as if he is ready to attack the man in case he wants to harm his owner.       “Hey, dog, we’re actually having mature things here,” Peter says coldly, bending to Sammy. “And children do not meddle in it. They close their ears, go as far as possible, and do their business.”       Sammy shows his sharp teeth and barks in a threatening way multiple times, showing that Peter should get back and wake up.       “Your charges are like a knife in the heart,” Helene says quietly, choking on tears and shaking from a strong tension in every muscle of her body. “And your reluctance not to believe in my innocence is tearing it apart.”       “Alright, Marshall, let it be,” Peter throws coldly with contempt in his eyes. “I don’t fucking care if you will tell me the truth. It will not change a thing. Because you betrayed me.”       “It’s not the truth…”       “We are over now. You and I are breaking up.”       “What?” Helene opens her eyes widely. “No! No, Peter, for God’s sake! I don’t want this! No! NO!”       “I didn’t want it, but I have no choice. Because I don’t wanna live in a lie. I don’t wanna have anything in common with the girl, who is hiding her wild past and a lot of dirty secrets. Who preferred someone else over me.”       “NO, PETER, PLEASE!”       “I don’t care who you fuck, how much, when, and something like this. Live as you want. I’m not going to run after you and find out something. Fine, I’m done. I don’t care.”       “Honey…”       “Stop, Helene, we broke up. You’re going your way, I’m going my way. And I really hope we will meet again. So, I don’t see you hugging and kissing another man.”       “I can’t live without you… I need you.”       “From this moment on, I don’t want to hear anything about you. Forget me. Delete my number from your phone. Block my accounts. Don’t dare to chase me and try to prove something. I ain’t fucking care about what you wanna show me.”       “Peter…”       “Fuck you! I don’t wanna see you again, bitch!”       Peter turns around and starts going in the unknown direction in a quick step, burning with true hate and doing his best not to go too far and not to let his anger take full control of him.       “Peter!” Helene calls loudly. “Peter, wait! Don’t go! Please, listen to me! I’ve never betrayed you and hidden a thing! It’s all a lie! Slander! I’ve done nothing! Peter! Peter, for God’s sake!”       But Peter ignores all these words of Helene and keeps going somewhere determinedly, while Sammy watches him in a little disapproving way.       “I’m not guilty…” Helene pronounces much quieter and makes a couple of sobs. “Not guilty…”       Stopping to hold down her emotions, Helene lets herself cry bitterly and even shout to tame the pain that is tearing her heart apart. At some moment, she falls powerlessly to her knees and leans on the ground with her hands, while every single muscle is shaking, and it’s getting harder to breathe.       “For what?” Helene wonders. “For what? What did I do? No, I must be sleeping… It’s just my nightmare… I’ve gotta wake up and understand that everything is okay… I must…”       Whining with pity, Sammy comes to Helene making heartbreaking sobs and even shouting at some moment, and touches her lap shyly with his paw.       “I’m not guilty of anything, Sammy, I swear!” Helene excuses herself in despair. “I didn't betray Peter. I didn’t have and don’t have anyone but him. And I’m hiding nothing from him. I am honest with him!”       Sammy barks quietly as if he says, “Don’t worry, my owner, I am absolutely by your side and know you’re innocent and pure.”       “I was framed! Slandered! It’s all a lie! Someone wanted to make me the worst person in the world. They wanted to separate me from Pete. They wanted to make him think I’m bad.”       Helene sniffs and runs her hands sharply over her hair.       “It’s them… Those people, who wanna kill him. I am sure they did this. They sent the message. There is nobody else. Nobody!”       Sammy starts whining with pity again and butting his head against Helene’s arm and snuggling his nose in her shaking hand.       “My God, will he really leave me?” Helene horrifies. “Is this the end of our relationship? I don’t want this, Sammy! I love him! I love him to death! I’m ready to give my life for him.”       Helene presses Sammy as close to her chest as possible and snuggles her nose in the top of his head, while he looks at her with true sadness and sympathy.       “It’s so hurtful… It’s hurtful that he believed them, not me.” Helene exhales with a shake. “He does know the stories of his friends well. He should’ve understood that he couldn’t blame someone without proof. No, okay, I agree, they had a reason to suspect something. But Peter… He blamed me for betraying him and lying just because someone sent him a message.”       Sammy barks two times in approval, not stopping to look at Helene and listening to all her words closely.       “What do I do now? How do I prove to him that I’m guilty of nothing? I can’t lose Peter! I don’t wanna break up with him! I wouldn’t even dare to think about it!”       Helene sniffs quietly and wipes carefully the tears under her eyes.       “Or do you think I should accept it and piss him off?” Helene moves her eyes to Sammy. “Huh, Sammy? If the man doesn’t wanna hear me and doesn’t believe I’m telling him the truth, does running after him make sense? If he wanna break up, it’s fine. I’m not holding him! If he wants, he can meet another girl. And my truth will be mine.”       Sammy snuggles his nose in Helene’s cheek and licks the tip of her nose shyly.       “Yeah, I think I will do this. I don’t want, and I will not run after Rose. I don’t wanna look like I’m dependent on this relationship as if I don’t have a chance anymore.”       Helene grabs Sammy’s face softly with both hands.       “Am I not right, my boy? Wouldn't it be better if I did nothing and kept doing my business?’       Sammy barks confidently two times.       “Let’s wait for some time first, and then it will get clear.” Helene sniffs quietly. “Maybe Rose will wake up later. Or maybe, the men will wash his brains when he tells them everything. Or the girls wanna deal with him. I dunno, we’ll see it…”       Sammy whines with great pity, and Helene takes him in a tight hug, understanding that she feels a little better next to her doggy. Even if it’s still hard for her to believe it’s really happening.       “Okay, my baby, let’s go home,” Helene says softly and gets up slowly. “I will give you a treat. Then you will have a rest at your corner, and I will spend some time with my grandma. I’ll try to pretend that nothing happened. I don’t wanna upset her.”       Sammy barks in approval.       “Don’t worry, my sweetheart, it’s gonna be okay,” Helene says with a false smile. “We will get through it. Moreover, there’s really nothing I can be blamed for. And when you’re right, you don’t have to excuse yourself.”       Not believing what she says with the hope that it will calm her down a little, Helene fixes Sammy’s collar, takes the leash, and pulls it slightly to tell the dog where to go and give him an order to follow her. While the dog goes after his owner obediently and watches her, the girl sometimes wipes tears off her face and starts crying bitterly when she thinks about how Peter attacked her with unfounded charges. And she shakes at how horrifying he was at that moment. Yes, she has already seen him mad, but the man was recently, literally burning with fire, his eyes could kill anyone to stand in his way, and his muscles were hurting strongly from tension.       “How could he do this?” Helene wonders. “How could he hurt me so much? I… I’ve done so much for him, but that’s how he thanked me. He blamed me for lying. He believed the stinker. Whom he, however, doesn’t know, as one of his accomplices said.”       Helene sighs heavily.       “Honestly, I’m not sure that I can forgive him. And forget how unfairly I was showered with the mud. Yes, I love him so much, but what he did harmed me to the depths of my soul. He killed a little part of my love.”       Sammy barks quietly, presses himself as close to Helene’s feet as possible, while she is leading him on the leash.       “And if that person really wanted to make me fight with Peter, they would do anything for it. If they didn’t do it with this message, they would find another way.”       Helene swallows nervously.       “Since he decided to deal with me, there’s a chance that he may wish to frame the men, so Rose fights with them. So, he doesn’t have anyone to agree to support him.”       Sammy barks confidently.       “However, it’s none of my business now,” Helene says confidently in a low voice. “Since we kinda broke up, may someone else comfort him. Of course, if there’s a fool, who wanna do this.”       Some time later, Helene comes to the woodland where she does not notice anyone around but can hear how nicely the singing of birds is pleasing her ear and sounding in different corners literally every second. The gentle flushing of the long river also impacts her mental health nicely and helps her relax and calm down a little. Sweeping sticks of centuries-old trees do not let the sun light up the whole land – maybe only some shoots can get through them. However, it’s gloomy outside, and the sky is covered with thick gray clouds.       Sammy has an interest in watching every fly that goes by him, and Helene looks at everything she is surrounded by with sadness in her eyes. At some moment, she decides to stop and sit on the stump placed where she can see a gorgeous view of the elevated area that is covered tightly with trees that could be extremely high. She breathes in the fresh wood air and feels tears wet her eyes again when she barely thinks about what Peter did. The girl lets go of the leash, doubles over, and runs her hands through her hair, while Sammy touches her foot softly with his paw and puts his head on her laps, whining with pity after every sob from his owner, whom he cannot help, to his sadness.       Helene keeps crying bitterly for some time and does not notice how a man comes to her quietly. A young, tough, dark-haired man with a thick beard, without a front tooth. A sly smile shows up on his face as if he has just finished a super important mission. The stranger looks at the girl from the back for two seconds and then decides to let her know about him by asking quietly:       “Why are you sitting here so sad, beautiful?”       Horrified, Helene gets up from the stump like a boiled kettle, turns on the stranger and looks at him with widely open eyes, getting sharply pale and starting to breathe very heavily. While Sammy looks at him with suspicion and starts growling at him quietly, standing in a fighting position.       “How did you end up here?” Helene asks in a shaking voice. “Who are you?”       “I've been waiting for you for a long time,” the stranger replies. “Watching your sweetheart leave you. Blame you for betraying him and almost kicking your ass.”       “What?”       “You would’ve been surely dead if your fucking dog had not scared him.”       “Are you… W-w-watching me?”       “M-m-m, what a smart girl. It’s clear you really studied at the time of your studies. Not talked with girls about hair, cosmetics, and boys in the back of the classroom.”       “What do you need from me?” Helene wonders excitedly. “What do you want?”       “Oh, my sweetie, I need so much…” the stranger replies thoughtfully, stroking his chin. “You cannot even imagine…”       “I don’t have money… I didn’t take anything with me… Sorry… I can give you nothing.”       “Calm down, dolly, I don’t need your money.”       “I’m telling you the t-t-truth! You can search me! There’s nothing! I’m empty!”       “Fuck, put your money in your fucking ass!” the stranger throws coldly. “I said I did not need it.”       “Sorry… Sorry… I…”       “You ended up in a very good place at a very good time, Helene Marshall.”       “You know my name?” Helene opens her eyes widely.       “All my friends and the one, who’s dreaming of getting rid of you and you, sweetheart, know it.” The stranger smirks evilly. “I mean, your ex-boyfriend. He told you about your breakup.”       “It was you…” Helene raises her head with a heavy breath. “You sent him the message…”       “Not me, girl, but my lord.”       “How did you get his number?”       “Long story. But you shouldn't know it.”       “So, I was right!” Helene nods confidently. “It’s your work. I didn’t have any doubts.”       “Yeah, we decided to screw with Rose a little. So, his life doesn’t seem too sweet.”       “Why? Why are you doing this all? What do you want to get?”       “Why don’t we use a chance to play on his nerves and make him fight with his close people, who could prevent us from doing what we are planning?”       “Scums!” Helene explodes. “Because of you, Peter has almost died four times!”       “But he is not dead…” the stranger smiles slyly. “For example, when I tried to strangle him with a rope not far from the house of one of his pals, this growling creature got out somewhere and brought Perkins with him.”       At this moment, Sammy starts growling loudly at the stranger, whom he recognizes shortly as the one, who tried to strangle Peter.       “And when everything ended, I watched where they went. I mean, where that asshole took his pal with him, while he was half-dead. And I saw them coming to a very beautiful house. And a quite sympathetic gal got out of it. Perkins’ girlfriend, I guess. She helped her sweetheart take Rose into the house.”       “Oh, my gosh…” Helene horrifies, closing her mouth with her hand.       “Why are you so nervous, baby?” the stranger smirks evilly. “The guys and I knew it before. We know all the addresses of Peter’s closest friends. We know Perkins is living with his girlfriend, MacClife, Sr. is sharing his bed with his sexy cutie Raquelle Cameron, and his little brother is still living under the wing of his mommy and daddy, who are feeding him with a spoon and wiping his ass. And we know his fiancée is not as simple. She has cool people, who do anything she wants.”       “No…”       “And we know everything about you. We know where you live, where you work… We even know about your old grandmother.”       “You can do anything you want to me, but don’t dare to do anything to my grandmother!” Helene replies excitedly. “Don’t touch her even with a finger!”       “Don’t worry, we don’t care about your grandmother, who has a few days to live. We care about Peter. And his friends, who, as we understand, refused to live their lives and stop wiping his mouth. And we want to deal with you.”       “What do you need from him? What did Peter do if someone hates him so much? Why are you trying to kill him?”       “Hey, hey, not so fast, Helene,” the stranger pronounces quietly, raising his hand with his palm turned toward Helene. “If you don’t die earlier, you will know everything someday. You will know why you will have to pay for everything to our lord.”       “That man lived a quiet life, bothered nobody, and did his business. But then you and your lord, whom he doesn’t know at all, showed up.”       “Yeah, Peter doesn’t really know him. But one day, it will change. When the lord decides that it’s time, your sweetheart will have to meet him. And we don’t fucking care if he wants it or not.”       “Leave him alone! Stop doing what doesn’t make sense!”       “You think it doesn’t. But it’s super important for my lord. He does want to go to the place where Peter Rose is buried and spit at the grave with his name on one beautiful day. Wish him to burn in hell.”       “Can’t you solve everything verbally? I’m sure Rose would agree to talk to that man and do anything he wants.”       “In this case, words cannot solve anything. Because our lord cannot still come to himself after the pain that he got from that bastard. Even if it’s been so much time.”       “I am scared because so many people love killing someone. It’s horrifying that people may think any conflict can be solved with a murder.”       “You are a girl, a too young one. Your brains are like a chicken’s. You will start to understand something in several years. But you will not live until that time.”       “Can’t you just drop one hint at the reason for Peter’s fault?” Helene wonders loudly. “Why do you and your friends give guesses and just have scuffles with him? You tried to strangle him, another man pushed him off the stairs, and another actually hit him with a car!”       “Why would I hit at something, my darling?”       The stranger crosses his arms over his chest, glancing gloomily at Sammy that does not leave his owner alone and is ready to protect her at any moment.       “You are well aware of it very well.”       “What?” Helene rounds her eyes.       “Don’t pretend to be an idiot. We both know what Rose doesn’t know yet.”       “And is that why your message said I wasn’t so honest and hiding some dirty secrets?”       “He would be so ‘happy’ if he knew about your tricks from the past that you are silent about so hard. But one of us is well aware of all of them.”       “It cannot be the truth!”       “Why can’t it be? If we really want, we can add fuel to the fire and reveal all your secrets. For example, send one more message to Peter.”       “So, he actually turns his back on me once and forever?”       “Yeah, in this case, we lied a little to slander you much more. Because a thought about cheating makes a person wild and turns them into a beast. And what would happen to a man if he went to the room and caught his girl in bed with another man.”       “You can’t prove that I have affairs with other men,” Helene says confidently. “I’ve always been loyal to Peter, and I only love him.”       “Well, we will see it…” the stranger smiles mysteriously. “We could play on his nerves in case Rose calms down and believes in your innocence. And the more we wash his brain, the sooner he will believe you are a false bitch.”       “I’m not false!”       “False, Helene, false! You know it very well. You are a dark angel. The angel in the skin of a demon that wants to seem perfect to everyone and make people sure everything is otherwise now.”       “How do you know what I really am? We don’t know each other at all!”       “But we know the one, who can tell everyone what you did in your childhood and teenage years. What mean bitch you were.”       “Those, who should, know everything they need. Other things only have to do with me.”       “M-m-m, so, they know nothing about you. Thus, we will not have problems in turning Peter against you and making your friends sure that they got in touch with the wrong girl.”       “Don’t dare!” Helene exclaims. “Don’t dare to tell a lie! Don’t dare!”       “What’s wrong, Marshall? The stranger smirks evilly, crossing his arms over his chest. “Are you scared? Are you afraid that everyone will turn their backs on you if they know the truth?”       “Whatever you say, it’s all gonna be an insolent lie.”       “Don’t pretend that it doesn’t have to do with you. Don’t pretend to be innocent.”       “You will pay a lot if I lose Peter because of you. If he keeps thinking I betrayed him or hid something from him.”       “Honestly, my lord and we weren’t sure it would work after the first attempt. But it’s clear Rose had reasons to doubt you. He had reasons to ask himself if you were really so shy and educated.”       “I didn’t give him a reason!”       “Gave or not, but be sure, you will never be happy together. Either our lord and we will make you fight and force you to break up, but Rose will be the only one to die, or you two will die.”       “It’s alright, I will do my best to assure him that I’m right,” Helene says confidently. “Do my best for Peter to believe I didn’t betray him.”       “Do what you want, but it will not help you anyway.”       “We will see it.” Helene glances at Sammy that keeps watching the stranger closely but does not attack him and takes the leash. “And yeah, I need to go. I have nothing else to talk to you about.”       Helene turns around sharply and wants to leave this place as soon as possible, feeling how the crazy beat of her heart literally hits her temples. But when she just takes a few steps, the stranger shortens the distance sharply, takes her under his arm, turns her to himself, and starts threatening her with a finger, making the girl cry and shake.       “Where are you going, cutie?” the stranger wonders. “You will not go anywhere!”       “Let me go!” Helene demands, trying to get her arm out of the grip of the stranger. “Let me go, I said!”       “Oh, no, I will not let you go so easily.”       “Let me go! Or I will scream! I will scream right now!”       “And who will hear you here? Your beloved Rose, who doesn’t fucking care about what’s happening to you?”       “Please, don’t do anything bad to me…” Helene begs with pity in her eyes. “I will give you everything I have… But don’t hurt me.”       “That blond-haired freak did the right thing by getting out, and you turned out to be so stupid if you came to the place where there was nobody.”       At this moment, Sammy starts growling evilly at the stranger again.       “Hey, piece of shit, close your mouth,” the stranger demands rudely. “Otherwise, I will hit you in the face, so that you will regret it.”       “I swear I will not say anything to anyone,” Helene swears in despair and sniffs quietly. “Just like I didn’t say your friends stood in my way. Nobody knows anything about it. And they will not know it if you want.”       “Ha, we actually give a fuck about whether you speak or not. We should’ve just scared you a little. Do our best for you to pee your pants.”       “What do you want from me? What should I do? Tell me! And what should Peter do, so he keeps living his quiet life?”       “You two can just die. That’s how you will make my lord super happy.”       “Please, don’t kill us!” Helene makes a loud sob. “I don’t want to die! I don’t want! I DON’T WANT!”       “Alright, your whining and tears are starting to irritate me to the fuck. And I have no time, strength, and wish to talk to you.”       “Let me go, please…”       “Since you and I met at such a good place, it’s time to have some fun. Being absolutely sure that we will not be caught by anyone.”       The stranger grabs Helene rudely by the hair, taking something from the pocket on his black hoodie in parallel, while the girl is literally choking from a lack of hair and looks at him with widely open and wet eyes. And when she sees a little knife in his hands that he puts against her throat determinedly, the girl makes a shout full of fear, while Sammy starts barking loudly.       “And if you, asshole, make me enraged, I will not be responsible for myself, I am warning you.”       “No, p-p-p-please…” Helene begs in a shaking voice. “N-n-no…”       “You better shut up this fucking dog.” The stranger puts the knife much tighter against Helene’s throat, while Sammy keeps barking at him and growling evilly. “That I will cut personally if he DOES NOT THE FUCK STOP THIS!”       Not thinking too much, Sammy runs to the stranger sharply with deafening shouts and sinks his teeth into his arm that is holding the knife. The man lets Helene go sharply and falls to his knees with a shout full of pain, trying so hard to push him off herself, while the dog is acting very determinedly and letting him know he will not let anyone hurt his owner.       “FUCK, GET OFF ME!” the stranger roars and tries to push Sammy off himself with his free hand or hits him on the face with the hope to break free. “GET THE FUCK OFF, BRAINLESS ASSHOLE!”       While Helene is standing in the same place like a column and watching what’s happening with dumbfounded eyes, not being able to do or say something, Sammy manages to make the criminal let go of the knife thanks to his tight grip, even if he keeps shaking his hand from side to side with a quiet growl.       “I see you didn’t learn anything from the last time,” the stranger hisses through his teeth. “YOU CAME TO YOURSELF QUICKLY AFTER I HIT YOU STRONGLY IN YOUR FACE?”       The stranger beats Sammy strongly in the face and pushes him rudely off himself with a sharp hit of his foot against his stomach. That’s why the dog gets thrown two meters away with a whine full of pity. And when he gets up, shakes the dirt off himself, and tries to attack him again, he points the knife at him, but the dog manages to grab it.       “I see you are as sassy and bold as Rose’s pal, who was saving him with such passion.”       Sammy starts growling aggressively at the stranger, closing Helene with himself determinedly, while she is crying bitterly and closing her mouth with her hand.       “It’s alright, maybe, he beat me the last time, but I will deal with you shortly. IF YOU DON’T GET OUT OF MY WAY AND DON’T LET ME COME TO THE GAL!”       “God, please, help me…” Helene begs desperately in a whisper. “God, help me… Send me some help…”       “You can call your mommy, your daddy, your grandma, or all Gods, but it will not help you,” the stranger says confidently. “And your dog will not stop me from playing on your nerves a little.”       Sammy growls at the stranger again and barks multiple times as if he is giving warning signs and saying he should run if he does not want to get problems.       “Outta way, piece of shit! Before you become pigs’ food!”       The stranger pushes Sammy aside rudely with a strong hit of his foot on the face and comes determinedly to Helene, who starts going back automatically.       “No, no, no, get back!” Helene jabs excitedly and loudly. “DON’T TOUCH ME! NO!”       “CLOSE YOUR MOUTH, BITCH!” the stranger roars and slaps Helene in the face strongly, making her scream. “DON’T MAKE ME ENRAGED!”       “NO, PLEASE!”       At this moment, the stranger grabs Helene sharply by the nape of her neck and puts the sharp knife against her stomach, which she tenses as strongly as possible.       “Fuck, women are such naive idiots.” The stranger laughs evilly. “Do they seriously think someone will stop shortly and run away when they are told to stop it? That the magic word ‘please’ is a salvation from my trouble?”       “But I don’t wanna die at all…” Helene says in a whisper, looking into the icy eyes of the criminal with her wet, dumbfounded ones. “I wanna live… I’m too young…”       “Yeah, of course, I’m sorry that such a young and beautiful girl will leave this world.” The stranger runs the blade of his knife over Helene’s belly, chest, and collarbones, making her take a breath away and tense all the muscles of her body. “If I could, I would probably mercy you. But I’m not the one to give orders, my lord is. And he said, ‘You must get rid of the gal!’”       “Is money the reason for this?”       “It would be too banal.”       “We can agree on everything. I agree to do anything you want. But for God’s sake, pity me.”       “Nothing personal, Helene Marshall. I’m just doing my mission. The mission to erase you from the life of Peter Rose once and forever.”       The stranger turns his hand with the knife back along with Helene’s hysterical shouts, and wants to get it into the girl’s stomach to wound her seriously. But she grabs the gun with both hands and tries to move it off herself so hard. However, she does not have enough strength to resist the one, who is much tougher than her in a physical way. But Sammy does not also stand in the same place: he sinks his teeth into the collar of the denim jacket with an aggressive bark and pulls it on himself, doing his best to protect his owner.       “Clingy piece of shit!” the stranger throws gloomily, shaking his hand sharply to set it free from Sammy’s grip. “IT’S STUCK PERFECTLY, BUT IT DOES NOT THE FUCK GET OFF ME!”       At some moment, the criminal manages to break free and attacks Helene with a knife. Although the girl completely understands she will one hundred percent lose this battle because she is too weak physically, she decides not to give up. There is nobody around she could count on, and her doggy cannot deal with this man, even if he is doing his best for it.       “So, chicken, do you think you can deal with me?” the stranger smirks contemptuously, holding Helene by the hair and pulling her from one side to another.       “A-A-A-A, IT HURTS!” Helene squeaks. “LET ME GO! NO!”       “You will lose anyway, Helene Marshall.” The stranger pushes Helene aside as strongly as he can and does it again to strike her to the ground. “Girls have much less strength. They don’t fight men physically. No matter how hard they wave their wings.”       “Stop it, please…”       “That’s why your pathetic attempts to protect yourself seem so hilarious to me.”       The criminal hits Helene strongly in the face and presses it to the dirty ground along with her heartbreaking shouts.       “So, even if you would be pretending to be sassy and independent, it would not make you stronger.”       “Let me go…” Helene begs in despair and sniffs quietly. “Pity me…”       “You know, I really love one-way street games. When a bunny runs from side to side and doesn’t know how to run away from the wolf.”       The stranger twists Helene’s arm sharply, making her scream loudly in pain that gets through her whole body and deprives her of the ability to think soberly. While Sammy is trying to pull the stinker away from his owner and barking at him loudly non-stop.       “It’s going to be much more fun with you than Rose and his pals. They can and love jumping like fucking goats and kicking. But you’re not a competitor to me. You can only scream at the top of your lungs and beg for mercy. As if it can help you.”       Grabbing Helene by the hair, the stranger pulls her sharply against himself, puts the knife against her throat, and runs it slowly, with pressure, over her skin. While she is choking with tears with a shake in her whole body, and understands that she kind of lacks air.       “Ah, look, the girl is so scared…” the stranger laughs evilly. “She is crying… She is shaking…”       “No, p-p-please, st-t-top…” Helene begs in despair, standing on her knees and feeling her fast heartbeat in her head. “Don’t do this…”       “I get it, babe… You hoped your sweetheart would close you with his body and start a fight with me. But you met a fucking failure! He thinks you’re literally a whore and doesn’t want to see you.”       The criminal puts the edge of his knife into the hole on Helene’s throat with a smug smile, while Sammy keeps barking at him furiously from all sides.       “Well, this brainless piece of shit is able to do nothing to me but wrecking his cords and barking.”       Sammy shows his sharp teeth, standing in a fighting position and growling at the criminal.       “Oh, c’mon, shit, shut up! You will not stop me anyway.”       The man turns Helene sharply to himself and smashes his fist strongly against her face, making her scream hysterically from pain. After this, she squeaks when she gets a hit in her chest and stomach, being deprived of the ability to breathe and being literally frozen from the burning pain in her whole body.       “NO, DON’T DO THIS, DON’T DO THIS!” Helene screams in a heartbreaking way when the criminal raises his fist to hit her on something again. “DON’T BEAT ME!”       “CLOSE YOUR FUCKING MOUTH, BITCH!” the stranger explodes, grabs Helene by the hair and hits her strongly against the ground. “SHUT UP BEFORE I GIVE YOUR CORPSE TO FLIES!”       “PLEASE, STOP!”       “I SAID, SHUT UP!” The criminal runs the knife sharply over Helene’s cheek, leaving a small but deep scar that starts bleeding. “SHUT UP BEFORE I KILL YOU SOONER THAN MY LORD WANTS THIS!”       Sammy attacks the criminal with a deafening bark, sinking his teeth into his hand with a gun, shakes it from one side to another, and then tries to pull him far from Helene being pale from fear, breathing heavily enough, touching her face, and seeing her own blood on it.       “Fuck, will you finally shut up?” the stranger resents, trying to get his hand out of the grip of the growling Sammy. “Stop acting like a hero. A fucking protector. You are a worthless piece of shit that eats, sleeps, and pees everything all the time.”       Sammy pulls the criminal on himself much more determinedly when he tries to rush to Helene, who gets up on her weak feet slowly, shaking slightly with a sense of a lump in her throat and dizziness.       The man fights Sammy for a few seconds, while the dog is not going to give up on trying to protect his owner. But at some moment, he takes a small rock he can feel near himself and throws it at the retriever as strongly as possible. Sammy jumps aside with a quiet whine and falls to the ground when the criminal gets up sharply and hits his foot against his stomach strongly.       “No!” Helene screams in a heartbreaking way, closing her mouth with both hands with widely open eyes. “Sammy!”       “You will not hide from me, cutie,” the man says in a low voice confidently, wrapping the knife in his hands after taking it from the ground. “I really liked playing with you. Even more than with Rose and his friend. Because I’m playing a one-way street game, just like I love.”       The criminal shortens the distance between him and Helene immediately and tries to get the knife into her heart, but he runs into her attempts to resist it somehow.       “Give up, Marshall!” the stranger demands determinedly, trying to break any resistance of Helene. “Nothing will help you!”       “Since there’s nobody to protect me, I will do this by myself!” Helene states much more confidently, fighting with the man hand in hand, but giving up to him anyway. “In any way!”       When she chooses a good moment, Helene hits her knee against the man’s groin as strongly as she can. While he doubles over and falls to the ground with a squeezed face and a deafening shout, holding his abdomen tightly, the girl moves off sharply and runs where her eyes look. And see his owner running away, Sammy gets up sharply on his feet, shakes something off himself, and runs after with a loud bark.       “STOP, YOU FUCKING MIDGET!” the man roars at the top of his lungs, breathing like a furious bull, while his face gets kind of red from anger, and his nostrils inflate. “HEAR ME, ASSHOLE! WHO DID I SAY? STOP! STOP! AR-R-R-R, I SHALL KILL YOU, HELENE MARSHALL! HEAR ME! KILL!”       Anger is filling all the corners of his body and growing exponentially. It makes the criminal get up on his feet by force, forgetting about any “I can’t”. Telling himself to forget about any discomfort, he rushes to chase Helene with no hesitation, while she does not understand where to run, what to of, and where she actually is. She is just running fast on the uneven path on the loose ground by centuries-old trees, medium-sized bushes, and green grass. Sometimes little flies may get into her mouth, the wind is blowing at her face and hair that used to be brushed in a ponytail but is now shaking freely after she lost her elastic during the fight. There is nobody at these beautiful places, and silence can be broken by the singing of birds and the smacking of a crow's beak. Well… Or the loud bark of Sammy that is following his owner so hard. Or the man’s order to stop immediately. Or the heavy, uneven breath of Helene, who sometimes looks around and tells herself to run, run, and run again.       But the problem is that the psychological data of the girl is far from perfect. Yes, she does some workouts to keep her body good, but sport is not something critically important to her. Helene does not pay too much attention to it and is not able to run miles with a regular breath. After running a few miles, the girl starts choking and feeling pain in her legs. She madly wants to stop and have some rest, but the criminal literally forces her to keep moving on. It’s probably the only source for her strength. The thought that she is all alone here scares Marshall to the shake in her knees. But she understands she can hardly do anything by screaming like crazy.       This motivation helps Helene hold on for some time. The girl’s strength is fading away, and the criminal is getting closer and closer to her. Sammy does not stop barking loudly with a wish to make his owner sure to keep fighting and growling at the man with the hope of scaring him a little. But it does not work at all because the man catches the dog running as fast as a hurricane and pushes him into a deep hole with just one hit of his foot. The retriever falls down with a quiet whining and dirties his hair a lot, ending up in a pool of dirt in the end. After laughing evilly at his unsuccessful attempts to get up, the criminal keeps chasing Helene much more determinedly, while she barely sees what happened to her dog. But her instinct of self-preservation makes the girl keep running and forget about her desire to rescue the dog.       “My God, please, help me…” Helene begs in despair, choking from a lack of hair and understanding that she is not able to run anymore. “Help me get out of this trouble. I don’t wanna die…”       At some moment, Helene gets so tired that she slows down a little, even if she keeps moving on with a sense of purpose. Choking and feeling her heartbeat in her head, she does not notice how she stumbles over a small but tough and thick tree trunk. The girl falls to the ground with a deafening shout and feels a slight burning sensation in her knees, thinking she skinned them. But she manages to get up and keep moving on again. However, Marshall does not reach the wooden bridge with half-ruined railing that is placed high above the wide river that is flowing under it because the criminal catches her easily and pushes her in the back strongly. That’s why the brunette falls to the ground with a shout and tries to creep away as far as possible. But he grabs her by the legs, pulls her onto himself, and tries to give her a knife wound on the chest or stomach.       “NO, NO, GET AWAY FROM ME!” Helene screams hysterically, lying on the dirty ground and trying to fight off the criminal with her hands. “NO! STOP!”       “I’ve dealt with your dog – he will no longer be able to stop me,” the man smiles slyly and slaps Helene strongly in the face. “It means I can do anything I want to you.”       “NO! NO!”       “Now we will play some serious games. The ones you will never forget.”       “HELP!” Helene begs in a heartbreaking way at the top of her lungs. “SOMEONE, PLEASE! HELP ME! SOMEONE WANTS TO KILL ME HERE!”       “Scream as much as you want – there’s nobody here. To my greatest happiness.”       “PETER, PLEASE! HELP! DON’T LEAVE ME!”       “Oh, are you asking him?” the man, who considers you a betrayal.”       The criminal raises the knife above Helene and tries to get it into the girl’s throat, but she squeezes the gun with both hands and tries to move it off herself, feeling that the man pinned down her foot with his weight.       “SOMEO-O-O-O-ONE!” Helene keeps wrecking her vocal cords. “HE-E-E-E-E-E-ELP ME!”       “Shit, SHUT THE FUCK UP!”       The man smashes his fist strongly against Helene’s jaw and squeezes her throat with a free hand, making the choking girl suffer much more.       “YOU WILL DIE ANYWAY! NOT TODAY BUT TOMORROW! NOT TOMORROW NOT ANOTHER FUCKING DAY!”       Helene starts hitting her opponent strongly on his arms and shaking her legs sharply as she looks at his face burning from the heat with widely open eyes full of fear and horror.       “So, did you live too well before today? You didn’t think of anything bad, believed everything would be alright? SO, YOUR LUCK HAS ENDED TODAY! YOU ARE DEAD, HELENE MARSHALL!”       Still holding Helene tightly by the neck, the criminal brings the knife sharply to her face but stops literally two centimeters away from her eyes. That’s why the pale, shaking, and crying girl tenses all her muscles in pain and holds her breath with fear of moving slightly.       “I don’t know what to do with you.” The stranger runs the blade of the knife over Helene’s throat with an evil smile and reaches her collarbones and chest, at which he presses slightly with it. “Stab your throat… Get the knife into your chest, right in your heart… Or let you die from a wound in your stomach…”       At this moment, the criminal moves his knife to Helene’s stomach, opens it slightly with the blade by raising her light top, and runs it over her soft skin, while she tenses every muscle of her abdomen.       “So many variants, so little time… I need to decide it now before the dog finds us.”       “I’m scared…” Helene pronounces in a shaking whisper. “Don’t kill me… Please…”       “I’m so sorry, but I cannot go against my lord. He would be happy if he did not have to deal with you. It all takes time. But time is a really valuable resource.”       The man squeezes Helene’s throat tightly again, putting the knife to her cheek in parallel. But despite the hopeless situation, the girl barely braces herself and presses his eyes with the fingers of her hands. While he tries to do something, Marshall hits her knee against his solar plexus. Then he falls right on her with a defeating shout. Helene barely pushes the body of the heavy man off herself and, breathing heavily, barely gets up on her feet. Even if her legs get sharply weak, and she feels a little dizzy, the brunette finds the strength to come to the bridge, holding her throat tightly and coughing quietly at times. But the criminal manages to come to himself quickly enough, get up, catch the lady, and grab her by the waist from behind when she almost reaches the middle of the bridge.       “LET ME GO!” Helene screams hysterically, while the man is pulling her from side to side. “LET ME GO! DON’T TOUCH ME! DON’T DARE!”       “Alright, little bitch, I AM FUCKING DONE WITH YOU!” the man hisses through his teeth. “I WILL KILL YOU! RIGHT HERE, RIGHT NOW!”       The criminal grabs Helene by the hair and hits her head against the railing of the bridge, and does it again when she screams deafeningly in pain.       “LITTLE BITCH!” the criminal roars, threatening Helene with a knife and still holding her by the hair. “YOU CAN SAY GOODBYE TO EVERYONE YOU KNOW! YOU ARE DEAD!”       “PLEASE, NO!” Helene begs in despair with tears in her eyes and tries to break free sharply.       “DO NOT MOVE, BITCH! DO NOT MOVE, I SAID!”       The criminal pushes Helene right on the half-ruined railing of the bridge, making her hit her temple painfully. And when she falls to the wood boards, the man throws the knife aside, grabs her under her arm, gets her up with a rude movement, pulls her on himself after another attempt of the victim to run, and uses a chokehold on her, placing the girl’s neck in his elbow and squeezing her throat much tighter than before. That’s what closes any access to even a little dose of oxygen.       “Stop, I will no longer be nice to you,” the man hisses through his teeth, enjoying the way Helene gets much paler from a lack of air and tries to get out of the trap with no success. “I will kill you, scum! KILL YOU! YOU GOT IT?”       Helene tries to say something with widely open eyes full of horror, but she cannot do this and spends the rest of her strength on the fight with the criminal.       “Since I couldn’t strangle your sweet Rose the last time, nothing can stop me from dealing with you,” the man says confidently. “And even if the dog runs here, he will only see your corpse. That will not be found here soon.”       Helene hits her offender so hard on his arms, trying to catch some air with her open mouth with no success. And a strong fear of losing consciousness makes her panic much more and spend much more energy and strength that she barely has.       “Alright, maybe you will not die from strangling. You will just lie here unconscious for some time. And then you will wake up by yourself, or someone will help you. And that’s even good. I don’t personally wish the death of such a beautiful girl. Who I wouldn’t even mind playing in a bed.”       Every second, Helene understands more and more that she has less strength to resist and feels a strong dizziness, while her brain barely realizes what’s happening around her.       “We don’t have such a big age difference – I’m only twenty-seven. So, you wouldn’t have to fuck an old man. And I haven’t fucked girl for ages. I wanna have some fun and relax.”       The stranger smirks evilly.       “Who knows… Maybe I will be lucky someday. Because this is probably not the last meeting for us. You will have to meet my friends, my lord, and me. I don’t exclude that the boys and I would love to use you by one. So, you suck everyone enough. It would be real proof of the fact that you’re cheating on Rose. And he will get it for sure.”       Helene’s eyes begin to close by themselves more and more, her skin gets sharply pale, and her lips get some kind of blue shade. A lack of air makes her feel nauseous and give up on trying to resist somehow.       “Oka-a-a-a-ay…” the man smiles slyly. “Okay… Don’t be afraid… It’s okay…”       Helene slaps the man on his arms multiple times as he is squeezing her throat much tighter, and rolls her eyes unconsciously.       “Playing with you was a real fun. Of course, you tried to bite and show your claws, but in the end, you understood that you couldn’t fight with a tough man.”       The criminal grabs Helene under her breasts since her legs get sharply weak and presses her as closely to himself as possible.       “Sh-h-h-h, baby, quie-e-e-e-e-et… Let the situation go. I’m really sorry, but I have to…”       The man is squeezing Helene’s throat determinedly and tightly for some time with an indifferent face as he watches her make some quiet, painful sounds and look at him with a begging, unclear vision at some moment. The girl resists the way she can, but understands it’s much stronger than her. So, she weakens the grip little by little and looks at everything that surrounds her as if this is the last time, being only able to see green unclear spots and hearing all the sounds through the deaf wall. The sense of strong dizziness makes her roll her eyes slowly and make a quiet, painful moan, and her blue lips barely move in an attempt to say something.       And when she has no more oxygen in her lungs, Helene makes a few more quiet sounds and tries to break free. Then the girl’s hands let down powerlessly and start shaking in the air, her legs get weak under her weight, and all the muscles of her face relax sharply. Her widely open, dead eyes stop at the same point and no longer move, and her mouth remains a little open. Marshall stops making sounds and resisting because she is dragged into the infinite darkness and cannot change the situation anymore.       Although the criminal sees that Helene is unconscious now, he keeps strangling her strongly for a few seconds, looking around with his head proudly raised and a smug smile. And when he thinks it’s enough, the man lets go of the soft body of the unconscious girl sharply. It falls to the wooden boards like a stone. He looks closely at her deathly pale face with no emotions and her dead hazel eyes that remain open.       “Ha, I didn’t even have to apply efforts!” the criminal smirks smugly. “Unlike in the case of the blond-haired.”       The man squeezes Helene’s jaw slightly.       “Well, or the gal just passed out from tiredness. She turned out to be a worthless athlete. Who doesn’t surely refuse to keep a strict diet.” The criminal sneers evilly. “It goes without saying that you won’t have enough strength to hold on.”       The criminal looks into Helene’s eyes at first, seeing no response of her pupils to the light, and then he puts two fingers on the curve of her neck to check her pulse.       “She’s alive yet, has a pulse… It’s too weak, though…” The man bends to Helene’s face to find out if the girl is actually breathing. “And her breath is rare…”       The man steps away from Helene and strokes his hair down a little.       “However, it doesn’t matter. The most important thing is that you shut up. And gave me a chance to look at your young, beautiful body better. That I wanna caress so badly…”       Not being able to resist this temptation, the criminal raises Helene’s top and runs his hand over her belly.       “You’re sexy, Marshall! Really sexy.” The man runs his hands over Helene’s thighs. “You got it all… A slim waist, exciting curves of your thighs… Good boobs…”       The criminal squeezes tenderly the breasts of the unconscious Helene with both hands and makes a quiet moan of enjoyment.       “Fuck, Rose’s got taste! He chose a gorgeous gal! A shy lady, who is hiding so much wealth underneath her clothes.”       The man runs his thumb over Helene’s open lips with a wide, blissful smile.       “All the boys would love such an amazing fruit. And some of them wouldn’t mind fuck you hard. Put you to sleep with a sedative or a strong hit on your face, and do the business quickly. I think Marcus would give up on us and agree to let us do it.”       The criminal glances at the river flowing under the bridge and smiles slyly, as if he is coming up with a terrible plan.       “Or…” the man pronounces thoughtfully. “Fuck them all off and have fun with her by myself. While she is lying here unconscious. And then just get rid of her body. So, those people find her anywhere they want. What? There are many beautiful gals! Boys would always find someone to fuck with! And Marcus would have less work…”       The criminal keeps thinking about something hard, looking at by far not the cleanest water in the river, or the unconscious Helene.  And all this time, he does not even think of holding down his desire to caress the soft body of the young beautiful girl, paying much attention to her chest, belly, thighs, and the inside of her thighs. But he does not find the courage to kiss Marshall’s lips or something else.       

***

      While Helene is fighting off the criminal with no success, Sammy manages to come to himself, gets up, and shake the dirt off himself. The dog keeps trying to climb up the slide, which he fell from because of the bad man, but it does not lead to any good results as he cannot grab anything with his paws. The retriever tries to do it multiple times but can only take a half of the way in the best case.       Being disappointed by his failures, Sammy barks loudly two or three times, trying so hard to find a way to find his owner and protect her from the one, who is dreaming of defeating her. And understanding that he cannot climb up, the dog looks around in search of another way to reach his goal. He spends some time running in circles, but he still does not know what to do. However, after a long search, Sammy runs on the path that leads him to the place where he was before. But now he has a new question – where to find his owner and her offender. And how he can save the girl. Yes, the dog is doing his best, but he does not have enough skills, or he is afraid to be all alone in the large woodland. Something like this has never happened before.       Sammy is running from one side to another, trying to call Helene by barking loudly and looking at every bush that may move slightly. The smell of his owner kind of disappeared, and it does not let him track her. And he does not know where to find the criminal. The situation seems so hopeless. It seems like something horrible is going to happen to Helene if Sammy does not find a way to prevent it immediately. And the dog feels that she is in danger, whining with pity and barking in a heartbreaking way.       At some moment, Sammy understands that he needs someone’s help. Just like he needed when he was trying to save Peter. But the problem is that there is nobody around here, and attempts of pigeons walking on the ground to dirt the criminal’s hair a little would hardly help him. Nevertheless, the dog decides not to give up and tries to search this place and find at least one person and ask them for help. He starts running fast from one side to another, searching every single corner of this place closely, sniffing the ground in hope of finding someone's smell and whining quietly every time a bird flies above his head. Despite his tiredness, the retriever bans himself from sitting and lying even for a second and is now focused on just one goal that he is going to reach, whatever it takes.       Sammy spends much time running straight down the wide path and ends up in the place where the criminal caught Helene before. After looking around quickly and not finding anyone, the dog decides to keep running, not caring that he may fall because of the leash that is still attached to his collar. The retriever runs some distance, going further and further from the original point, but he cannot find anyone. It seems like he is supposed to lose hope for the best and try to solve the problem by himself. But at some moment, Sammy stops in the middle of the path and looks around closely. And somewhere afar, he notices a young blond-haired man, who is walking as slowly as a snail from one side to another on the wooden bridge that is placed near the edge of the river. The guy looks like he does not care that he may fall into the water because of being careless and being much busier with the information on his smartphone, which he is holding in his hands.       Sammy quickly recognizes him as Peter, who has not gone too far. Maybe the dog is not sure that begging him for help is a good idea, but he decides to try. So, he runs fast to the blond, being ready for anything to save his owner. Even if he has to make the man, who is mad at Helene for nothing, go with him. And when he is close enough to the man, the retriever starts barking loudly and desperately, getting the attention from Rose, who frowns slightly when seeing the dog, and turning off his phone.       “Sammy?” Peter pronounces surprisingly.       Sammy starts barking hysterically, begging Peter to go with him desperately and help him save his owner.       “You know, I read the messages, thought a little, and…” Peter crosses his arms over his chest. “Maybe, I’m wrong? What if everything isn’t what it seems to me?”       Peter strokes his chin, not paying attention to Sammy’s bark.       “I don’t want to believe she could do this! I don’t! My heart is resisting it so hard! How much that girl has done to me. Could it all be forgotten for one moment?”       Sammy starts not only barking loudly but also whining with pity, jumping nervously from one side to another.       “Hey, what did ya forget here?” Peter moves his suspicious glance to Sammy. “Did Marshall tell you to go?”       Sammy keeps being stubborn as if he is trying to say, “No time to think! We’ve gotta save my owner! She is in great danger!”       “No, Sammy, sorry, but I will not talk to her,” Peter refuses determinedly. “I’m not in the mood to do this now. I don’t wanna see her, hear her, and hear some stupid excuses. And I don’t want to harm her in anger.”       Sammy barks much more determinedly, grabs Peter by the edge of his t-shirt, and pulls him onto himself by force.       “Hey, hey, stop it!” Peter steps back sharply. “Stop, no!”       But Sammy grabs Peter by the same area again.       “Sammy, this is an order! You want to rip my t-shirt?”       Since it does not work, Sammy starts pushing Peter strongly in his hip with his front paws, standing on his front legs.       “No, Sammy, I told you everything! Tell your owner I don’t want to see her. She can go to her friends and complain to them. I don’t have to do with her business anymore.”       Sammy barks loudly multiple times and growls quietly, as if he is saying, “Stop showing off, idiot! Don’t you see I need your help?”       “Oh, listen, buddy…” Peter exhales sharply and squats down in front of Sammy. “I’m sorry about being kinda rude to you. And I completely understand your aggression. Helene’s your owner, and you take care of her.”       Sammy barks confidently two times.       “But whatever you do, I won’t go with you. I won’t go to reconcile with the girl, whose loyalty I started to doubt. If she keeps saying it’s all a lie and making me mad with her tears, I may strangle her easily. I wouldn’t like it, though.”       Sammy starts whining with great pity as he looks at Peter like he is his last hope.       “I promise it will not change anything about you. I love you with all my heart and would be happy to spend time with you. But alas, I’ve got a different opinion about your owner.”       Sammy barks quietly and starts pulling Peter on himself by grabbing one of his bracelets with his teeth.       “No, Sammy, don’t ask. Now I’m not ready to talk to her. And I doubt I will actually want to. Because I got a knife in my back. And remembering my past, these things are an unbearable pain to me.”       Then Sammy starts howling in a heartbreaking way, as if he feels that something horrible may happen if he does not hurry up and bring Peter to Helene.       “I know, man, you’re hurt. But you must thank your owner, Helene Miranda Marshall. Our breakup is only her fault.”       Peter gets up quietly on his feet.       “I’m very sorry, Sammy. I didn’t want it. But since Marshall doesn’t appreciate what I do for her, nobody is going to force her to do anything.”       Peter turns around and wants to go in the unknown direction, but Sammy closes the way with his body with a loud and demanding bark.       “Samuel, it’s not funny,” Peter says harshly. “I said that Helene could go to hell. I don’t need a betrayer!”       Sammy starts barking at Peter much more determinedly and prevents any of his attempts to leave, deciding that this man will save Helene, no matter if he wants it or not.       “Fuck, what do you want from me?” Peter explodes with an irritated growl. “I did say I would not go to her! That bitch can go to fuck herself! I do not fucking care about her!”       After Peter’s attempt to leave again, Sammy closes his way with his body and pushes the man off himself with hits of the front paws on his stomach that he scratches with his sharp claws either accidentally or on purpose.       “Ouch, Sammy, it hurts!” Peter resents, holding the painful area, raising his t-shirt slightly, and seeing that he has a small fresh scar on his abdomen. “Are you crazy? You scratched my stomach!”       Sammy grabs Peter again by the edge of his t-shirt and pulls him after himself so strongly that the man can barely keep his balance without falling.       “Hey, did you eat some poisoned flowers on the way? Or grass? What are you the fuck acting like crazy?”       In despair and hopelessness, Sammy falls into a stronger hysteria and starts running nervously in circles, falling on purpose, rolling on the ground, and showering Peter with some swear words in his dog’s language.       “And what do you wanna say? I don’t understand you at all! I don’t understand what you want from me!”       Sammy barks multiple times.       “Stop, Sammy, get off me!” Peter raises his hand. “I wanna go back home and stay alone.”       When Peter turns around and starts going away in a quick, sharp step, Sammy attacks him from behind and strikes him down. After this, the dog rips easily one of his bracelets, making the man burning with anger much more furious.       “Are you fucking insane?” Peter raises his voice. “What is this? Hasn’t Marshall kicked your ass and shouted at you for a bad behavior for ages? I can do this with no problems if you’ve gone so far!”       Again, Sammy starts whining with pity and giving so much pain and sadness in his howl that tears may show up in the eyes by themselves.       “Enough, Samuel, your tricks will not work!” Peter cuts off determinedly. “I’m not going to reconcile with Helene and listen to her stupid excuses. And I highly recommend that you stop doing all of this and…”       At this moment, Peter stops his eyes sharply on Sammy’s leash that has been attached to his collar all this time.       “Wait, why are you running here with the leash on your collar?” Peter frowns slightly. “Why didn’t Marshall unfasten it?”       Peter unfastens the leash from Sammy’s collar with no problems and looks at this with suspicion.       “It’s weird… She would hardly forget about this type of thing… It’s clear…” Peter glances aside for a second. “What if something happened?”       Sammy barks confidently multiple times to confirm it as if he says, “Finally, you, empty-head moron! I am done with explaining everything to you!”       “So, did you come here for a reason?” Peter moves his eyes to Sammy. “Isn’t the case about the betrayal?”       Sammy barks confidently.       “Wanna say the situation is so critical that you ran here with the leash?”       Sammy comes closer to Peter, butts his head against his chest, and grabs him by the t-shirt with his teeth as if he is begging him to come with him.       “Should I really go there? Can’t someone else solve this problem?”       Then Sammy starts snuggling his face into Peter’s face, whining quietly at times.       “Oh, okay, Sammy, okay…” Peter sighs tiredly, pushing Sammy softly off himself. “I will go with you. But just for you. Because you’re asking me about it.”       Peter gets up on his feet, wraps the leash, and puts it in the pocket of his jeans.       “Alright, bonehead, I’m ready!” Peter puts his hands on his hips. “Show me the way. And after this, you and your owner will leave me alone.”       When he finally gets the approval, Sammy barks loudly and moves off faster than any sprinter, understanding that he must save Helene as soon as possible.       “Hey, hey, don’t run too fast. I can’t run after you with my injured foot.”       But Sammy ignores Peter’s words and keeps running wild on the familiar way. The man does not rush at all but tries not to lose his track. However, his strong offence does not let him be obsessed with such a strong wish to run after the dog and help Helene, thinking nothing interesting happened for sure, and the dog is just doing all the possible tricks to reconcile him with his sweetheart.       

***

      Though the situation is actually critical, and Helene could not get rid of the criminal by herself. While the girl is lying unconscious on the wooden bridge with widely open, dead eyes, the man is thinking so hard about what to do to her, succumbing to his temptation to caress some parts of her body at times.       “Ah, I don’t even know what to do to you…” The stranger sighs with a slight smile, looking at Helene from head to foot with a lustful glance. “I’d be happy to fuck you, but I’d be happy to kill you. I dunno… I dunno...”       The criminal takes the knife lying not far from him and runs the blade over Helene’s throat, chest, and belly.       “Anyway, even if the dog came to himself and went to ask for help, he could do nothing. There is nobody around. Nobody, who would help him save this gorgeous beauty. Who would not be dead if she did not date Rose.”       The man thinks for two seconds.       “What if I make people think you allegedly killed yourself? You could not handle the breakup with your sweetheart! Cut your throat or wrists… You would die without waking up…”       The criminal puts the knife very tightly to Helene’s throat and sets his glance full of hate into her eyes.       “There are so many variants… And all of them are so good. But I don’t even know what to choose. How to make Marcus happy with the news about dealing with the gal.”       The man puts the knife aside, raises Helene’s head, and caresses tenderly her lips that he looks closely at with his thumb of his free hand.       “Maybe Rose is too lucky since he has not died after three attempts to get rid of him because his friends are always with him, but you are less lucky, my darling. Nobody helped you. I mean, someone could’ve done this, but they did not want to. Because someone fought with you at the right time and believed you were a scum.”       The criminal sneers evilly, caressing Helene’s cheek.       “But I wasn’t going to attack you when he was near. It’s clear that Rose would’ve wanted to protect you. And he would’ve been much madder than in the case of his friends. But now I dealt with you with no problems and completed my mission.”       After fixing Helene’s hair slightly, the man lowers Helene’s eyelids and puts her head carefully on the wooden boards.       “I’m very sorry, beautiful, but I had to do this.”       At this moment, the criminal, who frowns his eyebrows slightly, starts to think that something seems to him. He listens to the sounds around him closely, being sure he can hear the aggressive bark of the dog. And it’s getting louder and louder as long as it’s coming here.       “Fuck, is the dog coming here again?” the man frowns.       When he looks at something afar much better, the man really sees the excited Sammy running here as fast as the wind.       “Oh, oh, oh, he's coming, running…” the man smiles slyly. “Running to say goodbye to his owner. Who I will kill with no chance to survive.”       The criminal takes Helene under her arm, pulls her roughly against himself, and puts the rope around her neck tightly after he takes it from the pocket on his coat. The unconscious girl’s body is leaning on the male chest with her back. She does not fall, her face looks deathly pale, and her lips lose their natural dark pink shade and are blue now.       “Early or late, any luck leaves you in the end. No matter how hard you wave your wings, scream, and show off. The gal’s case does prove it.”       And while Sammy is running fast to Helene and trying to scare the criminal with his deafening bark, Peter is coming here much slower, even if he keeps following him in a quick step, wishing to get rid of the need to do this and asking himself silently why he actually agreed to go somewhere. Some time later, the man comes to the place where he can see what’s happening on the wooden bridge placed at a long distance. And at first, the blond does not react to this and looks into the distance with dead eyes. But later, Rose squints his eyes and looks at the man, who seems too familiar to him, much better. It’s easy for him to recognize the one, who tried to kill him not far from the house of Daniel, who rescued his friend in time. And he sees that the man is strangling the unconscious girl with wide eyes, while her soft body is shaken by him from side to side. It’s possible to see how much pleasure the criminal gets when squeezing the rope around her neck and pulling her to himself in passion.       And at this moment, it seems like something that clouded Peter’s mind is gone, and he wakes up from the trance he has been in all this time. When he realizes that man is trying to get rid of Helene, and she no longer gives any signs of life, his heart misses a beat, something is pressing on his chest, and a quiet oh gets out of his mouth by itself.       “Helene…” Peter pronounces in a whisper, getting sharply pale from horror and holding his breath unconsciously, while his eye starts to shake slightly.       The thing that helps Peter wake up finally is the fact that the criminal grabs Helene by the collar and slaps her in the face as strongly as possible. Then her soft body falls to the wooden boards, and he decides to end the girl with a hit of his fist on her chest.       “No…” Peter pronounces in a shaking voice. “No, no, no, no…”       At this moment, the criminal grabs Helene rudely by the hair and hits the back of her head strongly against the wooden boards.       “NO!” Peter screams at the top of his lungs. “HELENE!”       Peter moves off sharply and rushes to the place where everything is happening, forgetting about all his offences, suspicions, and charges. He does not care about the pain in his foot that still bothers him every time he takes a step. But the thought about the threat of losing the girl because of the stinker impacts him like the most powerful painkiller.       “LEAVE HER ALONE, BASTARD!” Peter explodes in a deafening bass voice. “OR I SWEAR, I SHALL BURY YOU!”       “Fuck, fuck, that bastard is here!” the criminal throws gloomily. “The shabby dog did bring him here, after all…”       And at this moment, the figure of Sammy barking loudly shows up a few meters away from the bridge. He is running here as fast as the wind right to the criminal, whom he wants to bite as strongly as he has never bitten anyone before.       “Oh, you’re in time, piece of shit,” the man smiles slyly. “You can say goodbye to your owner right now. I will not let her stay alive. No. Fucking. Way.”       Thrilling with a loud and evil laughter, the man easily rolls the body of the unconscious Helene to the edge of the bridge and just pushes it down with no hesitation. It falls into the water from a high height, making big splashes, and disappears immediately, getting deeper and deeper underwater. The criminal raises his head proudly as he sees little bubbles show up on the surface of the water, and the girl does not show up.       “OH, YEAH, ASSHOLES!” the man screams at the top of his lungs. “THIS GAL WILL BECOME THE FOOD FOR FISHES!”       And two seconds later, the furious Sammy shows up here, being ready to attack the one, who just pushed Helene into the water with a deafening bark. The criminal tries to run, but the dog catches him shortly and sinks his teeth deeply into his coat, making him lose his balance.       “So, did you come to watch your owner dying?” the man laughs evilly and points at the river. “She’s there! Jump in the water! Find the gal there. I mean, her corpse that some living creatures will eat soon.”       Sammy growls loudly at the criminal and showers him with a deafening bark, while his hair is standing up, and his eyes are full of strong hate for this man.       “Yes, yes, yes, bark as much as you want. It will not change anything. The gal has a few minutes to live. She will lie underwater and then die. Her brain will just stop working soon.”       In anger, Sammy scratches painfully the criminal’s arm with his big claws and then sinks his teeth into his elbow, making him scream in pain and wince strongly.       “A-A-A-A, LET ME GO, SCUM!” the criminal demands, beating Sammy with his hands. “A-A-A, FUCK! GET OFF, I SAID!”       Two moments, Peter being super excited shows up at this place and stops a few meters away from what’s happening, seeing Sammy taking revenge on the criminal for what he did to his owner.       “FUCKING ASSHOLE!” Peter screams as loudly as he can, clenching his hands tightly into fists. “I WILL KILL YOU!”       Moving his eyes to Peter for a few seconds as the blond is getting closer to him in a quiet, sharp step, the criminal takes the small but heavy rock lying near him and hits Sammy strongly on his head. And when the dog lets him go with a quiet whining, the man pushes the dog off himself with a rude hit of his foot on his stomach. Not wasting time, he gets up sharply, takes his knife, and rushes to get out of here.       “STOP, BASTARD!” Peter explodes, not even thinking to stop. “STOP, I SAID! HEAR ME, ASSHOLE! I WILL PUT YOUR DICK AROUND YOUR NECK! IF SHE DIES BECAUSE OF YOU, YOU CAN BUY A PLACE AT THE CEMETERY IN ADVANCE!”       But the criminal decides not to spend time dealing with Peter and, thinking it’s enough so far, runs away from here with a loud, evil laugh. Rose himself chases him for some time, but decides to leave him alone when the opponent hides somewhere in the corner. Then he returns to the bridge with a heavy breath, while Sammy is standing on it, looking at the water with half-wet eyes and barking desperately at it with a heartbreaking whine.       “Helene?” Peter pronounces excitedly, running to the edge of the bridge, falling to his knees, and starting to look into the water with widely open eyes. “Helene! HELENE!”       Peter moves his eyes sharply to Sammy with a heavy breath.       “She’s there? That asshole threw her in the water?”       Sammy starts wrecking his lungs much stronger, making a deafening bark that is full of pain, which breaks the soul and can make you cry.       “No, no, no, no…” Peter pronounces in a shaking voice, shaking his head. “Not this… No…”       Peter gets up sharply on his feet, steps back a little, and wants to jump into the water to find Helene and bring her to the surface. But at the last moment, he gets kind of stuck because of the thought that he will have to drive. And the case is not that it’s too high here… He does not just love to get underwater, even if he has pleasure from swimming somewhere on the beach with his friends. His breath is heavy, his heartbeat can be clearly heard in the temples, he starts feeling dizzy, and the invisible hands are squeezing his throat and chest tightly, making him choke from a lack of air. The need to dive and hold his breath for a long time makes the blond panic and freeze. Looking through the water, Rose kind of falls into a trance and literally stops blinking, and one of his eyes starts shaking suddenly.       Likely, if Sammy did not start barking at him and scratch his leg, Peter would keep staring at the water. The pain from the claws makes him exhale sharply and glance at the dog surprisingly, while the pet is barking loudly as if he is letting him know that he cannot stand here and does nobody knows what since every second does matter now. Then the man moves his eyes to the water surface again, thinks about having to save Helene, and makes himself overcome all his fears and some psychological settings by force.       “Wait here, Sammy,” Peter jabs excitedly in a shaking voice, taking his mobile phone and the leash from his pocket and putting them on the wooden boards next to Sammy. “Don’t dare to go anywhere.”       Relaxing his shoulder sharply, pumping much air into his lungs, and trying to turn off his mind, Peter jumps determinedly into the water and starts looking around, while Sammy stays in the same place, looking into the surface desperately with a wish to see his owner there. But since everything seems too muddy, and keeping your eyes open is a hard enough mission, the man does not see anything and cannot find any hits at the place where Helene could be. Nevertheless, he starts moving his legs and hands as he resists the strong current and trying not to pay attention to the pain in his foot that he should actually take care of. The blond gets downer and downer, holding his breath so hard and praying that it’s enough for him. He has to swim through thick seaweed, run into shallow fish that, however, care about their business much more, and squint his eyes much harder to see something in the muddy water with his bad vision.       After swimming some distance and checking every corner closely, Peter does not manage to find Helene. Besides, at some moment, he starts to understand he is about to lose his air. His heart is beating like crazy at the thought that Helene is close to dying, and water gets into his lungs due to accidental inhalations. In the end, he succumbs to his strong panic, grabbing his throat and trying to swim up to the surface so hard. He is obsessed with a fear of swallowing too much water and dying. The more chaotically Rose waves his hands and feet, the more strength he spends. The more air he releases. The strong current is also the reason why it’s unbearably hard for him to swim underwater and control the situation.       Applying impossible efforts, Peter manages to swim up, even if he does not have air. And when he gets up to the surface, he starts coughing loudly, literally to nausea and breathing too heavily, spitting out the water he has in his mouth multiple times. The man barely sees Sammy looking at him with true pity as he is standing on the edge of the bridge and hoping to see his beloved owner at any time. And the dog’s heartbreaking bark gives the blond some strength and motivation to keep looking for Helene. Trying to calm down, brace himself, and remember that he has no right to be weak and think about some offences, Rose pumps much air in his lungs and gets underwater again, working his hands and feet so hard as he turns his head on all sides.       This time, Peter tries to keep the situation under control and uses his strength better, closing his nose and mouth at some moment, so water does not get into them. Again, he has to get through seaweed, though big companies of small fish, and check every single brush and stone. But every second, he is losing hope of finding Helene since he cannot see her anywhere and does not know where to swim. This thought makes him feel a stronger anxiety, but the blond tells himself again and again that he must keep his emotions under control. Any wave of panic may lead to spending so much oxygen that it’s not enough for a long dive. Maybe the underwater world seems not less beautiful than the ground one, but Rose does not care about it now. He only thinks that he must find his girlfriend among all these creatures in the muddy water.       At some moment, Peter stops somewhere in the middle and just starts looking around. And he opens his eyes widely when he decides to look down and sees that the body of the unconscious Helene is lying on the bottom and shaking slightly depending on the current. Her arms are raised, her eyes are tightly closed, and her loose hair is moving freely. The blond starts working his hands and feet so hard to get to the bottom. And when he is close to the girl, he looks at her face for two moments, takes her under her arms, and, hugging her tightly, starts getting up as fast as possible. Even if he does not have too much air by this moment, he does make himself hold on until the very end.       And some time later, Peter finally gets up to the surface, shakes his head, coughs quickly, wipes his face with a free hand, and grabs Helene’s body that is about to go underwater. Seeing his owner, Sammy starts thrilling with a loud bark and watching closely the man look around at first to understand how he can get to the land, then, choking from tiredness, swims in the right direction with one free arm. And when the depth lets him stand, Rose takes Marshall in his arms and gets out of the water with no problems, stumbling over something a couple of times. While he puts the girl carefully on the ground, Sammy manages to find a way to get down and run to his owner shortly, starting to snuggle his nose in her relaxed hand.       “Helene! Helene!” Peter jabs excitedly, grabbing Helene’s face and clapping her on the cheeks slightly. “Helene, please, say something!”       Sammy starts barking loudly and desperately, literally tearing the soul of Peter being close to a hysterical condition.       “Please, sweetie, please, open your eyes…” Peter caresses Helene’s cheek and moves a wet strand of hair off her forehead. “Please…”       Peter raises Helene’s eyelid with his shaking hand, finding out that her pupil does not respond to the light. And when he puts two fingers to the curve of her neck and cannot feel her pulse, his heart misses a beat, and he suddenly stops being able to breathe.       “No…” Peter pronounces in a shaking voice, getting sharply pale. “No, no, no, not this… No, please…”       Peter tries to feel the pulse on Helene’s neck and wrist again.       “No pulse…” Peter bends to Helene to try to feel her breath on his cheek. “Not breathing…”       While Peter starts choking with a sense of strong dizziness, his eyes get wet from tears, and the fingers of his hands start shaking. Every single muscle shakes from unbearable tension, and every beat of his heart makes him feel pain in his chest.       “No, Helene…” Peter begs in a whisper. “No, please… Don’t die… Don’t leave me… I can’t do without you! Please, Helene! I won’t handle it!”       Sammy’s deafening bark full of despair overshadows any singing of birds and any sounds of nature that can be heard from all sides. The dog starts snuggling his face into Helene’s deathly pale face and licking it as if he believes it can help her come back to life.       “Please, sweetie, say something!” Peter exclaims in despair. “I can’t lose you! I can’t! I need you! Please, Helene!”       Being too emotional, Peter screams hysterically, not trying to hold down the tears that roll slowly over his cheeks. While he is breathing too heavily, Sammy is whining with pity back as if he is begging him to do just something to save his owner. Just then, the man recalls the first aid things to someone, who is drowning, which he was once told about. Before today, he did not need all these skills, but now the excitement does not let Rose cannot remember what he should actually do. Nevertheless, the desperate bark of the retriever and his heartbreaking whining help him keep his mind sober and hold himself down somehow.       Still catching air greedily, even if it literally gives him pain, Peter closes his eyes for two moments and recalls the case when he was somehow told how to make a heart massage and give CPR and when. Not knowing if he is following the instructions, the man starts giving Helene a heart massage, pressing intensively on the necessary area of her chest multiple times in a row. And later, he starts giving her artificial respiration that he does not recall immediately.       “C’mon, Helene, c’mon…” Peter begs. “Come on… Breathe…”       Sammy sits down and looks closely at the face of Helene, who still does not give any signs of life, despite the intensive resuscitation made by Peter. He is literally his owner not to leave him with his half-wet eyes, and his whining full of suffering makes the man feel panic and anxiety much more.       “Please, Helene, please…” Peter begs literally with tears in his eyes, continuing to give Helene a heart massage. “Please…”       After doing multiple pressings, Peter gives Helene artificial respiration. But it does not lead to any results since the girl keeps lying unconscious.       “Don’t give up! Don’t give up! Hear me! You can do this! You can!”       Sammy barks confidently, licks shyly the pale cheek of Helene, caressing her shoulder with his paw.       “I can’t lose you… I can’t… Please, don’t leave me… Please… Please…”       But after a few attempts to revive the victim, nothing changes, sadly. And Peter’s doubts about doing everything right make the man much more nervous and afraid that his worst nightmare may come true.       “Fuck, it’s all my fault…” Peter pronounces in a shaking voice after his attempt to give Helene artificial respiration and caresses her face with both hands. “It’s all my fault… Only mine… If you die, I’ll never forgive myself for this. Never! NEVER!”       After making a heartbreaking scream, Peter keeps doing the heart massage and giving Helene artificial respiration, even if he is losing hope that it can help her every second. He is afraid that it may be too late to do something because the girl was underwater for too long, and he could not find her quickly. Sammy is literally injected with this man’s mood and starts barking very loudly and howling hysterically as if he is begging Marshall to hear his plea, come to the light, and come back to him. Just like Peter, who is doing his best to revive her with tears in his eyes, starting to blame himself and his wave of aggression for what happened.       “Live, Helene, live!” Peter exclaims. “Please, live! You can’t die! YOU CAN’T! PLEASE, LIVE! COME BACK TO ME! PLEASE! HELENE! HELE-E-E-E-E-ENE-E-E!”       Not being shy of crying bitterly, Peter raises Helene’s head with shaking hands and, starting to hold her in the elbow of his arm, kisses her tenderly on her forehead, and does artificial respiration again without any hope. Meanwhile, Sammy puts his head on her lap and starts literally crying, understanding that his owner will not come back. The girl is probably dead, and all the attempts of the man to take measures do not make sense. Even if he had hope deep inside that he would bring Marshall to life, it’s gone now.       “Please…” Peter makes a loud sob, looking at Helene with wet eyes and caressing her face, presses her head to his chest, and runs his finger through the girl’s wet hair. “Come back… I’m afraid to stay alone… Please Helene… Please…”       Choking from his own tears, Peter tries to do artificial respiration again, even if he loses all the motivation to keep fighting for her life with the thought that it does not make sense. But at some moment, he feels some water gets into his mouth and hears a deafening moan the girl makes. When Rose steps away from her sharply, Marshall starts coughing loudly and spitting out the water she has in her lungs. She keeps doing this when she sits up sharply and doubles over, trying so hard to catch some air that she lacks catastrophically.       “Thank God…” Peter exhales sharply, putting his hand on his forehead.       Sammy starts thrilling with a much happier bark and whining, being barely being able to come to himself after such a strong stress in the nearest time. While Helene, grabbing her throat, spits out the water intensely and coughs so loudly that it makes her feel the retching.       “Helene, my girl…” Peter exhales with a tired smile, caressing Helene’s back and hugging her around the shoulders, and moves some of her hair aside. “Baby…”       At some moment, Helene wants to fall powerless on the ground, but Peter catches her in time and presses the girl closely to his chest, while she keeps choking with water.       “It’s okay, my sweetheart, it’s okay,” Peter says softly, caressing Helene’s head and kissing her sweetly on the top of her head. “It’s okay. You’re safe now.”       Sammy barks confidently to confirm it, putting his paw on Helene’s lap.       “Peter?!” Helene pronounces as if she is about to die with a heavy breath, moving her eyes to Peter.       “Quiet, quiet, I’m here,” Peter keeps calming down, putting his hand on Helene’s cheek, and hugs her much tighter with his second arm, while she puts her hand on his chest. “It’s okay.”       “What happened to me?” Helene coughs two more times. “I’m alive? Or dead?”       “Alive, my treasure, alive.”       Peter snuggles his nose in Helene’s shoulder and makes a couple of quiet sobs, laughing nervously at some moment.       “I’d die if I lost you.”       “I must be hallucinating,” Helene pronounces quietly. “Hallucinating… Going crazy… I… I died for sure…”       “No, Helene, you aren’t hallucinating…”       “Is this really you? You’re here? Not a mirage?”       “It’s me, my sugar, me,” Peter confirms confidently, caresses Helene’s cheek with a heavy breath, and puts her hand on his chest, on which something is still pressing. “Hear how fast my heart is beating.”       “Peter… My gosh… Peter…”       Helene puts her arms around Peter’s neck and hugs him as tightly as possible, letting her emotions control her and crying so loudly that the man’s heart squeezes painfully.       “No, no, no, don’t cry, please,” Peter says softly, putting his hand on the top of Helene’s head and caressing her back with another hand, and shakes his head sharply to move some strands of hair off his eyes. “Helene… Helene, can you hear me? Stop.”       “He wanted to kill me, Peter,” Helene says into Peter’s neck and makes a loud sob. “I almost died because of him.”       “I know, my girl, I know.”       “The last thing I remember is the way he… He was strangling me… Squeezing my neck in his elbow and holding it tightly… And then… Then everything started to get blurry… I couldn’t breathe… And I… I passed out…”       “I saw him trying to strangle you with a rope.”       “That was him!” Helene steps away from Peter and moves her wet eyes to him. “The one, who attacked you near Daniel’s house! He did admit it!”       “Yeah, I recognized him. That’s surely him.”       “He was watching you when…” Helene coughs loudly. “When Perkins took you with him… Until you went to his home… And Anna… He saw her…”       “Seriously?” Peter opens his eyes widely.       “That man did admit everything!”       “Oh, shit… That’s really bad…”       “I tried to run away from him, and Sammy protected me the way he could. But… I did not… He caught me, after all…”       Sammy barks quietly to get attention from him.       “Sammy…” Helene smiles exhaustedly, lets Sammy sniff her hand, and pets him softly on his head when he comes closer to her. “My boy…”       Sammy whines with pity and starts snuggling his nose in Helene’s face, trying to lick her a little and showing his great happiness from the fact that she is alive.       “Good, Sammy, good boy.” Helene takes Sammy in her tight hug. “You did everything you could. I’m so proud of you.”       Again, Sammy whines quietly, wagging his tail energetically and enjoying the attention from his owner.       “It’s all my fault…” Peter pronounces quietly with sadness in his eyes. “You almost died because of me.”       “Peter, please…” Helene pronounces softly.       “I’m so sorry, Helene.” Peter takes Helene’s hands, looking at her with wet eyes full of pity. “I shouldn't have left you alone. Knowing well about the dangerous situation for us two.”       “Sammy was with me. He did his best to protect me.”       “I’m so ready to bow to him. If he hadn’t found me and made me come here, we would’ve lost you.”       “You weren’t far?”       “Yup. I was walking with no goal and decided to come back home. But then Sammy ran, started to bark in the whole district, and pulled me after him.” Peter puts his hand on his stomach. “He did even scratch my stomach. In short, he used all the possible methods to make me go with him.”       “I didn’t even hope you’d come. That’s why I only counted on myself. Which wasn’t enough for me.” Helene exhales with a shake. “I can’t even run well… I started to choke two minutes later.”       “When I saw what that bastard was doing to you, I literally woke up from a trance. When you… You were lying on the bridge unconscious. It’s like someone switched the tumbler.”       “You could turn around and leave… Nobody made you stay.”       “And let my beloved girl die? Oh, no! I could not do that!”       “But, Peter…”       “Do you know how scared I was when I found you and took you on the ground after a long search underwater?” Peter grabs his wet hair with both hands and exhales sharply. “I almost went crazy when I found out you didn’t have a pulse and weren’t breathing! I seriously thought I lost you! You died! I couldn’t make it on time! I couldn’t brace myself in time!”       “I was also terribly scared when I realized I had a lot of water in my lungs…” Helene confesses, grabs her throat, and coughs two more times. “You know I can barely swim. And I’m actually not in a close relationship with sports.”       “Didn’t you wake up with you were underwater?”       “Nope… I can’t remember this. First, I was on the bridge and choking from a lack of air, and now I’m here… With you.”       “That bastard just threw you off the bridge into the water when Sammy ran here first, and then I threatened to give him to the sharks as food.”       “But what about your foot?”       “I thought about it much less. Sometimes I actually forgot something was injured.”       “I see…”       Sammy barks quietly.       “Gosh, Helene, for heaven’s sake, I’m begging you, don’t scare me like this anymore!” Peter exclaims and takes Helene in a tight hug. “Don’t make me feel this shock again!”       “Yeah?” Helene pronounces with mistrust. “I thought you would be happy to get rid of me!”       “Are you crazy?”       “What, wouldn’t you?”       “What would I live for if I didn’t have you in this world?”       “Well, why?”       Helene steps away from Peter sharply and looks at him without emotions in her eyes.       “To find another girl! A more loyal, more decent…”       “I don’t need another girl, Helene,” Peter protests and caresses Helene’s hand. “C’mon, baby? How can you say something like this?’       “Just don’t pretend that you kind of forgot about all the charges for me.”       “Listen, Helene…”       “How could you?” Helene wonders disappointedly and sniffs. “How could you believe this delirium? Why did you believe some stinkers?”       “I’m really sorry about what happened. I swear I didn’t know what I was thinking about when I attacked you like this.”       “You can’t even imagine the wound you gave my heart. You can’t imagine how much I am disappointed in you.”       “Helene, please… Let me explain everything.”       “Stop, Rose, I don’t need it. You’ve already said everything, I’ve understood everything.”       “My sunshine, I’m guilty of you. I know I made the stupidest mistake. I shouldn't have even thought about you daring to do this to me.”       “Have I given you just one reason to doubt me? Have I ever done something to make you afraid of my betrayal?”       “No, no, never…”       “Is this how you’re thanking me after everything I’ve done for you for the years of our friendship? For the time of our relationship! Is this your thankfulness?”       “Please, Helene, forgive me,” Peter begs with pity in his eyes, grabbing Helene’s face. “I’m an idiot. Just a brainless idiot that shouldn't have believed a certain bastard. Who didn’t want to show themselves.”       “Wasn’t it clear that someone wanted to separate us?” Helene wonders loudly. “Someone dreamed of you attacking me like this and telling me about our breakup!”       “Yes, I completely understand it now. I understand that bastard, who’s trying to kill me, needs it. It wasn’t enough for that bastard to kill me four times. It’s not enough that I have my foot and hand injured because of them and their friends.”       “That was so clear! But you, idiot, believed them!”       “I know, my baby, I know. I’m asking you for forgiveness for my stupidity.”       “Damn, you know so well that someone tried to deceive your friends in the same way, but you were caught on the hook and decided to ruin everything we’d gotten through together for one moment.”       “Just don’t tell me you wanna leave me.”       “You did tell me about our breakup. Forgot?”       “No!” Peter protests. “No breakup will happen! I ain’t gonna lose you.”       “You’ve lost me, Rose.”       “No, no, Helene, for heaven’s sake, don’t say it!”       “With your ungrounded charges, you just spat at my face. And I’m not sure if I can forgive you.”       “I promise, my love, it will not happen again.” Peter grabs Helene’s face with both hands and kisses her sweetly on her forehead, on which he leans with his forehead. “Never…”       “I don’t believe you/”       “Trust, believe me,” Peter begs in a whisper. “I swear I didn’t want it.”       Peter brings his face very close to Helene’s face, looks at her lips for two seconds, looks into her red, tear-stained eyes, and leaves a tender kiss on the lady’s eyelids. One more on her pale lips. One more. And the girl does not notice how she ends up involved in a more continuous one, which she answers to without minding, feeling how her heart starts beating faster, and the wave of warmth is spreading through her whole body and relaxing every tense muscle of her body a little.       “I’ll go crazy if we aren’t together,” Peter says in a much lower and quieter voice and leaves a kiss on Helene’s cheek, cheekbone, and chin. “I can’t lose the one I was waiting for for almost two years.”       “I’m gonna suffer, too,” Helene replies with a heavy breath and caresses Peter’s cheek. “Very much. Because I love you.”       “I love you more than my life.”       “But it’s madly hurtful to hear all these false accusations. It’s hurtful to hear someone showering you with mud and not hearing when you wreck your vocal cords and say you’re not guilty. When nobody can prove you made a mistake.”       “Understand me, Helene. I was disappointed, too. When I read that message for the first time, I tried to get rid of these thoughts and made myself sure that you wouldn’t betray me. But something settled deep inside me and was eating me slowly. I didn’t wanna believe, but something did bother me. And I decided to find everything out. I invited myself to the walk with you and Sammy. I thought I’d ask you about everything.”       “But why did you show that kind of aggression?” Helene explodes. “Why couldn’t you explain everything quietly? As if we aren’t adult people and can’t solve our problems without scandals!”       “I know, Helene. But the trigger was your behavior after my question about whether you were hiding something. You were nervous, and I thought the charges weren’t so groundless.”       “I did tell you I was hiding nothing! I told you I was always honest with you.”       “I could believe anyone but you at that moment.”       “I’ve never betrayed you. Never. I swear on my grandfather Roger’s grave.” Helene grabs Peter’s face and looks into his eyes with tears. “I… I’d rather die than do this. I’d rather let someone kill me than do something to betray your trust.”       “It’s a painful thing to me. I can barely any attempts of people to stab me with a knife. After everything that has happened to me in my past.”       “I know, sweetie.” Helene leaves a short kiss on Peter’s lips. “But I’m asking you, don’t doubt me. Don’t believe those, who are trying to assure you I’m betraying you.”       “I promise, I’ll no longer believe.”       Peter takes Helene in a tight hug, putting his arm around her neck and running his fingers through the girl’s hair. While she does not answer to his hug, but she does not reject it, pressing herself to the man’s chest and feeling his fast heartbeat.       “This is one of my stupidest mistakes. The mistake that’s the reason I almost lost you. I no longer wanna feel this kind of shock. Never.”       “Don’t leave me…” Helene begs with pity in a quiet voice. “Please, Pete, don’t tell me we’re over. I don’t want this… I don’t want!”       “If I ever tell you about our breakup again, you can kill me. I’m allowing you to.”       “I need you… So badly… I can’t live without you. You mean a lot to me. You… You’re the best thing that’s ever happened in my life.”       “Just you are in my life.” Peter kisses Helene sweetly on her temple and cheek, snuggling his nose in her shoulder. “Please, forgive me for being an idiot. It will never happen again.”       “You promise?”       “I swear.”       Helene starts crying much more bitterly, putting her shaking on Peter’s back and snuggling her face in the male chest, while he keeps holding her in his tight hug and stroking her shoulders.       “Okay, okay, my baby, don’t cry,” Peter says literally in a whisper and caresses Helene’s head. “I will not leave.”       “I’m scared…” Helene complains, choking on tears. “I’m so scared…”       “Don’t be afraid, I’m here. I’ll always be.”       “You can’t imagine how scared I was. I… I felt like a little, unprotected girl when that man started to threaten me with a knife. When he tried to kill me.”       “I know, sweetie, but it will never happen again. That man has already gone and will never come back.”       “Why did it happen to me? Why?”       “Look at me.” Peter steps away from Helene and grabs her face, looking into her eyes confidently. “Helene! Helene! Look at me!”       And while Helene cannot control the ocean of tears with a shake in her whole body, Peter caresses her cheeks tenderly.       “It’s gonna be okay,” Peter says confidently. “We will solve this problem. Nobody will give a damn about this thing.”       “We’re powerless, Peter!” Helene exclaims in despair. “We can’t do anything.”       “We can handle it. I do believe it. No matter how hard it is for me. Even if I don’t know what my fault is for a certain stinker.”       “No… They’re gonna kill us… Early or late… These cads won’t get off us so easily.”       “I promise, I will no longer dare to leave you like this in the middle of the street from this moment on. And I order that you do not go to the places where there’s nobody.”       “It won’t help! It will not… Nothing can help us! Nothing! Nothing!”       Literally screaming out the last word, Helene doubles over, closes her face with her hands, and keeps choking on tears. Meanwhile, Sammy is whining very quietly and puts his paw on the knee of the shaking girl, and Peter presses her closely to himself again and caresses her back.       “Calm down, Helene, please,” Peter begs quietly. “My heart’s tearing when I see you like this.”       “I don’t wanna die…” Helene shakes her head and sniffs loudly. “I don’t want…”       “You’ll not die, I promise. No asshole will dare to get close to you. If someone dares to do this, I shall tear them with no mercy.”       “They tried to kill me… They tried to kill me… They tried to kill me…”       “Quiet, quiet, sweetheart, try to brace yourself.” Peter kisses Helene tenderly on her forehead and puts her head on his shoulder with an easy movement. “It’s over. You’re safe now.”       “They tried to kill me… They tried to kill me…”       Helene repeats the same phrase multiple times like a mantra, setting her wet, dead eyes into the distance, and not being able to get rid of the thought that someone will want to try to strangle or drown her again. At some moment, Peter moves his widely open eyes to Sammy that just whines quietly in reply, sitting next to his owner, who is overwhelmed by what happened.       “Alright, Helene…” Peter pronounces confidently. “Let’s go to my home now. I will give you some hot tea or something like a sedative. And when you come to yourself, I will drive you home. But if you feel too bad, I shall call an ambulance.”       “Don’t leave me alone…” Helene begs in a shaking voice. “Or I shall die…”       “You must also wash and dry your clothes. And wash your head.” Peter clears his throat quickly. “Ugh, the taste of that muddy water is still in my mouth.”       “I don’t have any other clothes.”       “It’s okay, I’ll give you something of mine. You’ll wear it until we wash your clothes, dry them, and iron them.”       “Do what you want. But don’t give me those people, so they kill me.”       “You and I will drink something, eat, come to ourselves, put ourselves in order, and have some rest. Sammy’s wounds should also be treated. And a little later, we will call someone from the guys and tell them about what happened. To decide what to do.”       “Alright, as you want. And I will help you with your ligation. Your bandages are wet…”       “Okay, my sweetie, let’s get out of here,” Peter says determinedly. “Just wait for me here. I will quickly return to the bridge and take my phone and the leash that I left before jumping into the water.”       At this moment, Sammy barks two times, holding Peter’s phone in my mouth after taking it.       “Wow!” Peter exclaims with a slight smile and takes his phone. “You’ve found it! What a good boy! Good boy, buddy!”       After petting Sammy’s head, Peter puts the phone and the leash given by the doggy kindly with his tail wagging in the pocket of his jeans.       “Let’s go then! My car is not far from here. So, we won’t spend too much time going to my home. C’mon, c’mon, Marshall, get up.”       “Help me, please,” Helene says in a quiet, dying voice.       “C’mon, sunshine, don’t rush. Okay.”       With these words, Peter gets up quickly first and then helps Helene do the same, holding her tightly by the waist. Then the man shakes the dirt off the girl quickly and cleans himself a little carelessly, thinking about his girlfriend much more now. While she embraces herself tightly with both arms and keeps choking with tears with the thought that she lacks air and feels a little dizzy. Anyway, she is going to go by herself, but the blond takes her in his arms without words, asks Sammy to follow him with his eyes, and goes to where his car is parked. However, Marshall does not mind it and, putting her arms around the man’s neck tightly, puts her head on his shoulder with closed eyes and kisses him sweetly on the cheek to thank him at some moment.       “Thank you…” Helene thanks with an exhausted smile, caressing Peter’s other cheek. “Thank you so much for saving my life. Not leaving me when you could do it.”       “I love you so, so much,” Peter replies tenderly. “You’re the main treasure that I have in my life. And I’d do anything for you.”       Helene says nothing and keeps smiling as she looks at Peter with all the tenderness, while he rubs the tip of his nose against her nose and keeps carrying her in his arms to his car. Both of them are now under the close view of Sammy that does not leave his owner alone, while she looks terribly horrified and keeps sobbing at times because of the memories that attack her again and again and literally make her close to hysteria.       

***

      After lunchtime, Terrence, Edward, and Daniel finished the filming for the entertainment show, for which they answered some questions about each other and talked a little about their debut album in the interview. The band’s manager, the show’s organizers, and the men agreed that Peter would not join them due to his trauma of his foot and would be recovering at home. Even if they missed their friend, the men had a good time together: they joked a lot and played the fool, acting like true professionals and not letting their personal problems disturb them with their work.       When the filming ends, the friends decide not to go home and to go to the park to breathe in some fresh air. Daniel, Edward, and Terrence eat delicious ice cream before they rent bikes and have the pleasure of riding in the whole territory, trying to choose the places where they would not bother other people, so they can keep going to do their business. And of course, the friends do not miss a chance to chase each other and find out who will reach a certain point first. And when the men get a little tired, they keep pedaling much quieter, with no rush.       “Yeah, Rose missed so much by not joining us for the shooting of the show,” Terrence notices cheerfully. “It was really cool.”       “The filming had just one shortcoming: it ended too soon,” Daniel notices. “I didn’t even notice how fast time flew.”       “Of course, that’s cool George takes care of us and doesn’t schedule too many events per day,” Edward says thoughtfully. “But it’s so boring to be at just one event per day. Or week.”       “It’s okay, when we go on the worldwide tour, we’ll be jumping on the scene and rocking on along with our own songs every day,” Terrence replies confidently.       “Oh, I can’t wait for this moment!” Daniel smiles widely. “For this thing, I am ready to sacrifice my sleep and wake up too early.”       “Nevertheless, you'd better get ready for this in advance. Ask Anna to wake you up a few hours earlier. So, you get used to this.”       “Actually, I lately started to wake up much earlier.”       “Come on!” Edward chuckles kindly.       “Yes, yes, don’t believe if you don’t wanna, but it's been a while since I spent time in my bed until twelve o’clock the last time.”       “M-m-m, we only have to praise you,” Terrence says with a slight smile. “Since you’re starting to grow up. Starting to get used to adult life and getting ready to say goodbye to your childhood for a goodbye.”       “Now I am ready for this,” Daniel replies confidently. “Ready to be an adult by the age and my brain.”       “Nevertheless, many fans of ours share your love for a long sleep,” Edward notices. “They do love sleeping. And eating well.”       “Who doesn’t love eating well?” Terrence smiles innocently. “Who would refuse to eat some fast food?”       “Well, everything is clear about you, bro. You’re our forever eating machine.”       “And you will always be the pain in our asses that can’t sit quietly in the same place.”       “Yeah, you should’ve been born in the month of Sagittarius,” Daniel notices. “They’re those, who go crazy all the time. They always have their motor working.”       “Come on, he fits kinda well the one to be born in the month of Taurus,” Terrence replies.       “Said by the one, who was born on the same month of the same Zodiac sign,” Edward smiles innocently.       “Aha, guys, I didn’t even guess you had the same Zodiac sign,” Daniel confesses. “That you both are Taurus.”       “And it’s funny that Natalia and Raquelle also have the same Zodiac sign – Cancer,” Edward notices.       “I hope Taurus and Cancer fit together well, according to the compatibility,” Daniel expresses hope funnily.       “Aha, or two Leons. Just like you and Anna are.”       “My Cancer girl loves waving her claws, of course, but I love her anyway,” Terrence replies with a slight smile. “There’s nobody else better than her.”       “And I can’t live without my gorgeous Leon girl,” Daniel adds.       “Get married to her, then!” Edward exclaims.       “Aha, what if I propose to Anna? What if we persuade Peter to buy a ring for Helene? And get married all together on the same day!”       “What?” Terrence shrugs. “For me, it would be an honor to get married on the same day as my little brothers.”       “Oh, yeah, and what do we do next? When there is nobody to be potential grooms or brides! Make children at the same time!”       “It would be easier to make them friends,” Edward smiles shyly.       “They will have to be friends. Especially, your children and my children, who will be cousins.”       “You’ll have to watch them, so they don’t kill each other,” Daniel laughs. “And kick each other’s ass the way you do it to each other.”       “Everything depends on my niblings,” Edward replies. “Whether they’re gonna be sweet and obedient or the pain in the ass that play on everyone’s nerves. Just like their daddy does. Just like our selfish penguin king.”       “I really hope you’re gonna hold my niblings by the pants, so they don’t jump off the roof of the high building in passion,” Terrence expresses hope mordantly.       “It’s okay, guys, if your children are the pain in the ass, my kids are gonna be the embodiment of shyness and perfect education,” Daniel says confidently. “Anna and I will do our best for this.”       “Hey, father, you first propose to her, and then you can dream of children from Seymour! I doubt Maximilian and Lilian will stroke your heads if your precious lady gets pregnant out of marriage.”       “Yeah, they don’t really like the fact you’re living together without getting married,” Edward adds. “They say nothing, yeah. But it’s clear they want you to have a wedding.”       “Do you really think I will leave Anna if she’s really expecting a child from me?” Daniel opens his eyes widely.       “No, we don’t. But since you’re growing up for the wedding for so long, there’s a high chance that the child won’t make you wake up.”       “I will look at you when we both have wedding rings on our hands. How overwhelmed you all are gonna be.”       “Oh, are ya gonna wear the ring?” Terrence wonders falsely.       “With great pride!”       “M-m-m, the guy’s really growing up…” Edward laughs quietly.       “Everyone kinda must bow at Anna’s feet for doing these magical things to the real bonehead,” Terrence notices cheerfully. “It’s amazing how the fragile and shy girl could do the impossible.”       “She’s our little warrior,” Daniel smiles shyly. “She can survive even when everyone doesn’t even hope for anything.”       “Hard to deny!” Edward agrees. “Honestly, I thought she’d need too much time to come to herself after what the Potters did to her. But she came to herself kinda quickly.”       “Agree!” Terrence adds. “Now Seymour’s acting like nothing happened. I guess love and care can really make wonderful things at times.”       “Yeah, but she sometimes thinks about that case,” Daniel confesses. “And there are moments when Anna may doubt herself.”       “Anyway, she is really a fine fellow. She did it on her own.”       “She was just surrounded by love and care from the beginning. My baby has wonderful parents and amazing friends. She’s never been judged by us and always known we wouldn’t dare to say she’s guilty of what happened.”       “You’re right,” Edward nods confidently. “If Anna heard she’s guilty from everyone, provoked that bastard, and should’ve thought about some mistakes, this girl would believe it seriously.”       “And it would be hard for us to change her mind,” Terrence adds.       “I’m so happy she’s had such amazing people all this time,” Daniel smiles shyly. “And I’m grateful to all of you for your efforts.”       “The girls and we did everything we could!” Edward shrugs.       “And now it’s time to help the others,” Terrence adds. “Help Peter and Helene.”       “To be honest, I worry about his mental health at times,” Daniel confesses. “It’s not a secret for us that Peter is still struggling.”       “I hope he doesn’t cut himself at home when we don’t see and know anything,” Edward exhales sharply.       “At least, he didn’t give up on his habit of wearing multiple bracelets on both hands,” Daniel frowns slightly.       “You wanna say he keeps harming himself?”       “Who knows, Terrence. You know that Rose doesn’t kinda wanna have naked wrists and covers them with something. A watch with a thick belt or a bunch of bracelets.”       “Didn’t you notice anything like this when he lost his watch after being attacked near your house?” Edward asks.       “I didn’t pay attention to this. I think Anna didn’t look at his hands, either. We only thought about someone, who tried to kill him.”       “Damn, I didn’t feel quiet for him, but your words make me much more anxious,” Terrence says thoughtfully.       “Be happy he doesn’t hide his problems, guys,” Edward replies confidently. “Peter doesn’t deny that he is not fine and keeps struggling.”       “I wanna believe this shitty thing will be solved as soon as possible,” Daniel expresses hope. “If something terrible happens, Pete may not handle it. It may break him down.”       “As we’ve said before, the most horrible thing that may happen is some kind of attack on Helene or her death,” Terrence notices.       “And it will happen early or late,” Edward adds. “When those bastards are sick of running after us, they’ll one hundred percent try to deal with her. No need to visit a fortune teller.”       “Fuck, it seemed like everything started to get better!” Daniel swears. The blond needed just a little to come to himself and forget everything that happened to him. But no, one bastard dared to mess up everything.”       “Or we did believe the blond was getting well,” Terrence assumes. “I don’t exclude that we put the wild animal to sleep, but it still has the opportunity to wake up and settle the chaos at any time.”       “So, are we doing something wrong?” Edward frowns slightly.       “We are doing everything right,” Daniel replies. “Our efforts aren’t just enough yet.”       “Right,” Terrence nods. “Yes, Pete feels much better and believes it truly. But until he has just one thought about harming himself or even committing suicide, the fight is still on.”       “Nevertheless, we’ve reached the main goal – Rose ain’t trying to kill himself.”       “For a while, Daniel, for a while,” Edward adds. “He just doesn’t have a reason to die. His friends support him, his girlfriend praises him, his fans are wet because of him…”       “Edward’s right,” Terrence agrees. “It’s all just a matter of time and events. Many things depend on us, but not everything.”       “Right, though…” Daniel exhales sharply.       “We mustn’t let the most important thing happen – we mustn’t let him stay all alone. Peter’s afraid of this much more in the world. If there’s nobody next to him, he’s gonna break down for sure.”       “Oh, poor Pete…” Edward shakes his head. “He’s such a kind and decent boy, but literally the whole world crashed him. When he was a child.”       “It’s okay, guys, keep your chins up,” Terrence encourages. “It’s gonna be okay. Just do what we did before. Of course, it won’t change anything for the better, but it won’t make anything worse.”       “I guess this is the only thing we can do,” Daniel sighs tiredly.       Edward, Terrence, and Daniel spend a few more seconds riding on bikes silently, moving straight and passing by people of different ages. They kind of let themselves slow down, put their business aside, and just enjoy the warm weather, breathe some fresh air, and admire the beauty of the park, which is always under the view of those, who watch the order and cleanness of it. At some moment, the men hear a loud melody that one of their smartphones makes.       “Wow, it’s Rose…” Daniel pronounces thoughtfully after he takes his phone and looks at the screen. “Speak of the devil…”       When he moves his bike aside to let people keep going where they need, Daniel runs his finger over the screen of the smartphone and puts it to his ear.       “Hey yo, Pete,” Daniel greets, while Edward and Terrence come to Daniel on their bikes.       “Hi, Dan,” Peter pronounces quietly. “Are ya busty? Got a minute?”       “Yeah, sure, I do. Speak!”       “You’re with the MacClifes?”       “Yup, they’re with me. We recently finished filming for the show, and now we’re just riding on bikes at the park.”       “Aren’t you able to turn on the speakerphone? I need to say something important.”       “Erm… Okay… I’ll turn it on now.”       Pressing something on the screen, Daniel asks Terrence and Edward to come closer with just one look.       “I did! They can hear you!”       “Hey, blond!” Edward greets.       “Hi, dude!” Terrence pronounces funnily.       “Hey, guys,” Peter replies amicably. “Sorry for bothering you, but it’s really important.”       “Hey, what’s wrong with your voice?” Edward frowns slightly. “Why’s it shaking?”       “Yeah, man, did something terrible happen?” Terrence gets suspicious.       “Yeah, that’s why I called you,” Peter replies in a low, little shaking voice.       “Did some bastard attack you again?” Daniel asks. “They tried to kill you?”       “Not me. Helene.”       “Helene?” Edward, Daniel, and Terrence pronounce surprisingly.       “Fuck, did those bastards decide to deal with her, too?” Terrence swears. “Are they kinda sick of us, as I understand?”       “But what happened to her?” Edward specifies.       “She almost drowned,” Peter says excitedly. “Helene was tried to drown.”       “What?” Daniel wonders loudly, opening his eyes widely, while his heart stops for a moment, just like Edward and Terrence’s hearts. “Drown?”       “Come on, brother!” Terrence horrifies.       “She needed a little to die,” Helene replies.       “But how did it happen?” Daniel wonders. “How do you know it? You kinda wanted to stay home!”       “My plans changed a little. And… I was with Helene. We… Walked together with Sammy.”       “Walked with Sammy?” Edward frowns.       “Yup…” Peter falls into silence for a second and bites his lip slightly. “Everything was fine at first… And then Marshall and I… We fought a little…”       “Fought?” Daniel wonders.       “Yeah, we got excited because of one stupid thing… Oh… It doesn’t matter, though.”       Peter exhales sharply, running his hand over his hair.       “In short, we went on different sides in the end: I went to one side, but she and Sammy went to another side. I was just walking with no goal for some time, trying to calm down… And then… Then Sammy showed up from nowhere. He ran to me and started to bark loudly. Push me, pulled me by my t-shirt, scratched me a little…”       “Whoa…” Terrence pronounces surprisingly.       “At first, I didn’t understand what he wanted. And I was mad because of our argument. But that dog was too stubborn and didn’t let me go. He told me to go with him. And… I gave up eventually. And when he brought me to the right place…”       Peter falls into silence again and exhales slowly, squeezing the bridge of his nose with his fingers with a sense that every single muscle literally twitches from strong tension.       “What?” Daniel asks impatiently. “What happened next?”       “I saw one bastard strangling Helene,” Peter says, choking from excitement. “She was already unconscious at that moment. And that asshole kept mocking her. Not just strangling… But also beating…”       “Holy cow…” Edward swears.       “I don’t know what that bastard planned to do, but when he heard Sammy’s barking and my threat to burn him in the fire… That jackass just threw Marshall from the high bridge in the water and ran away.”       “Threw her in the water?” Terrence wonders loudly. “The unconscious girl?”       “And she didn’t get up after this…” Peter confesses. “She was going down.”       “Shiver me…” Daniel puts his hand on his forehead. “Poor Helene…”       “You got her out?” Edward asks.       “Yup I had to jump in the river and get underwater,” Peter nods. “But I had to spend a lot of time searching for her because I couldn’t see anything. Her body was on the bottom. And when I found her, I got her to the surface immediately.”       “Oh, shit…” Terrence resents. “Fucking assholes! They decided to get rid of the girl now.”       “If only you knew how scared I was! I forgot literally everything I should’ve done! I was sitting in front of her and didn’t know what to do, where to go, or who to ask for help. Oh…” Peter runs his hand over his pale face. “I think if not for Sammy, I would've kept sitting there like a stupid idiot. While Marshall would’ve been dying slowly.”       “She’s alive?” Daniel asks anxiously.       “Yup, alive. I managed to pump her successfully.”       “Thank God…” Terrence exhales with relief.       “And how’s she feeling?” Edward specifies.       “Bad. Helene’s scared to death. She’s still crying, shaking, screaming… She constantly repeats that she was tried to kill… I worry that she’s about to have hysteria. In short, it’s a hell…”       “But what’s the bastard?” Daniel asks. “Who’s the next candidate for a free castration?”       “The one, who tried to strangle me recently.”       “Not far from Daniel’s house?” Terrence specifies.       “Yup, that was him. I recognized him, and he told Helene about it. And Sammy remembers him ‘cause he started to bark and growl at him shortly.”       “So, doesn’t the leader of the gang have any more accomplices?” Edward smirks evilly. “Is he gonna tell the same people to do his orders now?”       “Anyway, the most important thing is that Helene’s alive,” Daniel replies confidently. “If not for Sammy and you, she wouldn’t have had any chance to survive.”       “Ugh, I get the goosebumps on my skin at just one thought about it!” Peter shakes sharply. “When I saw her unconscious, I immediately forgot about her fight. I think I had never been so scared before.”       “Listen, Pete, where are you and Marshall now?” Terrence asks, stroking his chin.       “My home. We came here a few hours ago.”       “So, everything happened a long time ago?”       “We went to walk with Sammy in the morning – it was nine or ten o’clock. I can’t remember clearly. And when everything happened, I drove Helene to my home, so she could put herself in order. Moreover… We were fucking wet… We needed to wash and dry our clothes, take a shower, and wash our heads…”       “Alright, Rose, stay there, and the lads and I will come now,” Edward says confidently. “We wanna know the full story in all details. And we will try to calm Helene down.”       “Yes, yes, I wanted to ask you to come. We should decide what to do to this bullshit. And… I just needed to share it with someone.”       “We’ve gotta contact the girls, too!” Daniel exclaims. “We’re gonna need their help to calm their friend down.”       “I persuaded Helene to call them and ask them to come here. While I’m talking to you, she’s contacting them.”       “Okay, buddy, don’t go anywhere and wait for us. We’ll come as soon as possible. Moreover, it won’t take too much time to come to you from the park.”       “And don’t worry!” Edward adds. “It’s gonna be okay. We’ll come together now and talk about the situation quietly.”       “Okay, deal,” Peter replies quietly. “Thanks a lot, guys.”       “And you take care of Helene and don’t leave her alone,” Terrence insists. “What if she does stupid things… She can do anything when she’s in the condition like hers.”       “I know, Terrence. Sammy and I don’t leave her alone.”       “Is Sammy okay, too?” Daniel asks. “Didn’t that asshole try to drown him, too?”       “No, no, he’s okay, luckily. But that asshole beat him with hands and feet again. And the doggy’s heart almost stopped, while I was trying to bring Helene to life. While she had no pulse… While she wasn’t breathing…”       “Okay, man, try to calm down. Breathe deeper and think positively. And the bros and I are on the way and will come to you soon.”       “Will be waiting.”       “Okay, see ya soon.”       Daniel finishes the talk by pressing the button on the screen of his smartphone. Then he puts his phone in the pocket of his black jeans and runs his hands over his face with a sharp exhalation.       “That’s what we were afraid of,” Edward shakes his head. “These bastards wanna deal with Helene now. These cases can’t be a coincidence.”       “Gosh, poor girl!” Terrence grabs his throat. “If Sammy hadn’t made Peter come back, we would’ve lost her, for sure.”       “I wonder why they fought?” Daniel frowns slightly. “They always got on kinda well… Well… Not saying about the case when Marshall thought Rose was kinda guilty of the fact that her mother left her daughter with her parents and disappeared into the unknown.”       “Alright, men, there’s no time to talk!” Terrence says determinedly. “We need to go to the blond’s home now. And then we’ll find out everything and decide what to do.”       “Yes, yes, bros, let’s go!” Edward jabs. “We just need to give the bikes back.”       “Now, we shouldn’t really leave Pete alone,” Daniel says confidently. “It seems like he was scared to the fuck. And Rose won’t surely handle the second case like this.”       “Yeah, the second attempt to drown Marshall is gonna break him down one hundred percent and open at least some part of his old wounds,” Terrence assumes.       “It’s bad that bastard ran away,” Edward throws gloomily. “He should’ve drowned there. Someone should’ve put a rope around his neck, squeezed it tightly, and thrown his body in the water.”       Talking about what happened on the way, Terrence, Daniel, and Edward sit on their bikes and start pedaling fast, coming back to the place where there is a rental area for this transport. And by the way, the men do not notice that two young men have been watching them carefully all this time, renting bikes and chasing them. But since they are at a popular enough place, the strangers decide to do nothing and just watch the friends, talking about something at times, and sending someone messages to tell them about the result of this chase.       

***

      Natalia, Anna, and Raquelle decide not to stay home and went to one of the beaches to swim in the ocean and tan under the shoots of the hot sun that made the inhabitants of the city happy in the middle of the day. Watching the adults and children play with a ball, building sand castles, play catch, and swim in the water, the friends are sitting comfortably on wooden chaise lounges. They put on their best bikini for this case, brushed their hair into beautiful buns, and put on sunglasses. And they did not refuse to taste the coconut juice that a young boy with dark skin was selling at the small outlet, and barely having time to serve everyone all alone.       “It’s so good, girls…” Natalia pronounces with a blissful smile, leaning back on the chaise lounge. “Lying on the beach, drinking something delicious, and dreaming.”       “Yeah, that’s so bad the boys couldn’t join us,” Raquelle replies thoughtfully, putting her drink on the table near her.       “They’re busy – they’re playing the fool on recording the interview,” Anna laughs shyly, fixing her glasses slightly. “Laughing at all the questions and answers.”       “We’ll be laughing at them soon! All the moments are featured in episodes of that show. They usually cut nothing.”       “Hey, they kinda said Peter wouldn’t join the filming of the show,” Natalia recalls.       “Yeah, their managers decided that he should’ve taken care of his foot and spent time recovering a little,” Raquelle replies. “Or maybe, he will film in the show separately when he feels better.”       “But will he recover by the next show?” Anna frowns slightly. “It’s gonna take place in two or three days.”       “I think Pete will perform even in case he has both arms and legs broken,” Natalia assumes. “He’s our really hard-working guy.”       “That’s right, Terrence said Pete was super upset because of George’s desire to make him stay home,” Raquelle confesses. “But the men magically persuaded him to take care of himself.”       “That’s what having a good manager is called!” Anna exclaims. “Another manager wouldn’t care that you have a bad mood or some kind of pain. They would make you get out even if you have a super high fever.”       “That’s why I like George!” Natalia exclaims. “He always has his point of view. Do you remember when the lads had a misunderstanding with someone from the agency? How they insisted on something the guys didn’t wanna do!”       “Yeah, that’s good Smith meddles and told the guys to do what they thought was right,” Raquelle adds. “Do what makes them feel comfortable.”       “Smith is a cool man, I’m gonna be honest! The men must pray for that manager! He’d always help, always listen, always cover.”       “Just like I pray for Serena, who’s been my close person for ages. While she manages my business and agrees on shootings, I am absolutely quiet.”       “That’s why you must meet good people!” Anna exclaims and puts her glass of drink on the table. “With whom you feel confident and know you’ll never be alone.”       “Oh, if I didn’t have such wonderful people, I would go crazy. So many things have happened lately and broken me down. But thanks to them, I got through it and believed everything would be okay.”       “Yeah, the past two or three years have been really crazy,” Raquelle agrees. “So crazy that it makes us wanna howl.”       “Even though I sometimes still think about what happened to me because of Julian, I feel much better next to all of you,” Anna confesses shyly.       “Are you still thinking about it?”       “It happens to me at times. But at these moments, I try to remember what you tell me. And I no longer feel so bad.”       “Oh, let’s confess that we all think about our past,” Natalia sighs heavily.       “Yeah, I’m still not able to think about Simon quietly,” Raquelle confesses quietly. “The fact that I lost my parents and died myself because of him.”       “Our wounds will always be with us,” Anna replies with sadness in her eyes. “We’ve gotta accept it.”       “Oh, girls, we feel so bad, but we’re thinking about the past…” Raquelle leans back in the chaise lounge.       “Indeed, let’s really forget about it for a while,” Natalia agrees tiredly.       “Yeah, what if we go to swim a little? Why are we sitting here, while everyone’s there?”       “Or play volleyball? Some guys suggested that we join the game!”       “I dunno, I feel good to be here…” Anna says thoughtfully. “And we’ve got time to play with a ball and swim.”       “Indeed, why would we rush?” Raquelle wonders. “After the filming ends, the men will probably wanna go somewhere. Eat delicious food, for example.”       “Well, our boys have always loved eating a lot,” Natalia smiles mysteriously.       “How would they have the strength to fight enemies?” Anna chuckles kindly. “Our boys aren’t the type of heroes, who would go to war with a sense of hunger.”       “Yeah, they do love acting like heroes, but food is something holy that’s always in the first place,” Raquelle laughs shyly.       “I wish this holy thing was in the same line as the wish to tear the gorgeous ass off the sofa and go to do at least ten pull-ups.”       “Undoubtedly, girls!” Anna exclaims. “Otherwise, nobody's gonna admire them. For them, it’s as necessary as air.”       “Did ya notice they started to work on Peter’s case with such great enthusiasm?” Raquelle asks. “How happy they were with such a wonderful opportunity!”       “Right, but they laugh constantly at Edward for not being able to stay in the same place!” Natalia laughs and drinks some drink from her glass. “Though, they’ve got a working machine in their asses.”       “The important thing is that they don’t suffer after all their adventures,” Anna replies confidently. “It seems like those men are sick of running after Peter only, and they decided to deal with the men.”       “Truth, though,” Raquelle nods. “Knowing that Terrence was almost hit by the car.”       “Thank God, Peter noticed it in time and pulled him aside!” Natalia exclaims. “But he suffered himself in the end.”       “I literally stopped breathing when he told me about it. And I didn’t even believe he was okay.”       “I’m afraid to imagine what’s gonna happen next…” Anna sighs heavily.       “And the question is whether Peter and Helene can handle it all morally,” Natalia notices.       “You think Marshall can’t handle?”       “Hardly. You and I are fighting girls: we’d hit the eye and strike anyone down with a word. But she’s much shyer. She may even be much quieter and more sentimental.”       “I agree with you,” Raquelle nods confidently. “Honestly, I can barely imagine her running after someone with a skillet in her hands and threatening to kill someone.”       “Oh, yeah, it’s all your thing,” Anna laughs.       “I am serious, Anna. Helene ain’t like you, Natalia, or me. Mr. and Mrs. Marshall always aimed to make her a quiet, shy, and obedient girl. Whom they took care of literally much more than Grandpa Frederick took care of me. They banned her from literally everything. They literally accompanied her even when she was in high school.”       “We must admit – even if she participated in all the dirty tricks of Ashley, that girl never gave a damn about her studies and was one of the best students,” Natalia recalls.       “But we can’t call her holy.”       “We kinda pitied the men and didn’t tell them everything she did,” Anna notices. “If they’d known the truth, they would’ve hardly been happy.”       “Peter would’ve doubted her for sure. Just like he did on the day we met her.”       “If not for Christensen’s influence, Marshall would’ve hardly been the loudest and most popular girl in our school,” Natalia says thoughtfully.       “Anyway, we should watch Helene better,” Raquelle replies confidently. “See how strong her mental health is.”       “At least, she wouldn’t harm herself the way Peter did,” Anna notices. “Helene wouldn’t cut her veins, swallow tablets, or jump from the roof.”       “Well… Depends on how far those stinkers can of… What if they terrorize her so hard that we may really have to save our friend.”       ‘Who knows, girls…” Natalia sighs heavily. “Though Mr. and Mrs. Marshall kept her on the leash all her life and never let her relax. Her life can’t be called easy and careless.”       “You know, Rochester, we weren’t also strong,” Anna replies. “We almost jumped off the roof in despair when we ran into evil and injustice.”       “Okay, girls, let’s not think about bad things,” Raquelle sighs tiredly. “Let’s believe Helene can do this. Moreover, she ain’t alone. We’re all ready to give her support and help her with something.”       “Right, it was hard for her ‘cause we were all alone for a long time,” Natalia recalls. “But Marshall has been surrounded by our care from the very beginning. So… It’s supposed to help her.”       “Peter and her. He also stayed alone with his demons, but now he has us.”       “I’m just praying that those stinkers don’t do anything to try to separate them somehow,” Anna confesses hesitantly.       “What do ya mean?” Raquelle frowns.       “What if someone wanna get Rose and Marshall to fight, so they lose each other? To break their hearts and break them down mentally?”       “Indeed!” Natalia opens her eyes widely. “It’s really possible!”       “They do know well about our experience in a familiar case,” Raquelle notices. “Terrence and I, Edward and Natalia, Anna and Daniel… We were all tried to be separated by the dirty lies.”       “Helene has nothing to reproach Peter for ‘cause he’s a perfect boyfriend to her,” Natalia shrugs. “She does anything he wants and just praises him. But the situation with him is not so good…”       “Because of her behavior in the past?”       “Not excluded.”       “And wouldn’t he believe she’s different now?”       “This is the only reason he may reproach her for one day.”       “It’s probably not good at my sight, but I wouldn’t like to tell Pete the full story of her past,” Raquelle confesses. “Yes, she gave me a lot of pain at that time. But I forgave her a long time ago and can call her my close friend. And I ain’t mad at Ashley.”       “I think we shouldn't show the initiative,” Anna replies thoughtfully. “If Helene wanna admit everything, we will confirm and explain everything. If she doesn’t… It’s her right.”       “But early or late, she will have to do this,” Natalia notices. “And let Peter accept everything he’s gonna hear.”       “She’s dating him – so, she should decide what to do,” Raquelle says confidently.       “Anyway, Marshall and we talked about everything a long time ago and decided to start it all over again,” Anna says. “And the past… Who doesn’t make mistakes? Nobody’s perfect.”       “I wish Daniel, Edward, and Terrence understood everything, and Peter didn’t wanna end the relationship if Helene decided to make a full confession,” Natalia expresses hope.       After singing quietly, the sad girls watch silently everyone lets themselves forget everything in the world and relax under the shots of the fun. The friends keep drinking their drinks and notice silently that their skin is now tanned slightly, and there are white spots from the strips of their bikinis. But they do not manage to keep lying on the chaise lounges and do nothing because one of them gets an unexpected call on the cell phone.       “So, did our boys start to miss us already?” Natalia laughs shyly.       “Yeah, they don’t let us lie quietly in the sun and tan…” Raquelle throws gloomily, fixing her sunglasses slightly.       “It’s not the guys…” Anna shakes her head, taking her smartphone. “It’s Helene.”       “Helene?” Raquelle and Natalia pronounce surprisingly.       Anna runs her finger over the screen of the phone and puts it to her ear.       “Yes, Helene, hello…” Anna pronounces quietly.       “Anna…” Helene mumbles in a shaking voice. “Hi… I… I don’t bother you?”       “No, no, it’s okay. The girls are I are tanning on the beach and talking.”       “That’s good they’re with you…”       “Wait, what’s wrong with your voice?” Anna frowns slightly. “Why is it shaking?”       “I feel bad…” Helene sniffs loudly. “I feel very bad…”       “What? Feel bad? You? But why?”       “I’m sc-c-cared… It won’t lead to anything g-g-good…”       “My gosh, Marshall, what happened to you?” Anna horrifies, looking at Raquelle and Natalia, who express suspicion. “Are you crying?”       “That was horrible…” Helene pronounces faintly, choking on tears. “I… Never ever in my life… I never felt so… Scared…”       “Helene… Helene… What’s wrong, sweetie? Friend…”       “What happened?” Natalia asks in a whisper.       “Wait a second!”       Anna turns on the speakerphone quickly on her smartphone to let Raquelle and Natalia hear the talk.       “I turned on the speakerphone, so Natalia and Raquelle can hear you.”       “What’s wrong, Helene?” Raquelle asks. “Why does Anna say you’re crying?”       “I can’t, girls…” Helene replies excitedly. “I can’t…”       “Quiet, quiet, friend, quiet,” Natalia says quietly. “Breathe deeper, calm down… It’s okay.”       “I nearly died!” Helene says in one breath and makes a loud sob. “They tried to kill me! I almost died! He wanted to kill him! Kill, girls! Kill!”       “What?” Anna, Natalia, and Raquelle horrify loudly, opening their eyes widely and stopping to breathe for a moment.       “Tried to kill?” Natalia cannot believe what she hears.       “What does it mean?” Anna wonders.       “They wanna deal with me now,” Helene says. “What’s happening to Peter is not enough for them. Now I almost became their victim.”       “Hey, hey, Marshall, tell us everything in order,” Raquelle says quietly. “What happened. Where. When. C’mon, friend, breathe deeper, relax, and tell us what happened.”       “I almost drowned… He… I… I could’ve died… He wanted to kill me…”       “Who’s ‘he’?”       “The man, who almost killed Peter near Daniel and Anna’s house.”       “What?” Anna pronounces surprisingly. “Near our house?”       “That was him… That man did confess everything… He told me how he tried to do this and then watched the guys until they came to Perkins’ home.”       “Oh, my God…” Natalia closes her mouth with a hand.       “Wait, does it mean he wasn’t far from the house of Daniel and me?” Anna specifies.       “Yes!” Helene exclaims and sniffs. “He saw you, and he knows you’re living with Perkins.”       “My gosh…”       “I was so scared, girls… There was nobody to protect me… Sammy tried to do something, but he could barely do this.”       “Wait, where were you at that moment?” Raquelle frowns slightly. “And where are you now?”       “I was walking with Sammy outside the city. He caught me there.”       “Were you walking there alone?”       “Nope, with Peter…” Helene swallows loudly. “At some moment… He left me alone… In the place where… There was nobody…”       “Jeez, did Peter go crazy there?” Anna resents. “He does know what’s happening now! Why the hell did he leave you alone?”       “We just… We argued a little… And… He was mad…”       “Argued?” Natalia wonders. “But why?”       “Well, stupid t-things… Nothing sp-p-pecial…”       “Yeah, I didn’t expect this from Rose…” Raquelle shakes her head. “I did not…”       “Later, he came back and saved me. Sammy pulled him literally by the pants and didn’t let him go until he agreed to go.”       “But how did it happen that you almost drowned?” Anna wonders.       “It’s all that man… He… He…”       “What he?” Raquelle asks loudly.       “Speak!” Natalia exclaims.       “My gosh, I can’t…” Helene starts crying much more bitterly. “I can’t… I can’t handle it…”       “Helene!” Anna jabs excitedly. “Helene, please, don’t cry. It’s okay. The girls and I are here.”       “Brace yourself, Helene!” Raquelle insists.       “Get all the terrible things out of your mind!” Natalia demands. “Hear me? Helene? Helene!”       “He tried to kill me…” Helene repeats in a shaking voice. “He tried to kill me…”       “Quiet, quiet, Marshall, calm down, please,” Raquelle pronounces softly.       “Why did it happen to me?” Helene runs her hand through her hair, not even thinking about holding down the tears that are rolling over her cheeks with no control. “Why? What did I do? Why?”       “Helene…” Natalia takes the word quietly. “Helene, listen to us, please…”       At this moment, Raquelle, Anna, and Natalia hear Helene starting to scream in a heartbreaking way on the other end of the line, being close to the real hysteria. That’s why the hearts of the pale girls squeeze painfully in their chests, and they look at each other with a horror in their widely open eyes.       “Oh, my God…” Raquelle closes her mouth with her hand.       “Helene, for God’s sake, don’t break our hearts,” Anna begs with pity in her eyes.       “We’re here, sweetie,” Natalia adds. “We’re ready to listen and support you.”       “Nothing can help me!” Helene screams hysterically. “Nothing! Nothing!”       “Helene, listen, please,” Raquelle tries to say a word confidently.       But Helene does not hear her friends and keeps crying loudly and bitterly, while every muscle of hers squeezes and shakes from tension that cannot leave her body. And while Natalia, Raquelle, and Anna look at each other again, barely holding down a wish to shed a tear, they hear the excited voice of Peter, who takes the phone from his girlfriend and tries to calm her down somehow:       “Natalia, Anna, Raquelle, is that you?”       “What’s happening to her, Peter?” Raquelle asks anxiously. “Maybe, you can explain everything?”       “One bastard almost drowned her in the river,” Peter explains. “And I barely managed to bring your friend to life.”       “The one, who almost killed you near the house of Daniel and me?” Anna specifies.       “Yes, him! That bastard wanted to kill Helene.”       “Why did you the fuck leave her alone there?” Natalia resents. “You do know what’s happening now! You know that none of us can walk alone at the moment!”       “I know, girls, but we had a little argument, after which I got excited and got out. And Sammy made me come back by force.”       “How strongly were you supposed to fight that you went on different sides?” Raquelle wonders.       “It doesn’t matter now. The important thing is that Helene is alive and healthy. Sammy and I managed to save her in time.”       “My God, she’s having hysteria there,” Natalia horrifies, while she can hear Helene’s emotional cry on the phone.       “Girls, please, come,” Peter begs desperately. “I can’t do this all alone. I really need your help. Maybe you can calm your friend down. Because I can’t do this. Please, help me. Come to me right now! Please!”       “Where are you now?” Raquelle specifies.       “My home. It’s been a few hours, but Helene can’t calm down yet. She’s scared to death, and she’s now having hysteria. Sammy even put his tail between his legs and squeezed in fear! He hid in the corner and started to howl.”       “My gosh, poor girl…” Anna horrifies.       “Please, Raquelle, Natalia, Anna… I’m begging you, come to my home. Seriously, I’m about to give up in despair. I don’t know what to do for your friend. My heart is breaking.”       “Don’t worry, Pete, we’ll come now,” Natalia promises. “Wait for a while. We’re now at the beach, but it’s gonna take a little time to come to you.”       “Don’t be nervous yourself,” Raquelle insists. “It’s gonna be okay. We’ll come now, calm Helene down, and talk everything quietly.”       “Oh, everything’s like in daze for me now…” Peter exhales sharply. “You can’t even imagine how scared I was. I thought I’d die there when Helene wasn’t breathing. I was afraid it was too late to save her.”       “We completely understand you, buddy,” Natalia replies softly. “But please, hold on.”       “The girls and I are on the way!” Anna announces. “If you need something, we can go to a shop and buy it.”       “Just come,” Peter says in a little shaking voice. “Just be near. Or I shall go crazy and start to cry and scream myself.”       “Okay, okay, Pete, we will come to you as soon as possible,” Raquelle promises.       “The men are on the way, too.”       “You talked to them?” Anna specifies.       “Yup, I explained the situation shortly, and they said they’d go to my home soon.”       “Great!” Natalia exclaims. “We’ll be at your place soon.”       “Thank you so much, girls,” Peter thanks truly. “You’re the best.”       “Don’t stop watching Helene! She can do any stupid thing in this condition.”       “Don’t worry, she’s under my view. And Sammy’s one. He doesn’t leave her alone.”       “Okay, we’re coming,” Anna promises.       “Yeah, I’m waiting for ya.”       Anna finishes the call by pressing the button on the screen of the phone and looks at Raquelle and Natalia with a heavy breath.       “Can’t believe it…” Raquelle shakes her head. “If everything’d been otherwise, we would've lost her.”       “That man scared her too much if she fell into such a strong hysteria…” Natalia says thoughtfully.       “Moreover, Helene has always been bad at swimming,” Anna recalls. “And she’s actually by far not a fan of sports.”       “Alright, girls, stop talking, let’s get up!” Raquelle orders confidently. “No time to guess and think! We will come there now and ask Marshall about everything.”       At this moment, Raquelle, Natalia, and Anna take their light tops and shorts from their beach bags and put them on to walk quietly on the streets.       “If only she comes to herself,” Anna replies. “Peter said he hadn’t been able to calm her down for a few hours.”       “If he hadn’t left her alone, nothing would’ve happened! And that man probably saw clearly that she was alone and came to her with the thought that Marshall could do nothing.”       “It was hardly a ‘stupid’ thing, as they say,” Raquelle assumes. “I don’t exclude that their conflict was serious if Rose gave a damn about the current situation so easily.”       “I wish we weren’t right about someone, who might want to get them to fight,” Anna begs. “Want to turn Rose against Marshall by telling him some bad things about her.”       “It’s okay, we’ll find out everything now,” Natalia says determinedly. “About the attempt of drowning and the conflict of our lovebirds.”       “I suggest we call or text the men on the way,” Raquelle gives an idea. “Maybe, Peter told them a little more, and they can make this situation kinda clear.”       “Oh, I’ll contact one of them now!” Anna exclaims, checking something on her smartphone after she gets up from the chaise lounge and puts her beach bag over her shoulder. “Terrence is currently online…”       When they put their stuff in their beach bags, Raquelle, Anna, and Natalia leave the beach quickly, continuing to discuss all the possible assumptions and suspicions about the current situation. Now they do not care about what’s happening around and people, who are getting pleasure from playing on the soft, light sand and in the warm, crystal clear water. Helene’s hysteria on the phone got the friends really excited and made them seriously think that their suspicions might not be groundless, and the girl would not have enough strength and courage to handle everything that would probably be waiting for her ahead.