To Love a Shadow, To Be the Sun novel Chapter 311

Three days later, the mole who had stolen evidence from lockup was finally exposed.

Fortunately, he’d left himself a way out and hadn’t destroyed what he’d taken.

The forensics team managed to lift half a fingerprint from an inconspicuous spot on the running shoes—one that didn’t belong to Elara.

Meanwhile, another team swept the Platinum Bay dressing room for evidence and collected several prints from the inside of a wardrobe door.

After comparing them, it was clear: one of those prints was a perfect match for the partial print from the running shoe.

Zane then ordered a chemical analysis of the dust on the shoe soles and had it compared to every shoeprint found in Chuck’s apartment.

The results were telling. Aside from the complete bloody print discovered near Chuck’s body—which matched these running shoes—no other shoeprints in the apartment lined up with that tread.

In other words, someone had brought the shoes into the apartment, deliberately stepped in blood to leave a false trail, and tried to frame Elara. With this, suspicion against her dropped sharply.

Back at the station, Ellis received a furious dressing-down from his superior, who called him a fool for getting his priorities all wrong and made it clear he wanted nothing more to do with the case.

Though Lina still hadn’t been found for fingerprint comparison, a week later, Elara was officially cleared of all suspicion and released.

During her days in the hospital, her stomach had pretty much recovered as well.

On discharge day, Summer showed up with a spray bottle labeled “Good Luck Mist” and circled Elara more than once, spritzing her generously.

Elara wrinkled her nose, unable to hold back a smile. “What is that? Smells... unique.”

Summer grinned. “It’s water infused with grapefruit leaves, willow twigs, and cherry blossom petals. For clearing out bad vibes—and maybe attracting a little romance!”

Elara laughed. “I’ll take the cleansing, but you can keep the romance. You’re still single, after all.”

Summer’s expression turned mock-serious. “If there wasn’t a mandatory cooling-off period, you’d be—”

She didn’t finish her sentence. Her eyes landed on Brian, standing beside his black Mercedes, and the words died on her lips.

Elara followed her gaze, and the smile faded from her face.

“I’ll wait for you in the parking lot,” Summer murmured and quickly slipped away.

Brian’s heart ached to see how much weight Elara had lost, just as she’d finally started to look healthy again.

He barely managed a step forward before Elara retreated, her voice cold as ice.

“Brian, if you hadn’t used me as your shield, I never would’ve been dragged into all this. I don’t love you anymore, but somehow, they still won’t leave me alone. The only reason I survived was dumb luck. If you have any decency left, you’ll stay away from me.”

Pain crashed over Brian in wave after relentless wave.

Now he knew what it felt like to be cut to pieces by the one you loved.

It was the pain she’d once endured because of him.

So this is what it’s like, he thought. It hurts so much you can barely breathe.

But Elara’s eyes were icy, as if his suffering had nothing to do with her.

She turned to go, brushing past him and leaving him with a single, detached line: “Don’t forget to pick up the divorce papers from city hall in a few days.”

Almost to the parking lot, Elara spotted a sleek black Lincoln among the maze of cars.

She couldn’t see inside, but she felt a calm, familiar gaze settle on her from within.

She paused, thinking to change direction and head over, when suddenly two cars pulled up in front of her, blocking her path.