Winning Her Heart back (Emelie and William) novel Chapter 609

Ashley hummed in response. She could feel the stiffness in her back from sitting too long. She leaned against Elias for comfort but said little, as she still had work to finish.

Elias quickly scanned the case. In summary, the incident was a classic case of self-inflicted consequences.

There was a middle school and a technical school separated by just a street in the west of Capebatt City. Most of the students at the technical school were, to put it mildly, troublemakers with one foot in the underworld.

One such student, Theo Ellis, was notorious for getting his gang together to extort money from the middle school students across the street.

For the past year, they had been targeting Marco Marley, a shy secondary school student, regularly demanding money from him. Too scared to resist, Marco complied.

One day, Marco was walking with a female classmate and was blocked again. The gang found his female classmate attractive and tried to harass her. Marco, driven by both a desire to protect his classmate and his own frustration, could no longer stand it and finally fought back.

Marco grabbed a brick and hit Theo in the middle of this one-on-four mayhem, and little did he know, Theo died just like that.

As both parties were over the age of fourteen and, therefore, legally responsible, the case went to court.

"Isn't it obvious? Theo brought this on himself, and Marco was merely acting in self-defense. What's his fault?" Elias asked, making a sound of disapproval.

What a bunch of social scum. They were still young but were already rotten.

Ashley took the file back. "Yes, the case is about arguing self-defense. However, the opposing lawyer claims that both parties were minors and were just fooling around. But the situation didn't justify the use of deadly force. So, it's excessive self-defense and not a case of complete innocence.

Elias rested his chin on her shoulder. "What about the girl? Isn't she a witness?"

"She claims she was hiding and didn't see anything, but I suspect she's afraid of retribution."

Elias sighed. "Poor Marco. He's really out of luck."

Ashley replied calmly, "She's just a fifteen-year-old girl. Considering what happened, she's probably terrified. Don't be too hard on the victim. She's innocent too."

His baggy pajamas exposed his well-defined abs, which caught Ashley's eye. She looked away. "I'm aware of my limits."

"I'm more aware of that than you are," Elias said, pulling the blanket over her.

Ashley frowned. "I'm not sleepy yet. I want to review the file a bit more."

"You're not sleepy, huh? Then, you should have said something earlier." Elias leaned closer to her. His brown eyes reflected her face with a predatory glint. It was as if he was a docile dog who had turned into a prowling wolf. "I can help you sleep."

Ashley was distracted by his face, and she instinctively asked, "How can you help me get to sleep?"

She regretted it as soon as she asked. Sure enough, Elias, who had been looking for an opportunity to kiss her, pressed his lips to hers.

After all, what could be more effective at inducing sleep than a bit of exercise?