I was the one who put the handcuffs on him.

He tilted his head back and looked at me.

"Sweetheart… did you ever love me?"

I smiled, leaned down, and lightly patted his face.

"No."

"Enjoy your time in prison, my dear 'First-Class Merit.'"

…

The next day, the man who had taken half the city's police force six months to ambush—

escaped.

Adrian Cross was gone.

When the news came, my commendation hadn't even been approved yet.

The transport vehicle taking him to the East District detention center was bombed. One officer dead, nine injured.

The man we had spent half a year hunting—

didn't even warm the prison bench before he vanished.

And worse—

According to my colleagues' analysis—

I had spent two full years undercover at his side.

I had played with his feelings.

And at the most critical moment—

I stabbed him in the back.

Given his vindictive nature—

I would be his number one target.

"Detective Jane… you don't look too happy."

…No one smiles when their First-Class Merit runs away.

Twenty-seven hours after Adrian's escape, the police deployed fifteen drones and nearly half the city's K9 units. The entire area was locked down and searched.

Still—nothing.

He left arrogantly.

Before disappearing, he used a guard's blood to write:

I'll recapture my rose.

And that "rose"…

Everyone in the room looked at me.

"Well, even if you all stare at me like that…"

I crossed my arms and shrugged.

"It only proves Adrian Cross is hopelessly in love."

Otherwise, how could he ask me that question—

even after I had cuffed him?

Of course I never loved him.

Work was exhausting enough already.

In the patrol car, my colleague Ethan handed me a tablet.

"We traced a call he made after the escape. A public phone… at this location."

I looked down at the photo.

"Yes. That's where you used to live together."

After confirming our "relationship," I had lived there with him for quite some time.

When we entered, the matching couple slippers were still there.

As if nothing had changed.

Except—

the ashtray on the coffee table.

The cigarette ash was fresh.

"The cigarette butt's already been tested. It's his."

Ethan stepped into the bedroom and scoffed.

"He's bold. Hiding here just hours after escaping—reverse psychology, huh?"

After graduating from the academy and inheriting my father's badge number, I was assigned to go undercover.

My target: Adrian Cross.

The reason?

I looked harmless. Young. Clear-eyed.

But among my class—

I was the most ruthless.

Back then, Adrian wasn't the kingpin of the largest drug syndicate in West China.

He was just a rising second-in-command.

But he was too young.

Too sharp.

Too dangerous.

So we chose him.

I posed as a cashier in a small convenience store beneath his apartment.

Every night around eleven or midnight—

he'd come down to buy cigarettes.