Lin Cuo still stood before her, his right hand pressed to his chest, wearing an expression of such profound personal grievance that he seemed to want the whole world to give him justice.
Leila stared at his face for a while, still feeling that something was wrong. Her core suddenly tightened, and she whipped her right leg out from beneath the restraint chair, driving the toe of her black knee-high boot straight toward Lin Cuo's chin with the precision of years of aikido training. Had she been in good condition, that kick would have been enough to send him back into Takemi Tae's arms.
But days of dehydration, sleeplessness, and meager food had drained too much strength from her body.
Just as her leg reached its highest point, her muscles trembled involuntarily, slowing her a fraction.
Lin Cuo instinctively leaned back and caught her ankle with his right hand.
The boot on Leila's foot had already loosened slightly from her weight loss. Its heel struck the edge of the table hard, and the entire boot slipped off, landing by the wall a few steps away. All Lin Cuo held now was her ankle through a black stocking, cold and taut, still straining with anger.
An extremely inappropriate thought had barely surfaced in his mind before he swiftly strangled it.
This is evidence they'll use to tack another charge onto me.
"Let me make one thing clear," Lin Cuo said earnestly, holding her ankle. "This happened because you haven't eaten properly for days, and you're in terrible physical condition."
"Let go."
Leila's voice was quiet.
Lin Cuo was just about to release her when Leila first hooked her ankle inward and turned her knee with it. Using his grip on her ankle, she pulled directly on his wrist and shoulder. His