The Unforgivable Sin

The night of our engagement party, my fiancée, Julie, was dragged into the women's restroom and raped.
I heard everything from the men's room next door.
Julie’s sobs were a symphony of despair, her cries for help sharp enough to pierce my eardrums.
When I finally walked out, I saw him. The man who did it, calmly zipping up his pants and walking away with a look of sickening satisfaction on his face.
After that night, something in Julie broke. Her mind fractured, and she was lost in a world of nonsensical whispers.
Half a month later, the doctors gave up. There was no improvement, no effective treatment.
And I told Julie's family I was calling off the engagement.
In the hospital room, her brother’s fist connected with my jaw.
Leo’s eyes were wild, blazing with a murderous light as he grabbed me by the collar. “You animal. Are you even human? My sister was raped, she’s broken, and you… you’re not out there hunting down the bastard who did this to her. You’re running away. You’re abandoning her. What kind of a man are you?”
…
His shouts were deafening, spittle flying onto my face.
I didn’t say a word in my defense. I just stood there, as if I accepted every accusation.
“My daughter has been a kind, gentle soul her whole life,” Julie’s mother, Mrs. Miller, sobbed, her words choked with tears. “Out of all the men in the world, she chose you. How could you let her suffer like this?”
Her gaze flickered to her daughter, lying vacant and still on the hospital bed, and the grief in her eyes ignited into pure rage. She strode forward and slapped me hard across the face, twice. CRACK. CRACK.
“Ethan,” she hissed, “if you have any shred of a man left in you, you will find the monster who did this to our Julie.”
Looking at her tear-streaked face, I just slowly shook my head.
“I’m calling off the engagement.”
In an instant, Leo’s hands were around my neck, squeezing. “You piece of shit! You think you can just throw my sister away?”
Mrs. Miller pointed a trembling finger at me. “Julie always said she was the luckiest girl in the world. She said she’d found a man who loved her as much as her family did. Is this your love?”
I glanced at Julie on the bed, my expression a cold, indifferent mask. “Ma’am, what happened to Julie is a tragedy, and my heart breaks for her. But it happened. We have to accept reality.”
“What reality is that?” Leo’s grip tightened. “The reality that you think she’s dirty now? Is that why you’re leaving her? Is that it?” he roared, his voice like thunder.
His eyes burned with a hatred so intense, it felt like he wanted to devour me whole.
Mrs. Miller stared at me, her body rigid. When I gave a slight, almost imperceptible nod, something inside her snapped. She lunged at me, clawing and scratching like a wild animal.
I instinctively tried to pull back, but Leo’s hands were still locked around my throat. I couldn’t move.
Her nails raked across my face, leaving searing trails of pain. But the agony on my skin was nothing compared to the crushing weight in my chest.
She didn't stop until my face was a bloody mess.
A nurse rushed in, her eyes wide with alarm. “Sir, should I call security? Should I call the police?”
Leo sneered, “Yeah, you animal. You gonna call the cops on us?”
I looked at the nurse and weakly shook my head.
“But you’re bleeding so much…”
“Get the hell out of here!” Leo bellowed. The nurse scurried away.
Just then, the door opened again. Mr. Miller walked in, his face a thundercloud.
“Dad, this son of a bitch is calling off the engagement with Julie!” Leo immediately tattled. “He thinks she’s tainted goods, so he’s dumping her!”
Without a word, Mr. Miller grabbed a wooden chair, lifted it high, and brought it down across my back with ferocious force.
The impact sent me crashing to the floor, my entire body convulsing in pain.
“AH!”
A terrified scream came from the bed. It was Julie.
“Honey, it’s okay, don’t be scared,” Mrs. Miller rushed to her side, holding her tight.
“Mom… w-why is he here?” Julie pointed at me, her eyes filled with panic and terror.
Her mother misunderstood. “Your father is teaching this scum a lesson for what he’s doing to you, darling!”
Mr. Miller lifted the chair again, ready to strike. I was in too much pain to even lift my head, completely powerless to defend myself.
“Don’t…” Julie cried out, her voice sharp.
But the chair was already falling.
CRASH!
The solid wood shattered on impact. I felt a warm, metallic taste fill my mouth as I coughed up blood.
“Dad, don’t hit my fiancé!” Julie screamed, her eyes red with tears.
“He is not your fiancé!” Mr. Miller spat, his voice cold as ice. He walked over, squatted down, and grabbed my collar, his gaze a bottomless abyss.
“Do you know why I’m hitting you?”
I couldn’t speak. The pain was making me tremble uncontrollably.
“It’s not because you’re calling off the engagement. And it’s not because you’re abandoning my daughter. It’s because… you’re not human.”
He paused, letting the words hang in the air.
“I did some checking,” he continued, his voice low and menacing. “On the night of the party. When Julie was being attacked… you were in the men’s room. The hotel janitor saw you.”
His words landed like stones.
“In other words, you almost certainly saw the man who raped Julie.”
“Is… is that true?” Mrs. Miller whispered, rushing to her husband’s side. “He saw him?”
“Yes,” Mr. Miller said with absolute certainty. “He had to have seen him.” He turned his chilling gaze back to me. “So why did you tell the police you saw nothing?”
Mrs. Miller grabbed a fistful of my hair, her face twisted with fury. “It must have been someone we know,” Mr. Miller theorized, his voice dropping to a cold whisper. “Someone he recognized. Someone he’s too scared to cross. So he kept his mouth shut. To avoid retaliation.”
“Is that it?” Mrs. Miller shrieked into my ear.
My body was a canvas of agony, and speaking was a monumental effort. But through the pain, I forced the words out.
“I… didn’t see… anyone.”
“You’re lying!” Mr. Miller’s eyes were glacial. “The janitor said she saw you come out of the restroom. And another man left, going in the opposite direction. You one hundred percent saw the bastard! Why won’t you say who it was?”
Before I could answer, Leo hauled me to my feet. Without a single question, he started pounding his fists into my face, again and again.
Just as the world was beginning to fade to black, he finally stopped, roaring in my ear.
“Tell us, you piece of shit! Who was it?”
When I remained silent, his rage exploded. “You won’t talk, huh? Fine!”
The next thing I knew, his hands were back on my throat, squeezing with every ounce of his strength. This wasn't a threat anymore. He was actually trying to kill me. The world began to tunnel, the air disappearing from my lungs.
“I want to fly!”
At that critical moment, Julie’s strange words cut through the violence.
The Millers turned. Their blood ran cold.
Somehow, Julie had gotten out of bed and was now perched on the windowsill, her upper body already leaning out into the open air.
“Julie!”
“Honey!”
Their faces went white with terror. They scrambled to pull her back inside.
In that moment of distraction, I found my chance. Ignoring the fire in my lungs and the agony in my body, I staggered out of the room and escaped.
My parents came to the hospital to see me that afternoon. When they heard that I had likely seen the attacker and refused to identify him, they stared at me with utter disbelief.
“Why didn’t you tell the police who it was, Ethan?” my mother asked, her voice trembling.
“Why are you letting Julie suffer like this?” my father demanded. “Are you a man?”
Seeing the profound disappointment in their eyes, I turned my head away and said nothing.
“To have a son like you,” my father said, his voice thick with disgust, “is the greatest shame of my life.” He stood up and walked out.
My mother stayed, but the warmth was gone from her eyes. I didn't try to explain.
The next morning, Leo came to see me. He didn’t shout or hit me this time. He was trying a new tactic.
“Ethan. You didn’t report us, did you?”
I shook my head. He let out a long breath of relief.
“Look, we were… emotional yesterday. You have to understand, that’s our family he hurt. We can’t stand to see her in pain. You get that, right?”
I nodded. “I get it.”
“Good.” He sat on the edge of my bed and lit a cigarette. “You mind?”
“Go ahead.”
He took a deep drag. “My sister… she was a little lucid last night. She said she called you during the attack. She said you picked up, but you didn’t say anything. Did that happen?”
“Yes,” I confirmed. “It did.”
“Then why didn’t you tell the police?”
“I forgot.”
Leo’s brow furrowed. “Did you hear her crying for help on the phone?”
“I did.”
“Then why didn’t you go help her?”
“I’d been drinking. I thought it was some kind of joke.”
“You bastard!” Veins bulged on Leo’s forehead. He glared at me, his knuckles white. “If you had just believed her, maybe this never would have happened! You’re the one who let this happen to her!”
“I know. I failed her.”
“Since you know you failed her, I suggest you drop this talk about calling off the engagement. And when you’re healed up, you’re going to go and apologize to my parents.”
“I’ll think about it.”
“What is there to think about?!” He looked ready to lunge at me again, but my phone rang.
I answered it. “Can you recover the call recording?” I asked.
A voice on the other end replied, “It’ll be difficult, but… I think so.”
“I’ll wait for your call.”
I hung up.
“What call recording?” Leo asked, his eyes narrowed.
“The night Julie called me for help,” I explained. “I vaguely remember hearing a man’s voice. It sounded familiar. It’s a shame I was so drunk, and I didn’t have call recording active. But if I can get a recording of that call… if I can hear that man’s voice again, I think I can identify him.”
Hearing this, Leo’s entire demeanor shifted. He leaned in, his voice tight. “Can you… can you really recover it?”
I looked him straight in the eye and nodded. “My friend just told me he thinks he can.”
“That’s… that’s great,” Leo stammered, grabbing my arm, his excitement palpable. “That’s fantastic!” He looked around conspiratorially. “Ethan, you can’t tell anyone about this.”
“Why not?”
“Think about it! The guy who did this was at your engagement party. It has to be someone we know. If word gets out about this recording, he might come after you. Keep it quiet. Once we know who it is, we’ll hand him over to the police and get justice for Julie.”
I pretended to hesitate, then nodded. “Okay. My friend said it might take a day or two.”
“That’s fine. We can wait. Call me the second you have it.”
“I will.”
As I watched Leo hurry out of the room, my expression hardened into ice.
There was no damn call recording.
It was just bait.
And it looked like the fish was starting to bite. My theory was likely correct. But I still needed to prove it.

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