Chapter 6

When intimidation didn’t work, Xena quickly changed tactics.

She let out a weary sigh.

“We’re sisters. She’s always had a habit of sleeping around. Now she’s married, and she still went out and got pregnant by another man. No one even knows who the father is.”

“Xena, how can you say something like that about your own sister?”

Charlotte stared at her in bitter disbelief.

This was her own sister, openly spreading disgusting lies about her in front of everyone.

Xena gave a cold laugh.

“What part of that was a lie? You got pregnant by some random man, didn’t you?”

Charlotte’s face grew even paler.

Her lashes trembled as she lowered her eyes.

Then Zac’s cold, indifferent voice came from above her.

“What does any of that have to do with me?”

Xena’s eyes widened.

“You... you don’t care?”

Wasn’t he Charlotte’s lover?

“Why would I?”

Zac frowned, clearly running out of patience.

Xena gritted her teeth and turned to the bodyguards.

“Get Charlotte away from him. She’s not leaving!”

A faint smile tugged at Zac’s lips, but there was no warmth in his eyes.

“That’s a first. No one’s ever had the nerve to provoke me like this.”

“Mr... Mr. Jenkins?”

A startled voice came from nearby.

It was Mr. Lee, the CEO of one of Ford Corporation’s business partners. He had been held up earlier and was one of the few guests who hadn’t left yet.

The moment he recognized Zac, he was so stunned he nearly stumbled over his words.

He had seen Zac once before during a business trip to Kingsley City.

At the time, Mr. Lee had been passing a major government building when he happened to see Zac step out of a car.

Zac had been impeccably dressed in a formal dark suit, with a small red insignia pinned to his lapel.

Beside him was an imposing elderly man whom Zac was carefully escorting into the building, accompanied by aides and security personnel.

Curious, Mr. Lee had asked one of his associates who Zac was.

That was when he learned that Zac Jenkins came from the Jenkins family, one of the four most powerful families in Kingsley City.

The Jenkins family had been part of the country’s political elite for three generations.

Their wealth alone was staggering, but money wasn’t what made people afraid to cross them.

It was the power and connections behind the Jenkins name.

They were the kind of family even the rich and powerful thought twice about offending.

“Mr. Lee, you know him?”

Xena caught the change in Mr. Lee’s voice.

Her expression stiffened, though she quickly forced a smile.

Mr. Lee opened his mouth to answer.

But one look at Zac made him instinctively take a step back.

“N-No. I don’t know him.”

“Are you sure?”

Xena eyed him suspiciously.

“I...”

“He’s my doctor.”

Charlotte cut him off and looked at Xena with a mocking smile.

“What’s wrong? Afraid you might offend someone important?”

Whatever Zac’s background was, Charlotte didn’t want to drag him any further into her mess.

Xena scoffed.

“Ford Corporation is worth billions. No one in this city would dare go against Bruce.”

She folded her arms and looked at Zac, deliberately provoking him.

“So what exactly is Charlotte to you? Is she really worth making an enemy of Ford Corporation?”

“She...”

Zac looked down at Charlotte’s pale face, then at the way she kept one hand over her stomach.

His voice was low when he answered.

“She’s my patient.”

“Your patient? Please. The way you’re acting, she’s obviously your...”

“Move.”

The rest of the insult died on Xena’s lips.

Zac’s expression barely changed, but the icy look in his eyes sent a chill down her spine.

She had no doubt that if she tried to stop him again, she wouldn’t like what happened next.

Just who the hell was this man?

Zac didn’t give anyone else another glance.

He simply carried Charlotte out of the ballroom.

Charlotte was already slipping in and out of consciousness.

If this went on much longer, it wouldn’t just be the baby in danger. Her own life would be at risk too.

A faint moan escaped her.

The warmth of Zac’s arms and the slight jostling as he carried her sent another wave of pain through her.

Now that she had finally let herself relax, the cramps in her abdomen grew worse with each passing moment. Her consciousness began to fade again.

Just before everything went black, she used the last of her strength to clutch Zac’s collar.

“Please... don’t take me to the hospital.”

The words had barely left her lips when her head fell against his chest.

She passed out in his arms, her fingers slowly slipping from his shirt.

As her hand fell away, a faint, familiar scent drifted toward him.

Zac’s arms stiffened.

That scent.

He looked down at Charlotte’s pale, unconscious face, his brow tightening slightly.

“Dr. Jenkins?”

His assistant had been waiting outside the ballroom and now looked to him for instructions.

Zac was silent for a few seconds.

His gaze lingered on Charlotte’s pale face, his dark eyes unreadable.

Fine.

He had promised to help her.

“Get the car. We’re going back to Summit Estate.”

“Yes, sir.”

Xena watched Zac carry Charlotte away, her face twisting with rage.

“Xena, I just saw some man carrying that brat away. What happened?”

Susan had finished seeing the guests out and hurried back.

She had wanted to stop them herself, but in the end, she hadn’t dared.

Something about that man had made her too nervous to approach him.

Xena’s expression darkened.

With no one else left in the ballroom, she didn’t bother pretending anymore.

“That bitch did it on purpose!” she spat. “She’s been stealing the spotlight from me our entire lives. I was this close to ruining her for good today, and then some Dr. Jenkins came out of nowhere and saved her. Why is she always so damn lucky?”

“Don’t make yourself sick over some bastard.”

Susan patted Xena’s back affectionately.

“She’s just some unwanted orphan we took in. How could she ever compare to my precious daughter? If you hadn’t gotten pregnant back then, she never would’ve had the chance to marry Bruce and hold your place as Mrs. Ford until you came back.”

That was right.

If Xena hadn’t gotten pregnant unexpectedly back then, she never would’ve let Charlotte have Bruce in the first place.

But when she remembered the way Bruce had looked at Charlotte earlier, her expression twisted again.

Charlotte was nothing more than a pawn their parents had adopted from an orphanage.

They had taken her in partly for the sake of the family business and partly so Xena, their biological daughter, could grow up without having to sacrifice anything. Charlotte had always been meant to be married off someday for the family’s benefit.

So why did it seem like Charlotte always got the better end of everything?

Xena had been so close to destroying her today.

And somehow, Charlotte had gotten away again.

She wasn’t going to let that happen.

Xena pulled out her phone and called Bruce.

The moment he answered, tears filled her eyes.

“Bruce, I was going to take Lottie to the hospital, but some man suddenly showed up and carried her away. And he said... he said...”

“What did he say?”

Bruce’s voice turned cold.

Xena bit her lip.

“He said Lottie was his woman. Bruce, do you think maybe she never went to Mr. Lee’s room that night? What if she was with that man instead?”

Bang!

A loud crash came through the phone.

Then the call went dead.

A slow smile curled across Xena’s lips.

Fine.

If she couldn’t destroy Charlotte all at once, she’d take her time.