Chapter 9

"Quinn, are you alright?" Steven rushed over to help her up.

"I'm fine. Is Zane hurt? As long as he's okay, that's all that matters." Quinn's voice trembled with pain.

"You can't just worry about him when you're this badly injured! I'm taking you to the hospital!" Without waiting for a response, Steven scooped Quinn up in his arms and left.

Zane broke into a small jog to keep up, never once looking back.

Celine watched the scene unfold with a strange sense of loss. She couldn't quite tell if what she felt was sadness or relief, but one thing was certain—there wasn't an ounce of reluctance left in her.

She'd wanted to give Zane one last proper birthday.

"Let me take you to the hospital to get that bandaged up." Evelyn walked over, clearly unsure what else to say.

She'd seen everything clearly. When Steven let go of Celine, he hadn't even checked to see if she could stand on her own. The broken glass scattered around Celine's feet was far worse than what Quinn had stepped on.

If Celine hadn't reacted quickly enough to steady herself, she'd be the one lying in a pool of blood right now.

Celine snapped out of her thoughts and glanced down at her ankles. Blood had soaked through the hem of her dress. A smile of relief spread across her face.

"I can go by myself. Are you planning to keep me here until midnight?"

Seeing that her mind was made up, Evelyn said nothing more. She handed Celine an envelope. "Your ticket and documents are inside."

Celine took it, nodded, and turned to leave without looking back. Steven had carried Quinn to the banquet hall entrance when his steps suddenly faltered. For reasons he couldn't explain, he turned to look back.

He caught sight of Celine heading toward another exit. An uncomfortable feeling twisted in his chest, like something precious was slipping through his fingers.

"Zane, go…"

Steven looked down, intending to tell Zane to go apologize to Celine. Zane had been way out of line tonight.

But before he could finish the sentence, Quinn's head lolled to the side in his arms. She'd passed out.

Steven didn't dare waste another second. He bolted toward the parking lot.

Celine stopped by a pharmacy to treat the cuts on her feet. The clerk watched her and finally spoke up, "Miss, it looks like there might be glass fragments still stuck in those wounds. You should really go to the hospital and have them cleaned out properly."

"It's fine."

Celine didn't want to spend another moment in this city. She disinfected the cuts haphazardly, slapped on some bandages, and caught a cab straight to the airport.

Sitting in the back seat, she watched the scenery rush past the window. The towering skyscrapers and bright lights gradually disappeared from view.

Once they got onto the elevated highway, Celine rolled down the window, pulled the ring off her finger, and tossed it out without hesitation.