Sebastian’s POVHe’s got me.How am I supposed to make such a choice?!It doesn’t matter who I name because he just wants to drag me into the hell he is living in -- whose sky and soil are made of guilt and regret of a loved one gone forever. Whichever of them I choose, I leave here today with the blood of one of them on my hands.And I can’t let either of them die, not on my watch.Jim is preparing the air cushion downstairs as we speak. His men surround us in the dark corners, and they can take Liam Ryan down any second. But not when he has his hands on their chairs. It’s too dangerous. One wrong move and it’s three lives over the edge.I came here, ready to give everything, but I didn’t think he was so far beyond reach that only human lives seemed to be able to feed the wrath in his chest.What do I do?“Name your choice, Sebastian Knight,” Liam Ryan curves his lips into a devil smirk, pressing the back of the chairs, leaving them sitting on only the two hind legs.Scar lets out a
Scarlett’s POVEverything happened too fast.I only closed my eyes for a second at Sebastian’s choice, and the next second he was on the floor, holding on to Ava’s chair with her dangling in the air. I didn’t see what knocked Liam Ryan over. I just know the moment he turns to Sebastian, he suddenly stumbles to the side, and the next thing I feel is a hard kick on my chair.This is it.The horrifying fear of the loss of gravity kicks in, and I can’t help bursting into shouting to let the burning fear out of my chest.In that split second, I don’t even feel hatred. He loves her, and he chose her. I couldn’t expect more than that. At that moment all I feel is an overwhealming of sorrow, the sorrow of knowing that he would find out about his baby dying with me when I hit the ground.Would he be sad over that innocent little one? Or would he not be moved at all?Either way, it’s sad, and that sadness overtook any emotion I could have, and I cried, under the claw of fear.But I only fell fo
Scarlett’s POVWarmth calms.I never understood why in movies the victims are all given an orange blanket even if they aren’t wet. Now I know. At the moment of shock, a blanket can work magic, and calm your jittery nerves.But after calmness, embarrassment hits.I hug myself, sitting in the back of the ambulance, feeling my ears burn.What did I just do?!I cried and snuggled in the arms of a basically stranger! Who is going to be my boss that I would meet on a daily basis?Can I quit now...?“Here,”A warm cup touches my cheek lightly, and I look up startled, only to see Adrian’s chuckle. In his hand a small cup of hot milk.How did he even get milk here?Mumbling thanks, I take the milk from him and lower my eyes, having no courage to look at him. But I didn’t miss the slight tremble of his arms.“Sorry about that,” I land my eyes on his shivering hand, “I should have walked down on my own.”Adrian raises his own hand, staring at it for a second before he sighs with a self-mocking l
Scarlett’s POVI can’t.Even if I had to give the ambulance to Ava, I wouldn’t go with her.I can’t let them know about the baby, not after this. Not when he would choose Ava’s life over mine. Not when I’m still under the paw of Jack Fuller. God knows what horrible plan he would have for my baby -- who would be highly likely to share my rare blood type.They can never know the baby’s existence.“I have called the ambulance already, Jack,” Sebastian turns to Jack Fuller, “And Ava’s wound has stopped bleeding. She is not in danger.”“So?! Ava’s injured! She has to go to the hospital anyway!” Jack Fuller grunts in frustration, “Am I asking too much from her now, just to fucking share an ambulance?! It’s the least to do for anyone who has any decency!”Somehow I come off as the bad guys. Always. In their eyes.“I think the basic decency is to at least say ‘please’ when you are asking for a favor,” I stand up coldly, looking Jack Fuller right in the eyes, “instead of acting as if the whole
Scarlett’s POVI wouldn’t even know that he didn’t sign the papers if the policeman hadn’t found the folder in Liam Ryan’s belongings and checked the content.Sebastian raises his hand, and I hand it over, only to notice that both our hands are shaking visibly.“Are you alright?” Sebastian takes my arm instead of the folder, his other hand holding my shoulder, “You are freezing! Did you take the hot cocoa--?”His eyes land on the milk beside me. I only had a few sips.“I haven’t had anything for more than a day, what did you expect?” I push him away, sitting down at the back of the ambulance, seeing black spots in front of my eyes as I try to adjust to my dizzy head. I was too shocked by the near-death experience and the medical staff suggested a short rest first.Talking to Sebastian is not a rest. It boils my blood at the price of my little remained energy.“I know you are not feeling well right now, and I know you are mad at me,” After a hesitation, Sebastian says in a low voice, “
Scarlett’s POVJust great. I guess I have to meet with everyone I hate before I can get some peace.Panting in a cold sweat, my sight is gradually coming back. But seeing Ava clearly with her hanging on Sebastian’s arm, I’d rather I had just blacked out.“What are you doing here? Go back to your stretcher,” Sebastian frowns at Ava, worrisome pouring out of his eyes.“I was worried about you...” Ava puts on a wronged, innocent tone, murmuring, “I heard shouting...are you okay?”Now that her arms stopped bleeding, the queen of acting is back, too. I have never seen Ava lose her cool in front of Sebastian like that when the knife cut her, but what impresses me the most is how she can put her act back on as if that didn’t happen.Nothing matters to her more than her fragile life, yet Sebastian would take her words when she shouted she never wanted my blood.I guess she can do so because it can trick Sebastian.You can’t wake up someone who fakes to be asleep.“Can you two go and play your
Scarlett’s POVSeeing the “poor love birds” trying their best to protect each other against me, the evil dragon, makes me want to laugh at my old self for being ridiculously stupid.She stole my identity to friend MY hero, acting her whole life as someone else to stay his friend, using him to harm me in every way she could, all the way to the point she wanted me dead. He let her.And I’m the bad guy in this story?“Which part exactly, did he mean well?” I’m so mad I have to squeeze words out of my clenched teeth. I glare at the vicious snake under the lamb’s clothes, having a hard time comprehending how one can be spoiled into so evil a soul, “Let’s say that I made a deal with him to get him into our marriage, did you not gain from that deal? He got to protect you, the apple of his eye, and you get to fucking live! And has never honored his end of the deal, not even for a day! Did he mean well with that? When you two went shopping all over the world, hand in hand, showing off how much
Scarlett’s POVSebastian turns around to glance at me, and right when I’m about to make the offer, he says to Jack Fuller: “She shouldn’t have used violence, for that I apologize, on my wife’s behalf.”Huh. That’s a first.“You don’t have the right to apologize on my behalf,” I hide myself well behind Adrian, challenging Jack Fuller, “Your daughter deserved that slap and more, for luring me to be kidnapped. You two need to apologize to ME, or I WILL sue.”“Did you see? See what you are protecting?!” Jack Fuller points a shaking finger at me.Sebastian sighs at me, nailing his eyes on Adrian’s arm which I hug as if that could stop me from clinging onto it.For Sebastian to take my side against people who treat me wrongly was something beyond my wildest dream before. I try to find the sweetness or pleasure I should feel in it, but I fail. I have given too much for it, and I have wanted it for too long. It doesn’t taste as sweet now when I stopped wanting it.“Sebastian?! How could you t
In the end, Lilith told Sebastian everything she knew, didn’t get anything out of that man, AND got pushed into the small bedroom -- to avoid Scar.She didn’t notice the door on the wall behind his desk when she first went into his office. The door is small, the room smaller -- just enough for a single bed, a table and a floor mirror. Nothing more. The owner of the room didn’t put any thoughts into comfort when he was deciding the ufnction of the room.The bed is not made. Someone just used it very recently. The table is, magically, messier. On its top piled papers, folders, and notes. Whoever left them there, left them in an order that he might recognize, but no others could.Lilith dares not touch anything. Turning around twice, she ends up standing in the small space between the bed and the door, awkwardly.“Where is your honorable guest?” Scar starts firing the moment she is allowed in. Lilith gets so nervous, her breathe slows down to the lowest, too. Scar might be on fire, think
Sebastian’s words freezes Lilith. His accurate intuiation shocks, but not as much as his aggressive eyes. Looking into his eyes, Lilith knows she can’t win this fight without needing him to say those words. She has seen how tamed this man can be in front of Scar, and that gave her the illusion that he is not dangerous. Not as how any man in his position holding his kind of power should be.How wrong was she.When it comes to anyone but Scar, he is still the predator who is to be reckoned with.She frowns and tries to run, but the man wouldn’t let her open the door: “If you know that Silco might harm Scar and you hide it from me, then it’s on your hand when Scar gets hurt.”“It’s on me when I refuse to deliver Scar into YOURS hands, which are holding Ava Fuller’s filthy bloody ones?!” Lilith fights back fiercely, “Don’t make me laugh! I come here because YOU begged to make amendment, no the other way around!”The man doesn’t show it, but Lilith could see that her words sting. If there
Does she really treat Sebastian differently?Scar doesn’t like touching this question. It stings. He is like a wound on her heart that just won’t heal. Every scar he left on her remains hurting, bleeding, and corrupting nonstop, yet she just can’t seem to gouge it out.If only she could.Why is it so hard to just cut all ties with this man? However she warns herself of the danger this man poses, she keeps finding him back in her life, closer and closer.Unlike Ava who has never even apologized for what happened but basically took all the harm she did on Scar as okay, Sebastian apologizes. He puts up the genuine guilt act all the time. Doing the right thing, that’s his brand. He takes all his chances to apologize, but he still doesn’t understand--His fault is not giving Ava a key to his house. It wasn’t even falling for that simple lie when the
Scar couldn’t answer Silco’s question.What kind of a question was that?! She doesn’t treat them differently! They are all her enemies, and they all played a part in that horrifying night five years ago! When Ava bullied her, Sebastian took Ava’s side; when Ava needed her blood, Sebastian was the one plugging the tube into Scar’s wrist; when Ava tried to murder her child, HIS child, he gave Ava the key to their house! So of course she treats them differently! If Ava was a murderer, then Sebastian was just a stupid tool Ava used; if Ava wanted her dead, Sebastian only failed to protect her.So why that question?!Why SHOULD she treat them as equally evil? She doesn’t only because she is a fair person!Having a bloody battle in her mind, Scar couldn’t help but feel angry when she couldn’t pin down where the anger comes from.It was a simple question, one that she does have an answer for.So why couldn’t she?Why did she feel guilty when Silco asked that, and why did she run from that qu
Silco finally nods with a proud smile, seeing Scar had led her to where he was leading her to go: “I think that would raise our chances by a lot, princess.”Scar’s eyes beam, not at the coming win, but at the proud look from Silco.She doesn’t even realize it.Never in the first twenty years of life has she tasted what being proud of feels like, and that’s not because of a lack of trying. For a very long time, she believed so long as she worked hard, she would get the praise from Jack and Anna just like Ava. She never did.It feels amazing.While Scar is enjoying her newfound secret, forbidden satisfaction, Lilith is amazed at the closeness shared between Scar and Silco that her best friend doesn’t seem to even notice herself. Does Scar still remember that she doesn’t even know the identity of this man? Scar looks up at him like a little lamb at her shepherd.What’s with this sudden, almost-father-daughter vibe?!“So we just wait?” Scar asks Silco, “What if they don’t make a move?”“Y
“Silco!” Still in the euphoric state, Scar springs off the sofa, demanding the man like a little girl, “You knew him?! Elijah Green? Did you know what a weirdo he was?! Who tells people that they look like their dead friend on the first time they meet?! Why on earth did you make me go to that horrible party?! You owe me an explanation!”Silco lets out a smirk, “Dead...friend? Interesting...” He laughs at her pout, rubbing her hair as he leads her back to the sofa: “The party was horrible? Then why did I hear that the Fuller’s mother-daughter pair put on quite a show to entertain?”Well, it WAS quite enjoyable when they panicked as their lies spilled all over the floor before Scar picked it up for them.Scar sticks her tongue out.“Sure, she begged me for mercy,” Scar shrugs, throwing herself back into the sofa with a loud sigh, “but they only wanted to keep up their lies in front of the Green Lady. I have been calling her about our deal and she hasn’t picked up yet. Pretty sure I got
“I have heard a lot about you,” Elijah Green grins at Scar, giving a meaningful glance in the Green Lady’s direction.The Fullers are pasting around the Green Lady again, like two buzzing flies that would always come back. Looking over, Scar couldn’t help but let out a snort, “So have I.” She says with a cold voice, “Is that what this conversation is for?”If he is here to fight for Ava, too. Scar frowns. She swears to God! She would—“I think they are lying to mom,” Elijah Green answers tamely, as if he doesn’t even hear the sarcasm in Scar’s tone. In Scar’s surprised look, the man laughs like a marshmallow, with a childish, mischievous shade in there, “Anyone who looks so much alike my dear -- hmm -- friend, couldn’t be a bully.”Every time he says that, he adds a pause in there as if it originally wasn’t a “friend”, but something else there. Weird. Scar thinks.“...but I bet you are fierce, no? I bet you are kind to people, but take the stand if needed,” Elijah Green is still going
Sebastian is afraid.Never in his life has he been so. How could he not? He is in the face of his final judgement. He only got through the past five years lying to himself that Scar hated him because Alice died, when he managed to save Alice. That’s his one shred of hope. That some day, when he could tell Scar that, all will be forgiven and forgotten.But that’s precisely why he dared not touch it. Because deep down, he knows that the answer is likely to be no.He just doesn’t know how to survive that answer. If his actions would never get forgiveness from the one person he can’t live without. Then what?It takes him all his willpower to force his eyes up to meet Scar’s. His throat so dry that it starts hurting. He grips a fist, hides it in his pocket with his whole body stiff like a rock.There is storm in Scar’s eyes.There is anger, of course. Anger for all that has happened. Anger for all his stupid mistreatment and self-righteousness. Anger for all the hurt he used to meet her lo
In so many years to come, Sebastian would be grateful that Scar caved, again.He could see the struggle in her eyes, and the familiar fire that would have driven her to call off the deal. But for several long seconds, she doesn’t say anything.He takes that as an “in” and drags her away.He is not sure what he would have done if Scar chose Scott. It’s not like he could really keep her away from the lead of her mom’s case. He has investigated for so many years, just so he could give her what she wants when she wants it.Just not Scott.Or any other men.“I didn’t know you were interested in eye candy,” Sebastian squeezes Scar's hand punishingly when he notices that long after they arrived at the small table across the room from Scott, she is still gazing in that direction.Scar frowns at his sting. What’s his problem?? Ever since she enter Ava’s proud event, he has been a bother none stop. Just because he has got something that she’s interested, he thought he could walk over her??“I g