Chapter 12
“Scarlett,” Sebastian said.
The moment those words left his mouth, the assistant slammed the brakes. The tires screeched, jolting the car and leaving skid marks on the asphalt.
“S-Sorry, Mr. Reed!” the assistant stammered, cold sweat running down his back.
To his surprise, Sebastian didn’t lose his temper.
Instead, he simply looked up, eyes sharp behind his glasses. “That answer shocked you that much?”
The assistant gripped the steering wheel, hands slightly shaking. Shocked wasn’t the word-his entire worldview had just
imploded.
But all he managed was a diplomatic murmur, “I just thought… you treated Miss Whitmore better. More gently, more…
deliberately.”
Sebastian leaned back into the leather seat, long fingers pressing against his temple.
“That’s because she saved my life.”
The city lights outside painted his face in a wash of gold and shadow. For once, those usually impenetrable eyes flickered
with something closer to fatigue.
He closed his eyes. And memories came rushing back.
In high school, he was famously untouchable-the campus ice prince. Every day, his locker overflowed with love notes.
Girls would “accidentally” run into him in hallways.
Once, a girl even spelled out “I love you” in roses beneath the classroom windows.
“Maybe you should pretend to be into someone,” the student council president once suggested. “Give the rest a clue to
back off.”
Sebastian thought it made sense.
But who?
Then he saw her. Lily Whitmore. Feeding a stray cat under a tree, the sun glinting off her white school uniform. She
looked… pure. Fragile. Untouched.
She’d do.
From that day on, he singled her out-
Only took water from her hand.
Only looked toward her during assemblies.
Did nothing to stop the rumors the school began to spread.
It worked. The confessions stopped.
On graduation day, she asked to meet at a café.
Chapter 12
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As they crossed the street, a car came flying toward them.
In a flash, Lily shoved him aside.
BANG.
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He watched her body hit the hood and crumple like a rag doll.
Later, in a hospital bed, pale and weak, she whispered, “I don’t regret it… Sebastian.”
Doctors said her internal injuries were severe. She’d need long-term care overseas.
Out of guilt, he had granted nearly all her requests over the years.
The only decision he didn’t regret-was taking Scarlett under his wing. That had been Lily’s idea too. And it had given
him… her.
He smiled slightly at the memory.
He still remembered the first time he saw Scarlett Shaw.
She barged into the top floor of Reed Capital, a flash of red silk.
“Quite the power play, Mr. Reed,” she said from the doorway, lips curved. “You kept me waiting thirty minutes.”
Sunlight streamed through the floor-to-ceiling windows, outlining her in gold. She looked like fire. Wild. Uncontainable.
She burned her way into his black-and-white world before he even knew what hit him.
On the surface, he was calm. Inside, his heartbeat stuttered.
Then came the chaos.
Salt in his coffee. Paper airplanes made from confidential documents. Strolling past his meetings in lingerie like it was her runway. He handled every stunt like a chess move. And slowly, she became his favorite game.
He remembered the time she drugged his coffee. He knew. From the start. And drank it anyway.
When the effects hit, he got exactly what he wanted-
The feisty little kitten pinned beneath him on his desk.
“You bastard!” she’d snapped, eyes brimming with rage.
“Yes,” he growled, biting her ear. “Didn’t the princess want to play? I’m all in.”
But he never told her he loved her. Even when he couldn’t keep his hands off her.
her affection was but a shallow stream, while his own ran like a buried ocean.
And if he told her… if she believed she had his heart, she might grow reckless. Or worse-she might leave when she got
bored.
“Sir, we’ve arrived.”
The assistant’s voice snapped him back. Sebastian looked out the window. They were parked at the private jet terminal.
He boarded the plane, but didn’t open his laptop or look at any documents. Instead, he kept thinking of Scarlett.
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How she cried into his neck that night he carried her barefoot down the street.
How she pretended not to care, yet always left warm water by his bed when his stomach hurt.
How she threw herself into his arms in that red dress every time he came home from a trip.
His throat tightened.
For the first time, he understood what it meant to ache to go home.
The next evening, his flight landed.
Sebastian descended the jet stairs, his eyes scanning the crowd without even thinking.
In the past, Scarlett would always be there-
Wearing a red dress.
Waving from afar.
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Running into his arms like a hurricane of warmth and perfume.
“Sebastian! I missed you!”
He would pull her into the car before they even got out of the parking lot, too hungry to wait. Every time, she’d end up
breathless, legs trembling, whispering for mercy.
“Sebastian!”
A familiar voice called out.
His lips curled. He turned with a half-smile-
And froze.
