Sharon tried to push past the reporters, but their encirclement felt like a wall of steel.
“Sharon, please answer my question!”
“Sharon-”
“Sharon-”
The voices buzzed around her like a swarm of wasps, piercing her ears.
And then, someone shoved her–hard.
Caught off guard, Sharon hit the ground with a painful thud.
She struggled to rise, palms stinging, knees burning, when a sudden cry pierced through the noise.
“She hit someone! Mrs. Biggs just hit someone!”
+25 BONUS
It was impossible to tell who shouted it, but the reaction was instant. Every flashbulb turned on her, bathing her in a storm of strobing lights.
The noise, the strangers‘ faces crowding in with hungry eyes, felt like masked demons closing in. She couldn’t breathe. Her lungs burned with the weight of it all.
Then came a voice from outside the chaos–low and cold, cutting through the clamor like a blade through silk.
“Step aside. All of you.”
The crowd turned in unison. A tall man stood at the edge of the group, posture straight, eyes sharp. 1
Sharon’s pupils contracted.
Xavier.
The crowd’s momentary daze gave him just enough time. He crossed over to her, noticed her twisted ankle, and his gaze darkened.
“I’m taking you to the hospital,” he said, lifting her gently from the ground.
As soon as Xavier came into view, the reporters surged again, like bees drawn to a bloom. But something about him–his presence, the cold force of it–held them back.
“Sir, what’s your relationship with Sharon? Are you aware she’s been two–timing?”
A female reporter–the same one who had been hurling insults at Sharon moments earlier–pushed forward.
Xavier turned his gaze on her, his black eyes cold and fathomless. His voice dropped, sharp enough to pierce bone.
“Are you questioning me?”
The woman froze. Her breath caught in her throat. She couldn’t utter another word.
There was something about him–his aura and the weight of his silence. Under his gaze, her heart nearly stopped.
Without another word, Xavier looked down at Sharon’s ankle. “It’s sprained. I’ll take you to the hospital now.” Before she could reply, he scooped her up.
Just then, a voice–equally low but tinged with frost–broke the silence.
“Oh? What a crowd.”
D
Chapter 29
The voice was clear and cool, like water trickling through a mountain spring.
Everyone turned toward the sound.
+25 BONUS
Bathed in moonlight, the man’s sharply defined features were dusted with a thin layer of chill. His eyes–dark, deep, like stones left to soak in ice water–rested quietly on the scene before him. His lips curled into the faintest of smiles, light and distant, full of something that was neither amusement nor kindness.
A murmur ran through the reporters. “Carter?”
Beside him stood a beautiful woman who spoke softly, “The rumors online are complete fabrications. Please, stop making things harder for Sharon.”
Only then did the reporters notice Kelly, the very woman at the center of the scandal.
They had tried for days to get to her, but her hospital had been locked down tight.
Before they could rush toward her, Carter’s gaze swept across them like a blade.
The excitement on their faces froze.
His voice came low and cold, like the final note of a requiem. “That’s enough for today.‘
11
Chapter 30
