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Chapter 6
In that moment, Clarisse’s entire world shattered.
Amid the deafening cheers inside the private room, she stumbled into the restroom, turned on the faucet, and splashed her face with freezing water, but the cold couldn’t extinguish the burning pain in her chest.
After a long while, she looked up at her reflection in the mirror. The girl staring back was breathtakingly beautiful, yet utterly, hopelessly defeated.
When Clarisse stepped out of the restroom, the hallway lights were dim.
She had just turned the corner when three or four drunk men blocked her path.
“Hey, gorgeous, would you mind giving me your contact, like WhatsApp?” The one in front reeked of alcohol, reaching out to touch her
face.
“Get lost!” Clarisse jerked back, her spine slamming against the cold wall.
“Quit pretending to be pure,” another man sneered, grabbing her wrist. “Since you dress like that, aren’t you just asking to be played with?”
As she struggled, her gaze darted past the group, and locked eyes with Leopold, who was standing at the entrance of the private room.
She saw he frowned slightly and stepped forward, but just then, Grace’s cry came from behind him. “Ouch!”
“What happened?” Leopold immediately turned around.
“I think I twisted my ankle…” Grace’s eyes shimmered with tears. “I’m fine, really. You should go help Clarisse.”
But Leopold knelt down to examine her foot instead. “Don’t worry. She can handle herself.”
Those words pierced through Clarisse like a knife.
One of the punk’s filthy hands was already on her waist, his disgusting breath reeking of alcohol, hot on her face. “Come on, baby, let’s
have some fun…”
Clarisse grabbed a wine bottle from the display table in the hallway and smashed it against the wall with a loud crack!
“If you don’t want to die get the hell away from me!”
Her hand was cut by the glass shards and blood dripped steadily down her fingers.
Taking advantage of their stunned silence, she turned and walked away quickly..
When the party finally ended, Clarisse didn’t want to get in Leopold’s car. She stood alone by the curb, waiting for a taxi.
Rain was falling. Grace walked over holding an umbrella, her high heels clicking through puddles.
“Clarisse, you don’t have a ride? I can take you home,” she offered softly.
Clarisse’s gaze fell on the car key to the latest model sports car in Grace’s hand. A sudden smile tugged at her lips.
Alpha Vexley was really generous, buying such an expensive car for a stepdaughter,
“No need.” Clarisse’s red lips curled into a radiant smile. “Riding in the mistress’s daughter’s car just feels filthy to me.”
Grace’s expression darkened instantly. She finally dropped the act and grabbed Clarisse’s wrist. “Clarisse! Do you dare to say that again?”
“Will repeating it change the fact that you’re still a mistress’s daughter? Now let go of me.”
As they argued, a harsh beam of headlights suddenly lit up the street.
Clarisse turned her head, just in time to see a car skidding out of control, speeding toward them.
Chapter 6
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And in that split–second, she saw Leopold rush forward and pull Grace into his arms, shielding her with his body.
A split second later, with the sound of “Bang“, the car struck Clarisse and sent her crashing to the ground.
She lay there in a pool of blood, her vision blurring at the edges.
The last thing she saw was Leopold holding Grace protectively in his arms.
And then, memories came flooding in.
The first time she met him, his eyes behind those gold–rimmed glasses were cold, like he was looking at some unruly clown.
When they used to argue, she once dumped salt into his coffee, he drank it without flinching.
The first time he pinned her to his desk, she bit his shoulder so hard it bled.
Later, she loved him more and more that she spent the whole day decorating the wolf castle on his birthday, planning a proposal, only to end up reading gossip articles about him and Grace.
She remembered that night she walked five kilometers alone, crying, to visit her mother’s grave. Her heels had rubbed her feet raw and bleeding from blisters.
It was Leopold who found her, silently took off her shoes, and carried her home, one hand holding the heels, the other supporting her
back.
Her tears had soaked into his neck. And in that moment, she had thought, If I could walk the rest of my life like this, maybe that wouldn’t be so bad.
After her mother passed, finally someone held her hand and took her home again.
But in the end, every memory blurred and melted into the image of Leopold cradling Grace gently in his arms.
Chapter 6
