Chapter 5
The medical staff arrived quickly and stopped the bleeding in record time.
Matthew stood by, both frantic and furious. “Vivian, you’re beyond saving”
He left after the doctor finished bandaging me up, throwing that one sentence behind him.
Samuel poured a glass of water and brought it to my lips. “Drink some. Your lips are cracked and bleeding.”
I stared at him coldly, unmoving, silent.
He sighed. “Everyone’s siding with Celia now, even your brother. I heard Matthew used to dote on you. Haven’t you ever stopped to think why you ended up so completely alone?”
I replied. “I did. Three years ago, I should never have saved you. Should never have brought you home. And I definitely should never have treated you like family”
The relief on Samuel’s face froze instantly, his expression turning stiff and unreadable.
That night, after I’d fallen asleep, he stepped into the bathroom and took a call.
The room was quiet. I could vaguely hear pieces of their conversation.
“Did you take care of those men?” he asked.
“We did. Mr. Hartley, I’m sorry. I didn’t expect them to smear something like that on Vivian’s phone. We’ve already dealt with their tongues physically, someone replied.
Samuel nodded, satisfied.
“Mr. Hartley, we investigated further. Vivian wasn’t lying. It was Ms. Celia Sinclair who provoked her first. She smashed. Vivian’s mother’s urn, then taunted her, saying if Vivian had the guts, she should go ahead and break her hands. Ms. Celia. Sinclair knows you will retaliate like crazy,” the man added.
The voice hesitated, “Mr. Hartley, you really did blame the wrong person.”
The truth had always been easy to uncover.
I couldn’t help wondering what Samuel would do now.
“I like her. So she gets to do whatever she wants,” he said simply, then paused. “As for everyone else-
He didn’t finish the sentence.
But he didn’t need to. I already understood. If Celia killed someone, he’d cover it up for her without blinking.
And I? I was one of the “everyone else.”
That was Samuel’s stance. Even if Celia ended up killing me one day, he’d probably still praise her for knowing how to protect herself.
I shut my eyes tightly. In the end, I’d gambled everything on the wrong person.
When he came back from his call, he tucked the blanket gently around me.
His movements were soft and careful. But there wasn’t a single ripple left in my heart.
The next morning, I woke my voice assistant. “Call Lucas.”
The dialing tone rang through the room.
Samuel had just returned with breakfast. When he saw the call screen, something seemed to hit him all at once.
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“That day, you could’ve used voice command to call for help,” he muttered.
I looked up at him. “And then what?”
Samuel froze.
“Then, like before, I’d be forced to apologize to the person who smashed my mother’s urn?” I said calmly. “No thanks. I’d rather die.”
Samuel flinched, stunned into silence.
He suddenly remembered what the EMT had said that day. “If you’d arrived even a minute later, there would’ve been no saving her.”
That one sentence haunted him like a curse. Even now, he didn’t dare close his eyes.
His fists clenched, then slowly relaxed.
The call finally connected.
JLucas,” I said, “help me hire a bodyguard.”
Samuel’s nerves snapped again, yanked hard by my words. “You said I was the only bodyguard you’d ever need.”
The look in his eyes was the fury of someone who felt betrayed, abandoned. The same rage had burned in him the day his own mother left him.
Sheb
had sworn she loved him. But no matter how much he cried, begged on his knees, she still walked away.
His emotions surged like a violent storm
But I remained calm. “Samuel, isn’t this what you’ve always wanted? To leave! Well, I’m setting you free. Now you can go be with Celia. I’m sure she’ll welcome you with open arms”
His face turned instantly ashen. “There’s still one month left in our three–year contract.
That was the part that made it laughable. It was what he’d always wanted–freedom. But now that I was letting him go, he was the one who seemed unwilling
What a disgusting man.
I didn’t care. Even saying one more word to him felt exhausting
“Whatever. Stay if you want,” I said, voice flat.
Samuel stood there, stunned.
His expression, already cold and distant, darkened further into a stormy chill.
Not long after, Lucas Grant showed up with his people.
Lucas was my lifelong nemesis. But ironically, he was also the only one I trusted not to stab me in the back.
He leaned casually against the doorframe, giving me a slow once–over, then shifted his eyes to Samuel.
The smug amusement in his face was practically glowing
“You wanna gloat?” I asked, deadpan. “I’ll give you three minutes.”
Lucas and I had been butting heads since kindergarten. We knew each other too well.
But this time, he didn’t even crack a joke. With a flick of his hand, three bodyguards stepped into the room.
All of them were taller than Samuel, broader, too, and annoyingly good–looking.
I picked one at random. Then I had Lucas help me hire a female caregiver to assist me with washing and dressing until I could
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move my limbs again.
I stayed in the hospital for over ten days before finally being discharged.
The first thing I did when I got home was reassign all the rooms.
The caregiver and the new bodyguard took the second floor. Samuel moved into the guest room on the first floor
When he carried his things downstairs, his expression was unreadable–part wounded, part sulking
He muttered, “You and Lucas are enemies. Who knows if the people he sent can be trusted?”
I smiled faintly, “Even if they can’t be trusted, at least they didn’t just stand there watching while my enemy humiliated me. And they definitely didn’t threaten me to apologize to the person who destroyed my mother’s ashes while I was fighting for my life.”
Samuel remained silent.
AD
