Chapter 48
Facing the enemy
Belonging ? N?velDram/a.Org.
Can stood in front of me, his eyes looking at me with an odd sadness and pain. He had no jacket on.
His shirt was half–unbuttoned, and its sleeves were rolled up. The sleeklybed hair he had before
was now ruffled. As he stepped toward me, I could smell alcohol in his breath.
“Why are you with him, Cora?” he asked softly.
“W–what?” His painful tone caught me off–guard more than his words. “Is it because I have never told
you that I’m a Winton?” He stepped closer, his eyes tightly locked on mine.
“What are you talking about?!” I stepped back, desperately trying to keep my distance.
He sighed heavily and sat on the bed. “It was my Grandfather‘s idea. He forced me to use my Mother‘s
name, scared that I would somehow dishonor the Winton name by involving myself in scandals while
away from home. Only the professors knew that my name wasn‘t Garrod.”
“Why are you telling me this? Why now?” I took another step back and found myself leaning against the
wall.
“I should have told you who I am...” he mumbled. “Would it change anything? You dumped me,
remember?” I huffed. He pulled himself back up to his heels and lurched to grab me by my arms. “I had
to! Grandpa would have disinherited me if I wanted to marry someone who… who...”
“Someone like me?” I scoffed. “Someone without money or connections?”
He lowered his head, stroking down my arms‘ length with his fingers, making me flinch.
“Can, you need to leave,” I said, his touch nauseating me more by the second.
“Come back to me, Cora,” he whispered. “My family has already met you... We could get married…”
I pushed him away, disgust painting my face. “You‘re delusional! You cannot possibly think that I would
come back to you?!” How could he talk about getting back together, let alone marrying?! There were
days when I wished he had proposed, but it was long before I realized how abusive this person might be;
before he crushed my confidence, making me weak and vulnerable to his venom. He puffed angrily,
combing his hair with his fingers. “My brother doesn‘t know you like I do! How long have you known each
other anyway?!”
“It‘s not your business. You need to leave,” I squeezed through my teeth.
My heart pounded hectically. I was more than aware of what Can was capable of. He had always been
unpredictable and cruel, and I could only imagine what coulde to his sick head at the moment he
was drunk, frustrated, and angry. I was in his territory, in his family house… I wished that he would just
go away, but I also knew that the chances for that to
happen were weaker by the second
He chuckled coldly, his eyes scanning my body wrapped in a silk nightgown. “Does he know what you
like? Does he know how to satisfy you.”
I shook my head, defensively folding my arms and rubbing them to get rid of the shivering” Don‘t go
there, Can, please...” “Admit it, you loved the way I fucked you. It did feel good, didn‘t it?” He stepped
closer, his lustful gaze examining my every curve. “I don‘t want to remember anything about you!” I
screamed, my fists clenched,
A secondter, hiswarms grabbed me, pulling me into a tight embrace as he tried to kiss me,” I‘ll make
you remember how good it felt.”
“No!” I screamed, tilting my head away and trying to p him, but he grabbed my arms.
“You like to y rough as always.” His icyugh brought back the worst memories I had of
him.
I groaned, trying to release myself, but his grip only tightened. A momentter, I found myself withering
and helplessly fighting against his strength. “Let go, you psychopath!” “Cora?!” I heard Aren‘s voice
coming from behind the door.
My heart started to pound even more frantically. The hope that voice gave me woke up every ounce of
remaining strength within me. “Aren!” I shouted before Can mped my mouth with his hand to silence
me. I used a moment of his distraction and stomped on his foot. As he loosened his grip on me, I bit his
hand. “Aren! Help!” Aren rattled the door handle violently, but it was locked. Can smirked
mischievously, his cold, predatory eyes locked on me. “You bastard!” I used all of my strength to push
him away and rushed to the door to open it. He was faster. He stopped me and violently pushed me onto
the bed.
“Let me go!” I yelled as he threw himself at me, pinning me down.
As I fought against Can, I heard Aren trying to force the door. The door hinges bounced as he rammed
it again and again. I screamed and cursed at Can, but he didn‘t stop. I tried to kick him, but he
restrained me. My weak body couldn‘t match his strength and the body weight of an over–six–foot–tall
man. His sleazy hands went underneath the silk of my gown, touching my thighs and trying to slide
between them. Suddenly, the door broke, and Aren barged into the room, his eyes zing in fury. Callen
jumped away from the bed, a wicked grin curving his lips. “She let me in herself. She was the one who
seduced me,” he said, pointing at me while Iy on the bed trembling.. Aren nced at me, his jaw
clenched. His icy stare at me sent shivers down my spine. He wouldn‘t believe Can‘s words, would
he? I shook my head, tears flowing from my eyes. “No... he is lying...” I mumbled.
Faring the party
A secondter, Aren lunged at Can, his fist meeting Can‘s jaw. The strength of Aren‘s hit knocked
Can down to the ground. Can jumped back to his feet with an enraged growl as he lurched at Aren,
trying to rain him down. Aren punched his ribs, and a split secondter, threw Can over his shoulder. I
gasped, barely registering his movements. Once Can hit the floor, Aren started punching him again
and again, turning his face into a bloody pulp. As I observed his rage–soaked movements, a stabbing
pain pierced my chest. My pain wasn‘t for Can, but for Aren–I didn‘t want him to dirty his hands
because of me. “Stop! You‘re going to kill him!” I cried out. “Please, don‘t do this!”
Aren looked at me, the murderous re fading as his eyes met mine. He stood up, leaving a weakly
panting Can lying on the floor. I crawled to the edge of the bed, sitting up and cautiously watching Aren
as he walked toward me. His knuckles were all covered in blood. I rose up to my knees and grabbed
his hand, gently caressing it and making him loosen his clenched fists.
He exhaled in a rush and grabbed the back of my head, pressing it to his chest. “I‘m sorry... I shouldn‘t
have left you alone.”
I wrapped my arms around his waist. “You couldn‘t have known.. I don‘t even know how he got into this
bedroom. The door was closed, and I would never–”
“I know, Cora. I know.” He stroked my head, trying to calm me down. “That fucker probably had a
universal key. He could get anywhere in the mansion. I should have predicted it.” He drew me in closer,
melting me in his body heat.
Suddenly, Vanessa and James stormed into the bedroom, and two servants followed her. First, their eyes
focused on Aren standing by the bed and embracing me, and then their eyes shifted to Can,
murmuring iprehensible words in pain, lying in the corner of the room. As Vanessa saw her son on
the floor, covered in blood, she started to scream, “Can!”
“Aren, what did you do?!” James Winton roared.
“What did you do to my son, you monster?!” Vanessa‘s high–pitched voice instantly alerted the entire
mansion.
Aren red at her. “He should thank Cora. If it wasn‘t for her, he would have been dead by now.” “Thank
Cora?!” she yelled. “Why should I thank that peasant whore for anything?!”
Aren exhaled through clenched teeth. “Apologize to her at once.” His words carried a threat no one
would dare ignore.
“Or what?” she scoffed daringly.
Aren turned toward her, his eyes darkening dangerously. “She said too much, but you need to exin
yourself.” James stepped in front of his wife, protecting her from Aren‘s rising fury. “What‘s going on in
here?!” Augustus marched into our already crowded bedroom, his eyes narrowing in anger.