Imagen was teetering on the brink <b>of </b><b>life </b><b>and </b>death, het breach faint and fleeting. She didn’t even have the strength to open her mouth to take the <b>medicine</b>.
Felicia clenched her jaw <b>and</b><b>, </b>without hesitation, dislocated Inogen’s lower jaw with a swift motion. She force–fed her the pills, ensuring they dissolved and were swallowed before carefully resetting Imogen’s jaw
At that moment, no one dared to question Felicia’s actions. Every effort was focused on saving Imogen’s life
Despite this, Felicia could still feel a souching, key gaze fixed on her. Stephan’s piercing ce felt like arrows aimed directly at her.
He should hate her to his very core right now, right<b>? </b>
The thought lett a bitter taste in Felicia’s mouth, but her hands never stopped moving After administering the life–<b>saving </b>medicine, she grabbed another bottle from her pocket and poured the powdered medicine onto Imogen’s wound without holding back
The de that had pierced Imogen’s chest remained lodged near her heart, but the powerful hemostatic properties of the powder stopped the <b>gushing </b>blood almost diately
The helicopter nearby was prepped and ready to take off at any moment.
Two of <b>Stephan’s </b>men burried over with a makeshift streicher. Stephan carefully phioed mogen oncoli, treuring she was SICUT.
As they prepared to move her to the helicopter, Stephan straightened up and turned to one of his men “Where’s the gun)
The weight of his words hung in the air like a death knell..
The moment the words left his mouth, the men understood what wasing One of them immediately presentada pistol to Stephan with both hands
Stephan flipped off the safety and ced his finger on the trigger. His target? <b>Maurice</b>, who was pinned to the ground by two other men.
Felicia’s heart denched. Without thinking, she surged forward and grabbed Stephan’s arm just as he was about to pull the trigger. The sudden interference caused the shot to weer of course, the bullet rocheting against <b>a </b>nearby rock with a deafening crack
But the gunshot was <b>nearly </b><b>as </b>terrifying <b>as </b>Stephan’s expression at that moment.
“You’re stopping me again <b>Stephan </b>asked, his voice dangerously low. His lips curled into a cold, mocking smile. The veins on the back of his hand belged with tension, and his entire body radiated barely restrained fury.
Anyone could see that he was on the edge ofpletely losing control.
His sistery gravely injured, teetering between life and death right in <b>front </b>of him. The assant was within arm’s reach. Stephan already thought it was merciful enough to him to <b>grant </b>
Maurice a swift death.
<b>Yet </b>Felicia, of all people, was protecting the man responsible for this.
Felicia met Stephan’s icy, unfamiliar gaze. The disappointment and distrust in his eyes felt like daggers to her heart. It hurt more than she expected, twisting painfully in <b>her </b>chest.
“I’m not <b>trying </b>to stop you,” she said, her voice trembling. “I didn’t mean for Emogen to get hurt. 1 <b>didn’t </b>want this to happen. But Maurice isn’t the <b>one </b>to me for this. He wouldn’t have lost his mind and attacked her without reason. It’s because –
o, you know him that well, <b>huh</b>? Stephan cut her off coldy
His gaze darted between Felicia’s slightly reddened eyes and Maurice, who was still pinned to the ground. Despite the blood dripping from his mouth and the pressure holding him down, Maurice wasughing, his expression twisted and deranged<b>. </b>
Something inside Stephan snapped. He let out a bitter, self–deprecatingugh. “So, this is how it is….. I see it now.”
Time was slipping away.
Imogen needed to be flown to the hospital immediately for emergency surgery to remove the de and stabilize her condition. There <b>was </b>no room for further <b>dy</b>.
<b>Stephan </b>slowly pred Felicia’s hand off <b>his </b><b>arm</b>, one finger <b>at </b><b>a </b>time. When he tumed <b>to </b>leave, his parting words wereced with venom and spoken through gritted teeth, “Next time, I will
kill him.”
This time, he refrained from pulling the trigger because Felicia had shielded Maurice. But he wouldn’t hold back the next t
This time, Stephan let it go not because of merry but because he didn’t know how far Felicia might go to stop him if he didn’t. He didn’t want her to get hurt.
Chapter ket