Charlene dug her nails deep into her palm, her face going pale. ”Bren!” she called out as she stepped forward. “The media is here! We have to go—now—before someone notices you here in the hospital and we have no idea how to explain it!A storm of impatience and frustration pooled in Brendan’s eyes. Why was the media here?He turned to Deirdre sharply. “Come back to me. There’s still time.”“No, thanks, Mr. Brighthall,” Sterling parried pointedly. His back—his entire body, in fact—still hurt from the impact, but he would not compromise when it came to protecting Deirdre. He hugged her even more tightly. He shot Brendan a steely glare, his eyes sharp as daggers. “You have no reason to trouble yourself, Mr. Brighthall. I’ll take care of Dee just fine.”“Sterling Fuller! You son of a b*tch! You think you’re worth jacksh*t to be able to defy me?!” Brendan bellowed. He was livid. Then, the media broke inside, getting stuck on the backdoor in a stampede. They wielded their camera stic

The man sounded impassioned, and yet Deirdre shivered. She was terrified. She took a deep breath and pushed the door open. Brendan had been waiting for a long time, his legs perfectly overlapping atop one another, his eyes settling on Deirdre’s suitcase before they turned stormy. His hands around the armrests tightened. “You even packed all your things!” He mocked her. “Lemme guess. Had nothing ruined your plan—say, had Sterling not gotten into the biggest trouble of his life—the two of you would have been on your way, merrily eloping!”Deirdre instinctively stepped between him and her suitcase. She dropped her eyes low and ignored his remark altogether. “Leave Sterry alone, okay?”“Sterry?” The intimacy of that nickname made Brendan’s ears bleed. He grazed the black diamond hooped over his ring finger and fidgeted with it slowly, almost as though to let out some of the fury burning in his eyes. “Why should I? He challenged me, didn’t he? Strutting around like some big d*mn white

The receptionist kindly escorted Deirdre to the front door. She thanked the former before adding, “Can you tell me where the closest pharmacy is?”The receptionist was not sure why she needed one, but she gave her the required directions either way. With help from her walking stick, Deirdre made her way to the pharmacy and asked for some morning-after pills. Despite how soft her voice was, it managed to attract some attention. A gang of teenage hoodlums made no attempt to hide their laughter. “Why would an ugly b*tch need morning-after pills?”Deirdre ignored them and went out of the store. She wasted no time, downing the pill without even asking for a glass of water. Yes, her tormented body was hardly fertile anymore, but she would not take even a one-in-a-thousand chance of bearing the Devil’s spawn. The receptionist had not actually left. She stood at a distance and watched Deirdre discard the pill package, feeling bewildered. After Deirdre left in a cab, she went to that exac

Brendan was so infuriated that his eyes turned beet red. He had never been relegated to second place by a woman before. He had never felt this way before!“Is that how important that son of a b*tch is to you?! You’re acting as if you’ll die if you aren’t with him!”Deirdre clenched her hands into fists. The way the maid had spoken—combined with how inferiorly he was treated in his own family—implied that he had suffered some serious bodily harm. And yet, Brendan did not give a d*mn about his suffering! He had always been like this! He’d always treated everyone else’s lives as insignificant and expendable! His apathy infuriated Deirdre. “You’re damn right, Brendan! I’ll die if I’m not with him! There, I said it! But what’s your excuse? You promised me, but did you do what you said you would?!”“McKinnon!” Brendan growled and tightened his hold around her arms. His blood was boiling. “You just keep testing my patience, don’t you? Do you know how easy it would be for me to make the

Malice poured out of Brendan’s eyes. He looked less like a man and more like a monster braying for blood. “I let you off the hook, Sterling! How dare you spit on my goodwill! How f*cking dare you take my woman?!”Pain burned Sterling’s cheek, but it did nothing to hold him back. He snickered. “Your woman? Oh, I see! Being forced to do someone else’s time for a crime she didn’t commit is a perk of being your woman, huh? Being dehumanized as your means of entertainment is also the sort of thing ‘your woman’ should do, right? God, is it just me, or is being ‘your woman’ the cruelest torment anyone could ever suffer?”Brendan’s eyes turned bloodshot. He then attacked again.Sterling was no match for him in a fight, but he did not let that stop him from putting up a fight. Everyone else in the room, including Deirdre, was too aghast to react. She had to stop Sterling from angering Brendan even further. After all, it would be all too easy for someone as obscenely powerful as Brendan to