Filed to story: Sweetheart Do You Still Love Me
“Don’t touch me. You disgust me.”
“Disgust you? Callum. That’s not what you said before. You said you feel sorry for me, and you would take care of me.”
Alaina’s statement brought back memories of the said night. The sight of Alaina throwing herself into Callum’s arms under the tree flashed before Elspeth’s eyes. She remembered he didn’t immediately push Alaina away. Instead, he even paused before taking a step back.
As she remembered that night, her mood went down in a split second. She tried to struggle out of his arm, but he held her tighter.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about. Please stop your attempt in tarnishing my reputation. I never felt sorry for you or promised to take care of you. You’re imagining things.”
After Callum finished the words, he turned to the reporters, who were overwhelmed by the shocking news, and began,
“Sorry for using the public resources. Elspeth and I are seeing each other. I hope you guys can announce the news, so somebody can give up on their ambition sooner.”
The ‘somebody’ was none other than Alaina.
Blood drained from Alaina’s face. She watched Callum, who kept calm the whole time but all he could see was Elspeth alone. Jealousy, envy, pain, and madness surged up in her heart at the same time. Grabbing the fruit knife from the table, Alaina lunged at Elspeth.
As Elspeth was trained, Alaina’s attempt to stab her was fruitless. As a result, Elspeth dodged to a side to avoid the attack while Alaina fell to the ground. The knife slipped off her hand and slid away.
“You better let his daughter go as soon as possible and stop trying to do anything. Otherwise, it won’t be a civil crime but something more serious, and you’ll be going to jail.”
Alaina scraped her lips from the impact and the pain was too hard for her to endure. She spat out a mouthful of blood and gave in to reality.
“I didn’t kidnap his daughter. All I did was steal her hairpin and suggested to him that his daughter was in danger. I managed to fool him into thinking that I kidnapped his daughter. If you don’t believe me, you can check on her yourself. She’s safe in the kindergarten.”
Realization dawned on the father. He immediately made a call to the kindergarten. As expected, his daughter was still in one piece. He was only reacting out of his love for his daughter, which made him Alaina’s pawn to harm Elspeth.
As the matter came to this point, Alaina had no choice but to give up.
She had a hard time digesting the turn of events. She loved Callum with all her heart, and he was already reciprocating her feelings. When did everything go wrong? Why did it have to end like this?
She got herself involved in her conspiracy. There was no way she could make her way back to the social ladder.
Alaina had picked up a bad reputation after today. Even if nobody called the police, she would no longer have a place in Damoria’s social circle once the news spread out.
Elspeth watched Alaina lying on the ground. Alaina seemed to be mentally disorganized, so Elspeth didn’t call the police.
It was a crime to kidnap. Fortunately, Alaina reserved her sanity.
However, Callum wasn’t as calm as her. He gestured with a wave of his hand for the bodyguards on his side to manhandle Alaina.
As he remembered Alaina’s plan almost worked, the violent side of him was threatening to break out.
His piercing gaze bored into her. Alaina’s heart was aching at the look he gave her.
“I’m not done with you. There is something we need to settle between us.”
Noticing Callum’s expression, Alaina could feel her heart skip a beat.
“Callum, what are you trying to do?”
“What do you think? It’s time to pay the price.”
She widened her eyes in disbelief before looking around.
“Callum, what you are doing is against the law. Did you see the reporters around? You can’t deny your doing if what you did is revealed to the public.”
He remained calm even after she warned him. Casting a glance at the crowd with ease, he asked,
“Did you see anything?”
No single person in Damoria would claim they didn’t know Callum’s name.
Even though he kept a low profile, he wasn’t the kind of person to mess with.
A few years ago, someone talked badly about Callum after facing failure in his business. The next day, the man and his family got banished from Damoria.
Nobody ever knew Callum’s true ability, but they held one principle, which was staying out of his way as far as possible or showing respect to him when coming across him.
Alaina must have a death wish to cross Callum.
The guests were all sophisticated. They knew better than to stand up for Alaina, who was a nobody and ended up getting on Callum’s bad side. If so, they rather kept what happened today a secret, in hope of gaining Callum’s favor and striking a deal in the future.
The guests shook their heads. Even the reporters pretended not to see anything by putting their phones and cameras away.
Alaina finally recalled that nobody in Damoria could even par with Callum’s status or influence. A sane person would never get on his bad side.
As the last hope slipped from her hand, she went limp and allowed the men to drag her away.
Once Alaina left, some of the guests tried to clear the awkward silence by lightening the mood.
“I told you, Miss Lynwood-Wait, it’s Mrs. Winthrop now–is a good person. There’s no way she would hurt someone.”
The crowd changed their attitude within a few seconds. Listening to the crowd’s praise, Elspeth had a feeling that it was all due to their awe of Callum.
Pleased to hear people addressing Elspeth as Mrs. Winthrop, Callum couldn’t suppress a smile that formed at the corner of his lips.
As the incident came to an end, the guests preferred to avoid staying any longer in the place that fostered a lot of drama. Thus, they took their departure.
Soon, only the Winthrops, the Sullivans, and Elspeth were left.
Watching Callum’s calm expression, Elspeth couldn’t help but ask,
“Where did you take Alaina? Please don’t tell me you asked your men to tie her up and beat her.”
“I merely sent her somewhere where she can experience real pain.”
Even though he kept it casual, she could feel a sense of maliciousness in his words.
She doubted whether Alaina could make it out alive this time.
However, Elspeth wouldn’t feel bad for her. After all, Alaina started it. Elspeth had been holding the principle of
“tit for tat is fair play.”
Glad to find Elspeth unscathed, Yelena sighed in relief.
“Remind me to install surveillance cameras around the household, so the same thing will never happen again.”
Her tone betrayed a hint of indignation, earning a laugh from the rest.
“Well, you don’t have to take such precautions. All you need to do is protect yourself instead of letting other people step on you as they like.”
At the sight of Yelena gripping her knuckles while putting on a serious face, Max couldn’t help but roll his eyes.
“Stop making me save you from all your troubles. I don’t have the leisure to save you all the time.”
She pouted her lips.
“What’s the problem of coming to my rescues if you can? I’m going to be your family’s future daughter-in-law sooner or later. Having you do the rescue duty on me is not a big deal.”
Such a bold statement that came out from her mouth made his ears flush with red blush.
“How do you bear zero shame spitting out such words as a lady yourself!”
“I am a fully-fledged grown-up myself. In just another two years, I’m eligible for marriage. Besides, you’re my choice of marriage partner. Do you think I would let you go from my grip?”
Yelena couldn’t care less about his comment. Narrowing her eyes, she sent him a smug grin.
“U-Unreasonable!”