Chapter 126
As soon as Hendricks hung up the phone, he lunged toward Grace again.
“You heard her yourself, Grace. Your own mother doesn’t give a damn if you live or die. So why would I? I swear, if you kill yourself, I’ll film everything I do to your corpse and make sure the whole damn internet sees it. You won’t even be able to test in peace.”
Grace’s hand trembled. She tried to back away, but there was nowhere left to go. The window had iron bars. She couldn’t make an escape.
Now that Hendricks had the green light from Carmen, he felt completely untouchable. Even if this ended in murder, he figured he’d walk away clean.
Grace was already barely hanging on and didn’t have the strength to dodge him this time. He tackled her onto the bed, pinning her down.
Blood from her wounded hand smeared across the sheets.
Hendricks‘ face twisted into a grotesque grin. “Finally got you under me, baby. Don’t worry, I’ll take real good care of you.”
“Get off me!” Grace shouted. She thrashed under him, her neck wound tearing open, but Hendricks didn’t care. His hand slid down, grabbing the waistband of her pants.
Her brain went blank. She fought harder, but he smacked her hard across the face. “Stop moving, bitch! Do you really want me to get rough?”
Grace’s hope started to drain, and her gaze went blank.
Right then, the door burst open with a violent crash. Before she could even process what was happening, Hendricks was yanked off her. He opened his mouth to curse, but the barrel of a gun pressed to his temple shut him up fast. The weapon looked ready to fire any second.
He froze, paralyzed with fear.
“W–Who the hell are you?” he stammered.
His voice turned shaky like he was terrified to breathe wrong. Whoever had the authority to bring a gun into a high–security facility in Druville wasn’t ordinary.
Grace was still on the bed when someone grabbed her wrist and pulled her into a solid embrace.
Her face was buried in the person’s chest, and she didn’t even care who it was -until a suit jacket dropped onto her shoulders. The scent hit her immediately, calming the panic boiling in
her chest.
It was Ethan.
She looked up and saw Hendricks kneeling by the wall, pale and shaking. Two bodyguards stood on either side of him, each holding a gun to his head.
She clung tightly to the suit jacket as Ethan leaned in from behind, wrapping her gently in his arms.
That was when she realized he had slipped something into her hand.
Ethan’s chin rested on her shoulder, his voice low and calm. “Do you remember how to use it?”
Her eyes blinked in confusion. Then, she noticed she had a gun in her hand. He was still holding her from behind, guiding her hand as if showing her how to load the weapon. Grace’s mind was blank, but fury boiled just beneath the surface.
“I can learn,” she said flatly.
Ethan’s hand wrapped over hers, guiding each movement. “This is how you chamber a round. That’s the trigger. Line up your
shot.”
His chin was still resting on her shoulder as he held the gun. The two bodyguards pointing their guns at Hendricks nearly lost their grip when they saw the scene. Was this really Ethan? From where the bodyguards stood, it looked like Ethan had completely enveloped Grace, shielding her in his arms.
But Grace was still reeling from the shock and hadn’t noticed.
Once Ethan finished guiding her, he let go of her hands. The message was clear–it was entirely up to Grace whether she wanted to pull the trigger.
Grace gripped the gun tightly with both hands. She could hear Hendricks‘ panicked pleading. “Grace, don’t do anything crazy! This is illegal! You’ll go to jail for this! And don’t forget who I am -I’m Yancey’s uncle! You love him so much… How are you going to explain this to him?”
The words had barely left his mouth when the gunshot rang out.
Hendricks let out a blood–curdling scream, clutching his thigh in agony. But before he could react further, another shot was fired, then followed by another.
Grace then turned to look at Ethan. His chin was still resting on her shoulder. As she turned, her lips brushed his cheek. Only then did she realize how close they were. Her eyes widened in shock, and her grip on the gun slipped.
Startled, her finger slipped, and the gun fired. The bullet struck Hendricks square in the chest. He didn’t even have the strength to scream; he just collapsed to the ground.
Grace’s expression shifted, and she instinctively stepped away from Ethan. The first words out of her mouth were, “Mr. Henderson… did I screw up?”
One of the bodyguards quickly kneeled down beside Hendricks to check on him and then said, “Ms. Lambert, he’s still breathing, but he’s probably going to end up in a vegetative state.” Grace let out a breath of relief. As long as he was still breathing, that was good enough. Honestly, ending up in a coma was probably the best fate Hendricks could ask for.
She looked down at the gun in her hand, which had blood smeared across it. Even Ethan’s fingertips were stained. She quickly got to her feet to look for a napkin.
Ethan had always looked like a inan above the chaos–too cold, too perfect. Blood didn’t belong anywhere near him.
But the way she pulled away from him so quickly made something dark flicker in Ethan’s eyes.
He slowly straightened, steadying himself against the wall. Just moments ago, he’d been commanding and unshakable. Now, he looked fragile, like someone in need of protection. The shift startled her. Forgetting her own injuries, she rushed back over to him. “Mr. Henderson, are you okay?”
He shook his head, and his expression was calm as he said, “I’m just a little shaken, that’s all.”
Guilt crashed over her. She felt awful. She was covered in blood, and what if it wasn’t just the scene that unsettled him?
What if the car accident that had changed his life had left him traumatized, unable to face blood? She gently pulled his suit jacket tighter around him and helped him with care.
Then, she said, “Let me help you back to your wheelchair. I’m so sorry. I’ll go clean up right away.”
His face was pale. He hesitated for a few seconds, then reached out and held her wrist.
She looked at him in surprise, but he avoided her gaze. He said, “Let’s head back to Palm Bay. You can handle it there.”
Grace replied, “Oh, okay. Are you feeling sleepy, Mr. Henderson?”
She hadn’t forgotten that she was his so–called “human sleeping aid“.
Ethan pressed his lips together tightly and gave a quiet, almost sullen grunt of acknowledgment in response.
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