Chapter 19
Callum lifted his head slightly from where it had been buried in the crook of Nadia’s neck. His eyes were glassy as he stared at the wall.
When he spoke, his voice softened unexpectedly gently, like he was coaxing a sulking child, “From now on…. no matter the day, if you want to come over, anytime…. I’ll be here. I’ll give you everything,”
The completely off–topic reply made Nadia’s heart sink like a stone.
He wasn’t lucid at all.
Without warning, Nadia twisted around and sank her teeth into his shoulder. She bit down with all her strength, and almost instantly, the taste of blood filled her mouth.
Callum let out a muffled grunt. But instead of getting angry, he laughed a twisted, feverish kind of laugh.
“Mrs. Ford wants to try something new?”
The pain seemed to excite him, pushing him further toward the edge.
He leaned in again, one arm tightening around her, trapping her. His other hand tilted her chin up, aiming for another kiss.
“Callum! Don’t!” Nadia cried, her voice hoarse, tears streaming down her face. “I’m sick! Please… Don’t touch me.”
Callum froze mid–motion. He looked down at her tear–streaked face, and for a moment, conflict and hesitation flickered in his eyes.
His calloused fingertips brushed across her trembling lips, the gesture eerily gentle.
Jon any other day, he would’ve already had his way with her without a second thought. But right now, looking into those stunning, ice–cold eyes…. he hesitated.
And in that split second, clear knocks rang out from the door, followed by a familiar, anxious voice. “Nad! Are you in there? Are you okay?”
It was Samuel.
The moment Samuel’s voice came from outside the door, the madness in Callum’s eyes didn’t fade. In fact, it only intensified. A flash of violent excitement crossed his face. His possessiveness surged like a predator about to have its prey snatched away.
“Let me go!” Nadia pleaded, her voice a trembling whisper, choked with tears.
But Callum, like a beast provoked, lowered his head and kissed her again. He wanted to make enough noise to drive the person outside away.
“Mmm–mmph!”
Samuel heard the commotion inside. His voice sharpened, growing frantic, and it sounded like he was seconds from kicking the door in. “Nad! Answer me! Callum, I swear to God! Touch her, and you’re fucking dead!”
Amid the chaos, a sudden thought flashed through Nadia’s panicked mind. Instinctively, her hand reached for the necklace she always wore–the one with the large sapphire.
Her fingers tightened and gently twisted the sapphire. A faint, nearly undetectable scent began to waft from the gem–delicate threads of something strange and subtle curling into the air.
Still buried against her neck, Callum inhaled a few wisps before he could react.
His body jerked slightly, and his movements slowed. The red in his eyes faded visibly, the wildness draining out of them. In its place came a wave of confusion and fatigue.
A second later, his tall frame went limp. He collapsed against her, unconscious.
Nadia pushed him off carefully, laying him on the bed. Then, she scrambled to fix her disheveled clothes and hair with shaking hands.
Taking a few deep breaths, she tried to steady her racing heart and calm the tremor in her limbs. Then, she walked to the door and opened it.
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Outside, Samuel stood with a panicked expression, his forehead slick with sweat, one shoulder still braced to break it down.
The moment he saw her–clothes rumpled, eyes red, and lips slightly swollen–his face darkened. A dangerous fire flared in his eyes.
He had a pretty good idea of what had just happened in there.
“Callum!” Samuel roared, pushing past Nadia and charging inside, ready to beat the bastard who dared lay a hand on her into the ground.
“Don’t.” Nadia grabbed his arm, her voice hoarse, laced with the kind of exhaustion that came after surviving something she never wanted to relive.
“I’m fine. Just get me off this boat.”
Right now, all she wanted was to escape that suffocating place,
Samuel looked at her pale face–the way she was forcing herself to stay composed–and his heart twisted with pain.
He swallowed his anger, shrugged off his suit jacket, and gently draped it over her shoulders, covering the red marks on her skin.
Then, he took her hand. “Alright. Let’s go.”
It was late. Fireworks still lit up the sky above the ocean, brilliant and dazzling. Nadia and Samuel were already on the yacht heading back.
She forced herself to lift her eyes to the beautiful display above, but her vision blurred with tears. Her heart, torn and bleeding, struggled to keep beating.
She had been only ten years old that year, stuffed into a wooden crate arul floating down the river. Water slowly seeped in, soaking her clothes. The sky above was pitch black, and she was freezing
She had cried out for help–screaming, terrified, hopeless.
It was New Year’s Eve Through the cracks in the crate, she had seen fireworks exploding beautifully across the sky.
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That firework show had burned itself into her bones as a lifelong scar. And now, Callum used fireworks to celebrate the world.
By the time Nadia returned to her apartment, dragging her exhausted body through the door, it was nearly dawn.
She slipped into the bathtub and closed her eyes, but the warm water couldn’t wash away the bone–deep weariness. The faint red marks on her pale neck stood out sharply. Callum had left them.
His voice echoed in her mind, completely uninvited. “I never slept with Brittany.”
She couldn’t understand. If that were true, then why was he so obsessed with Brittany? Why did he protect her like that?
Suddenly, that figure in white flashed through her mind again–his cold, indifferent gaze and the blood–soaked left hand.
Her thoughts were a tangled mess, like someone had stuffed wet cotton into her chest–heavy, suffocating, and impossible to sort through.
Forget it!
Nadia shook her head, trying to dislodge the chaos.
Quickly finishing her bath, she crawled into the soft bed.
The night was deep and still. As Nadia finally drifted into sleep, the Internet in Seora exploded.
“Hot Tea! The Pure and Beloved Actress Brittany Jaeger Caught in an Affair With Knox Nicholson?”
“Heiress of the Cooper Family Attacks Homewrecker? Video of Brittany Jaeger Getting Slapped Goes Viral!”
“Brittany Jaeger’s Pure Image Shattered! Dirt From Her Past Resurfaces!”
Countless media accounts pounced on the scandal like sharks drawn to blood, flooding every feed with pictures and clickbait headlines.
In the photos, Brittany and Knox were caught in a dark comer. Their tug–of–war looked far too intimate from the camera’s sneaky angle, leaving just enough to stir imaginations.
But the real kicker? The video of Wendy slapping Brittany was crystal clear and full HD.
In the clip, Wendy was livid. The slap cracked loudly and sharply. Brittany staggered from the blow, stars in her eyes, clutching her face as she sobbed like a flower in the rain–pretty but completely humiliated.
The gossip–hungry crowd was eating it up, and they loved every second of it.
Brittany’s team scrambled for damage control, frantically trying to scrub the searches, but it was too late. There was no saving it.
Over on Callum’s side, his phone was blowing up, but no one picked up.
The Cooper and Nicholson families had a serious influence. No one dared take sides in this storm, not for a starlet whose future now looked painfully uncertain. The scandal snowballed, gaining momentum by the hour.
Three related hashtags locked into the top trending slots, each one stamped with a blazing red “Hot“. Discussions easily broke the ten–million mark. Brittany was completely stunned.
Hiding in her apartment, she stared at the flood of hateful comments and the nonstop stream of termination notices flashing across her screen.
Her whole body went cold, like she’d plunged into an ice pit.
No. She couldn’t fall now.
She had to make Wendy and Nadia pay dearly.
