This was even better. He ced the first-aid kit on the table andid out its contents. "You can start now."


    Amara stared at him. What did he mean, *start*? Couldn''t he at least take off the old bandages himself? It wasn''t a difficult task, but if she did it, she would inevitably have to touch him, which would be incredibly awkward.


    But then, she''d have to touch him to apply the new dressing anyway. She sighed again, picked up a pair of scissors, and began to cut away the old bandages.


    The warmth of her fingers brushing against his hard muscles sent a fine current of electricity through him. Finnian''s body tensed. It was a strange mixture of pain and pleasure. He instinctively reached out and grabbed her fingertips.


    Amara froze, then quickly asked, "What''s wrong, Mr. Everly? Did I hurt you?" "No."


    Finnian let her go and closed his eyes, surrendering to the agonizingly pleasant sensation. Amara thought he was acting strangely but didn''t press the issue, simply trying to be gentler.


    Soon, however, all other thoughts were driven from her mind. Once the bandages were off, she saw the full extent of his injuries. The wounds were a raw, bloody mess. Just looking at them made her own skin crawl with sympathetic pain. She cursed Emma again in her mind. The woman was truly evil, not only trying to have her killed but also inflicting such violence on her own son. She was rotten to the


    core.


    Amara dabbed some ointment onto a cotton swab and began to gently apply it to his skin. Worried it might sting, she instinctively leaned in and Blew softly on the wound. The moment she did, her ears flushed hot. What was she doing? That was something you did to soothe a child, not a grown man like Finnian.


    She had no idea that her simple breath had sent a jolt like a lightning strike through his entire body. A tingling heat spread through him, and he shuddered, fighting the overwhelming urge to pull her into his arms.


    Finnian''s eyes snapped open, dark and swirling with an intensity Amara couldn''tprehend. She quickly turned her head away, unable to meet his gaze. "Mr. Everly, if it hurts, just tell me."


    He watched her for a long moment before nodding, his eyes growing even darker.


    Meanwhile, in her vi-the home she had shared with Andrew for over thirty years-Emma stood amidst a scene of total destruction. The house, usually impably maintained, was a wreck. The living room floor was littered with shattered ss and ceramic fragments.


    Emma''s fists were clenched so tightly her knuckles were white, her eyes a furious, bloodshot red. She still couldn''t believe that Finnian had confronted her with evidence, used her of harming Amara, and then said those unforgivable,


    rebellious things to her. He had evert stripped her of some of her personal staff. She had been so incandescent with rage that she had attacked him without a second thought.


    Immediately after, Mr. Kevin Everly hade home, taken one look at the scene, and exploded. He had pointed a finger in her face and told her he no longer considered her his daughter-inw and that she was banned from the family estate. The


    humition was jinamense What i


    kind of woman gets disowned and barred from her own home by her father-inw? A full day had passed, but the rage still simmered inside her, a poison with no outlet, leading her to destroy her own home.


    Two of her bodyguards, who had been standing by, cautiously approached her


    now that her rampage seemed to have subsided. "Ma''am," one of them asked


    quietly, "shall we make another move on Amara?"


    ***