Chapter 1820:


    A police officer reached them within moments. “What happened?”


    “She came at me with the broken bottle, and I grabbed it away from her, and it — it caught her leg.” Christina stood with her hands raised slightly, trembling, her eyes wide and ssy with shock.


    A second officer moved in and crouched to look at Irene. “Captain — she’s on the wanted list. One of Violette’s associates, linked to multiple homicides.”


    “Take her,” the captain said.


    Irene was escorted out without another word.


    The captain turned to Christina, his tone gentling. “Are you hurt?”


    “I’m alright. If I hadn’t reacted in time, she would have killed me,” Christina said, her eyes faintly reddened, distress and relief mingling across her face.


    “You’re safe now. We’ll need you toe with us and give a statement.”


    Christina nodded. “Of course. I’lle.”


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    Members of the Wade and Hewitt families were held under temporary confinement at the detention facility.


    “On what grounds are they keeping us here?” Jaxen snapped, fury twisting his features.


    La was equally incensed. “This was supposed to be a celebration with family and friends, and now we’re being treated like criminals.”


    Her eyes drifted toward Violette, a nagging suspicion taking root that the Hewitts were somehow responsible for their situation. La was meant to marry into the Jones family — she could not afford so much as a shadow on her reputation, let alone an arrest on her record.


    “Why are you looking at me like that?” Violette shot back, her re sharp. “Are you implying this is my fault?”


    “I didn’t say anything of the sort. You’re reading into it,” La replied, holding back what she actually believed.


    They would be released before long, and both families still hadrger ambitions to pursue together. Turning on each other now would onlyplicate matters. Once their goals were secured, she could settle scores with the Hewitts at her leisure.


    La remained absorbed in visions of the Wade family’s ascent, unaware that their ruin was already closing in. Violette let out a contemptuous snort. “You wouldn’t dare.” The Wades had always been beneath the Hewitts in her estimation, and she had never truly respected them. Had it not been for her own hidden agenda, she would never have agreed to marry Jaxen. To her, the Wades were instruments — useful until they weren’t, and disposable after that.


    “Enough,” Zahir cut in, his voice cold and clipped. “We’re all in the same position. We need to find a way to reach the Joneses or the Martels.”


    Before anyone could respond, a familiar voice carried through the space.


    “Trying to reach my family?”


    Christina approached at an unhurried pace, a faint smile on her lips. She stopped just on the other side of the bars, well within sight of them all.


    “Bonnie!” La rushed forward and gripped the cold metal. “Did youe to get me out?”


    Jaxen stepped up beside her immediately. “Bonnie, please — use whatever influence you have. We need to get out of here.”


    Violette suppressed the urge to sneer at the Wade siblings and held her tongue. She needed them freed first — only then could they serve her purposes. She was acutely aware that if Christina refused to intervene for the Wades, her own chances of leaving were just as slim. Rtions with the Martels were already strained, and there was no guarantee they would step in either.


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