Chapter 54 Can’t Bear to Let Her Go


    Willow stiffened. Had Brian overheard their entire conversation? What exactly had he picked up on?


    When had Chloe even made that call? Willow hadn’t noticed at all.


    Cold sweat slicked Willow’s palms. She didn’t dare move, and just then, Brian’s tall figure appeared from


    behind the wall.


    Chloe slipped her phone back into her pocket and turned to him.


    “Mr. Steele, since you heard everything, you won’t me me, right?”


    She had felt uneasy the moment Willow confronted her, so she had quietly dialed his number. She hadn’t


    expected it to work so perfectly, but at least it saved her from being framed.


    “You set me up!” Willow’s delicate features twisted with rage.


    “If you hadn’t tried to frame me, none of this would’ve happened,” Chloe replied evenly.


    Willow lunged at her, hand raised to strike, but Brian caught her wrist.


    “She’s mine,” he snarled. “You don’t get to touch her. And also…”


    His cold gaze swept to Willow’s left eye. “If you ever use your eye as leverage again, don’t me me for breaking the promise I made back then.”


    A shiver ran down Willow’s spine.


    “I… understand.” She managed after a long pause.


    As Brian left with Chloe, Willow stood rooted to the spot. Defiance burned in her eyes as she watched them disappear into the distance.


    Years ago, she’d nearly lost an eye for Brian, and in return, he had promised her thesting glory of the main branch of the Quall family.


    She’d paid a hefty price just to get close to him. There was no way she would let another woman swoop in out of nowhere and sidle up to him so easily.


    Chloe and Brian left the restaurant and got into the car.


    “If I hadn’t answered your call just now, what would you have done?” he asked suddenly.


    “I’d have told Ms. Quall that if I wanted to hurt her, she wouldn’t still be standing,” Chloe answered. If words failed, she’d have no choice but to resort to violence.


    “Aren’t you worried that she’ll get back on you?”


    Chapter 54 Cant Bear to Let Her Go


    “If you spend your life worrying about every single thing, you’d hardly be living at all,” she replied. She wasn’t the type to stir trouble, but she never shied from it either.


    “She’s from the main branch of the Quall family in Yarfdale,” Brian said. “Both of you share the samest name. That can’t be a coincidence.”


    Chloe faltered. In Yarfdale, only one family bore that name with such weight–it was the very one whose


    memorial hall still stood proudly downtown.


    “So it really was a coincidence,” she murmured.


    Willow was probably her cousin. But it seemed they had gotten into a fight first before she’d even returned to the family home.


    “Don’t you want to ask about my rtionship with Willow?” Brian asked.


    “I’m just a bodyguard,” Chloe replied.


    Whatever historyy between him and Willow, it wasn’t her concern. Thest thing she wanted was to get involved in his personal life.


    “Her eye was nearly ruined because of me,” Brian gritted out. “Her eyeball was saved, but her vision is


    poor.”


    Chloe fell silent. So that was why Willow had imed that her eyes mattered to Brian more than anything.


    “I was eight at the time,” he added softly.


    She looked at him, surprised that they’d known each other since then.


    “Was it some <i>kind </i>of ident while ying?”


    “No,” he answered sullenly. “I lost control, and I had my hands wrapped around her face and nearly gouged one of her eyes out.”


    Chills ran down her spine. She hadn’t expected such a past between them. Still, her expression remained calm, betraying little shock.


    “Aren’t you scared?” Brian asked, watching her closely.


    “I’ve seen too much to be frightened so easily,” she answered.


    As a child, she had followed her parents to war–torn countries. She had seen what true hell looked like. Perhaps that was why she valued the peace of her homnd now.


    “I just think that both you and Willow are pitiful,” she murmured.


    Even if she disliked Willow, it was hard not to pity a woman who’s suffered such violence at such a young <fn7f61> ???? ????s? ???????s ?? find{n}ovel</fn7f61>


    age.


    “So you pity me too?” Brian arched an eyebrow.


    Chapter 54 Can’t Bear to Let Her Go


    After that incident, people had called Willow the victim. No one had ever considered that he might also suffer the same, for he was the perpetrator.


    “You were only eight, and out of your mind. Isn’t that pitiful?” Chloe met his gaze.


    “Sometimes pitying a beast and getting too close is the quickest way <i>to </i>get mauled,” he said, a smirk tugging at his lips. “What if one day I lose control again? What if I gouge out <i>your </i>eye instead? I’m no longer a weak eight–year–old child, you know.”


    “And I’m not Willow,” Chloe replied. “If that day everes, I’ll knock you out with a stick before you can hurt anyone.”


    Surprise flickered in Brian’s eyes. He hadn’t expected that answer.


    Chloe was indeed very amusing and refreshing. The more she said things like that, the harder it was to let go of her.


    Would his interest in her truly fade in three months? For a moment, he doubted it.


    The car stopped, and Chloe realized they’d arrived at a hospital.


    “Let a doctor check on you. You took quite a few blows back at the airport,” he said with a hint of


    amusement.


    Chloe didn’t object. She had nned to get her medicine anyway. But what she hadn’t expected was for him to follow her all the way to the lobby.


    “Mr. Steele, aren’t you going back?” she asked.


    “You’re my bodyguard,” he replied. “Of course I have to be with you.”


    Chloe was at a loss for words. If that was the case, he could do as he pleased.


    She registered at the front desk and went to the outpatient surgery department. When her turn came, she stepped into the consulting room, exined where she had been struck, and pointed out the injuries.


    “Take off your shoes and lie down on the bed,” the doctor said. “I’ll take a look.”


    There was an examination bed prepared for the patient, and now it was Chloe’s turn to lie down on it.


    She bent down to remove her shoes, only for a sharp sting to re in her waist and abdomen. She’d been hurt there, too.


    “Does it hurt? Then get your husband to take them off for you,” the doctor suggested.


    “My husband?”


    Chloe was stunned. Only then did she notice the doctor’s gaze was lingering on Brian, who was standing beside her.