(Scarlett’s POV)
+25 Points
I hand Lily her bunny and she clutches it tight. “Let’s get you back to bed.”
She doesn’t argue, settling into her pillow with the stuffed animal. I sing her the luby I’ve been singing since she was born, watching her eyelids grow heavy.
“Mama?” she whispers just as I think she’s fallen asleep.
“Yes?”
“I’m d Daddy saved you.”
“Me too, sweetheart. Me too.”
When I’m sure she’s finally asleep, I lie awake staring at the ceiling.
The tearse without warning, hot and relentless, streaming down my face as I sob quietly, trying not to wake Lily.
But the pain feels too big for my body to contain. It’s not just grief for what we lost–it’s grief for what we could have been. Who we could have been together if circumstances had been
different. <fn4511> Read full story at ?ovelFind</fn4511>
The boy who waited two hours in the cold just to see me smile. The man who carried me out of a burning building and wore his scar like a badge of honor. That wasn’t an act. That wasn’t maniption or obligation.
That was love.
Jasper did love me. Once. If Virginia hadn’t poisoned it…
But there’s no ifs in life.
I’m engaged to Dorian now. I’ve built a new life, a better life.
And Jasper and I?
Maybe Jasper still loves me. Underneath all the coldness and distance and choosing Virginia over me, there is still some part of him that remembers what we used to be.
Maybe that’s why he threw himself in front of a car to save me.
But that doesn’t change anything.
(Chapter 140
We can’t change the past. We can’t go back to who we were.
Jasper and I are over. And we have been for over four years now.
+25 Points
Wiping my tears, every moment of tonight reys in my head over and over again. The fake phone call. The empty building. The crash.
It’s obvious someone wants my life.
I get up and check every lock in the house twice. The terror from the days of living in hiding is
back.
And this time, I have more to lose than just my life.
(Dorian’s POV)
The elevator doors close behind me as I leave Scarlett’s apartment building, but my mind is still upstairs with her. The way she looked tonight–shaken, vulnerable, trying so hard to be strong for Lily. Someone tried to kill the woman I love, and I couldn’t protect her.
But I can make sure it never happens again.
I pull out my phone before I even reach my car and dial my head of security.
“Cross here. Tell me you got something.”
“We got it all, boss.” Jacob’s voice is steady, professional. “High–definition footage of the van following her into the parking lot. Clear shots of the license te. The car that tried to run her down–we traced it back to a rentalpany downtown.”
“And?”
“A John Foster rented it three days ago using a fake ID that’s so good it fooled the system. But we have facial recognition from their security cameras. We ran a background check, and it seems he’s involved with Virginia Stone.”
My grip tightens on the phone. I knew it. From the moment I saw Virginia’s face tonight at the hospital, I knew she was involved somehow.
“That’s not enough to convict her to a life–sentence,” I say.
“No, it isn’t. There’s another problem.”
“What problem?”
<i>“</i>She’s not working alone. Someone else is pulling the strings here. Someone with serious resources and connections. The fake ID, the clean rental car, the way they almost made this
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< Chapter 140
look like a random hit–and–run–this was professionally nned.”
I lean against my car, processing this information. “Do we have a name?”
+25 Points
“We’re working on it. But whoever the mastermind is, they’re good. Really good. They’ve been careful not to leave any direct evidence linking them to tonight’s attack.”
“So we can get Virginia, but still not the true mastermind?”
“Right now, yeah. If we move too fast, arrest Virginia tonight, we’ll only end up alerting the one behind the scenes. They’ll just find someone else to do their dirty work.”
I close my eyes, frustration burning in my chest. “How long?”
“Give us a few more days. Maybe a week. We’re close to identifying the main yer. Once we have solid evidence on both of them-<b>” </b>
“Fine.” The wordes out harsher than I intended. “But I want round–the–clock surveince on Virginia. And double security on Scarlett and Lily.”
“Already handled.”
“Good.” I end the call and sit in my car for a moment, staring up at Scarlett’s lit windows.
She’s up there trying tofort her daughter, trying to make sense of a world where people want to murder her for no reason she can understand. And I’m down here knowing exactly who’s responsible but unable to do anything about it yet.
The frustration is eating me alive.
I start the car and drive toward the hospital.
I need to see Jasper ke.
The hospital parking garage is nearly empty at this hour. My footsteps echo as I walk toward the elevator, each step weighted with thoughts I don’t want to examine too closely.
Jasper ke. The man who broke Scarlett’s heart but threw himself in front of a car to save her life. The father of her child. The man she loved before she met me.
The man she might still love, if I’m being honest with myself.
The ICU is quiet when I arrive. Visiting hours ended an hour ago, but money <i>and </i>connections open doors even in hospitals.
“I’m here to see Jasper ke,” I tell the night nurse.
< Chapter 140
“Are you family?”
“No, but-”
“I’m sorry, sir. Only immediate family after visiting hours<b>.</b><b>” </b>
+25 Points
I pull out my phone and make a quick call. Within five minutes, the hospital administrator appears, apologizing profusely and personally escorting me to Jasper’s room.
Money talks. Even here.
The room is dimly lit by the glow of medical equipment. ir sits in the chair beside the bed, asleep with her head resting on her folded arms. She looks older in the harsh hospital lighting, worn down by worry and guilt.
And in the bed, connected to monitors and IV lines, lies Jasper ke.
He looks smaller than I expected. Younger. The bandage around his head makes him seem vulnerable in a way that’s hard to reconcile with the sessful businessman I’ve beenpeting with for Scarlett’s heart.
But even unconscious, there’s something about him. Some quality that made Scarlett love him enough to marry him, have his child, fight for their rtionship for years.
Some quality that made him willing to die for her tonight.
I pull up a chair on the opposite side of the bed from ir and sit down to study the man who was Scarlett’s first love.
Violet Moon
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