Charlene dug her nails deep into her palm, her face going pale. ”Bren!” she called out as she stepped forward. “The media is here! We have to go—now—before someone notices you here in the hospital and we have no idea how to explain it!A storm of impatience and frustration pooled in Brendan’s eyes. Why was the media here?He turned to Deirdre sharply. “Come back to me. There’s still time.”“No, thanks, Mr. Brighthall,” Sterling parried pointedly. His back—his entire body, in fact—still hurt from the impact, but he would not compromise when it came to protecting Deirdre. He hugged her even more tightly. He shot Brendan a steely glare, his eyes sharp as daggers. “You have no reason to trouble yourself, Mr. Brighthall. I’ll take care of Dee just fine.”“Sterling Fuller! You son of a b*tch! You think you’re worth jacksh*t to be able to defy me?!” Brendan bellowed. He was livid. Then, the media broke inside, getting stuck on the backdoor in a stampede. They wielded their camera stic

The voice sounded youthful. It belonged to a woman—a furious young woman.Deirdre could feel her heart shrinking in dread. “Who are you?”“Who am I? Who am I?!” Eva Heinemann sized Deirdre up with unreserved contempt. “Sterling is doomed because of you! Because of a stupid, irritating blind woman like you!”Deirdre grabbed the fabric of her own dress. “What happened to Sterry?”“What happened? Ha! Do you know how much Sterling has sacrificed to protect you? They took his picture—the media took his picture and spread it all over the internet, and now he’s doxxed! The internet is canceling him! Do you know how big of a deal this is to a doctor? Saving and curing people is literally his job! And now, thanks to you, he can’t ever work in a public hospital again!“And that Brendan Brighthall—he led the charge to cancel the Fuller family! Do you know that? Any deal his business ventures made that was even remotely connected to the Fullers has been automatically voided, but oh, there is

The man sounded impassioned, and yet Deirdre shivered. She was terrified. She took a deep breath and pushed the door open. Brendan had been waiting for a long time, his legs perfectly overlapping atop one another, his eyes settling on Deirdre’s suitcase before they turned stormy. His hands around the armrests tightened. “You even packed all your things!” He mocked her. “Lemme guess. Had nothing ruined your plan—say, had Sterling not gotten into the biggest trouble of his life—the two of you would have been on your way, merrily eloping!”Deirdre instinctively stepped between him and her suitcase. She dropped her eyes low and ignored his remark altogether. “Leave Sterry alone, okay?”“Sterry?” The intimacy of that nickname made Brendan’s ears bleed. He grazed the black diamond hooped over his ring finger and fidgeted with it slowly, almost as though to let out some of the fury burning in his eyes. “Why should I? He challenged me, didn’t he? Strutting around like some big d*mn white

“Sh*t, you don’t want this?” Brendan growled. His hands had turned into fists, and his eyes were nailed on Deirdre.This woman had scraped her knees for Sterling. Stripped for Sterling. She had no f*cking concept of shame if it meant he would leave that b*stard alone. And yet, the moment he wanted her to please him sexually—she balked!She balked at the thought of pleasing him, Brendan Brighthall! She balked as though she was refusing to court the Devil himself! Did she know just how many women would throw themselves at him and see the invitation as a privilege? So many women would wish they were in Deirdre’s place right now, stripping and teasing and pleasing him!He laughed mockingly. “God, you’re so pretentious. Fancy yourself a chaste, devoted maiden dying to preserve her purity now?”Deirdre’s face suddenly paled. A long beat later, she finally said, “Don’t you feel disgusted by the way I look, Mr. Brighthall? It’s… It’s one thing to make me grovel, but… this? Why must you…?”

The receptionist kindly escorted Deirdre to the front door. She thanked the former before adding, “Can you tell me where the closest pharmacy is?”The receptionist was not sure why she needed one, but she gave her the required directions either way. With help from her walking stick, Deirdre made her way to the pharmacy and asked for some morning-after pills. Despite how soft her voice was, it managed to attract some attention. A gang of teenage hoodlums made no attempt to hide their laughter. “Why would an ugly b*tch need morning-after pills?”Deirdre ignored them and went out of the store. She wasted no time, downing the pill without even asking for a glass of water. Yes, her tormented body was hardly fertile anymore, but she would not take even a one-in-a-thousand chance of bearing the Devil’s spawn. The receptionist had not actually left. She stood at a distance and watched Deirdre discard the pill package, feeling bewildered. After Deirdre left in a cab, she went to that exac

The call was connected. Brendan gnashed his teeth as he said, “Where the hell are you, McKinnon?!”Deirdre said nothing. At the end of her silence came a click—and the call was hung up by her.She stuck the phone back into her pocket, feeling disappointed that it was not Sterling. How was he? Was he okay? She had no idea how he was.The only silver lining right now was how well-known the Fuller family really was in the city. Even a run-of-the-mill cab driver knew exactly where to take Deirdre when she asked him to take her to their house.She paid the driver, who told her where the doorbell was, and pressed it. There was a series of quick footsteps, accompanied by a voice thick with annoyance. “Which nutcase is it this time? It’s like they all think they can just ring whenever they feel like it!”“I’m sorry,” Deirdre huffed, feeling anxious. “I… I just wanted… to know where Sterling is? He’s not picking up his phone—”“Sterling?” The maid scoffed. It was palpable just how little

Brendan was so infuriated that his eyes turned beet red. He had never been relegated to second place by a woman before. He had never felt this way before!“Is that how important that son of a b*tch is to you?! You’re acting as if you’ll die if you aren’t with him!”Deirdre clenched her hands into fists. The way the maid had spoken—combined with how inferiorly he was treated in his own family—implied that he had suffered some serious bodily harm. And yet, Brendan did not give a d*mn about his suffering! He had always been like this! He’d always treated everyone else’s lives as insignificant and expendable! His apathy infuriated Deirdre. “You’re damn right, Brendan! I’ll die if I’m not with him! There, I said it! But what’s your excuse? You promised me, but did you do what you said you would?!”“McKinnon!” Brendan growled and tightened his hold around her arms. His blood was boiling. “You just keep testing my patience, don’t you? Do you know how easy it would be for me to make the

The room seemed suspended in shock. No one would even remotely react in any way, and Deirdre looked like a forest nymph who had jumped out of a masterfully-crafted painting, but she… Well…Richard was the first to compare Deirdre’s height and figure to the unknown individual Sterling had shielded in the video that topped the hot search online. He then reeled in realization.No wonder that moron had attracted so much of Mr. Brighthall’s ire. Richard had been mystified to see Sterling’s name gone viral, but now he knew why. That idiot had stolen Mr. Brighthall’s girl! What really made Richard furious was not just the stupidity of it all. It was the girl this whole fight had been about! F*ck, of all the girls his b*stard son could have gotten into a fight for, he had to pick this freakshow and drag the entire family through the mud over… her!He whispered something to his maid before facing Brendan with a smile. “I see. I’ll have him over right this instant. It won’t take long, so he

Malice poured out of Brendan’s eyes. He looked less like a man and more like a monster braying for blood. “I let you off the hook, Sterling! How dare you spit on my goodwill! How f*cking dare you take my woman?!”Pain burned Sterling’s cheek, but it did nothing to hold him back. He snickered. “Your woman? Oh, I see! Being forced to do someone else’s time for a crime she didn’t commit is a perk of being your woman, huh? Being dehumanized as your means of entertainment is also the sort of thing ‘your woman’ should do, right? God, is it just me, or is being ‘your woman’ the cruelest torment anyone could ever suffer?”Brendan’s eyes turned bloodshot. He then attacked again.Sterling was no match for him in a fight, but he did not let that stop him from putting up a fight. Everyone else in the room, including Deirdre, was too aghast to react. She had to stop Sterling from angering Brendan even further. After all, it would be all too easy for someone as obscenely powerful as Brendan to

“Detest you? Who detests you?” asked Brendan.“Who?” Deirdre almost burst into laughter. “Do you have even half of Sterling’s courage? Enough courage to take me out there? Introduce me to everyone? Do you even have the guts to tell the world my name—my real name?”Brendan froze. Of course, he did not. Deirdre already knew his answer and answered herself, “No. You don’t.” A mocking sneer surfaced on her features, pulling Brendan out of his stupor. He clutched the steering wheel tightly, his tone disbelieving. “How dare you, McKinnon?! How dare you compare me to a b*stard child not recognized even by his own family?! Do you know just how—how different the two of us are?! Do you really think he would have a blind woman as his girlfriend if he were me? Pfft! He wouldn’t even have the balls to admit that you were his woman!”Brendan did not put much thought into his words, but they came out like a knife stabbing deep into Deirdre’s chest. She was a blind woman who would never be reco