Chapter 60
Cassandra had fallen asleep. She sat in the passenger seat, her head tilted gently to the side. Even in her sleep, there was a faint furrow between her brows.
Ryan pulled the car into his drive and switched off the engine, but he didn’t wake her. Instead, he just turned and watched her quietly.
He’d always known she was beautiful, but this was the first time he’d had the chance to study her up close like this, in such peaceful silence.
Her eyes were beautiful, and even with them closed, her long lashes stood out. She had a petite nose and small, full lips, though they were currently pale, leaving her looking worn out and fragile.
He regretted everything he’d done that day. He never should have invited her up to his suite, making her run around fixing the fridge and buying a coffee machine, all because he missed her.
If only he’d known she’d storm out in the middle of the night for a confrontation, he would have given her the afternoon off to rest.
But after 15 years, he would finally witness her divorce from Cameron.
Only he knew just how exhilarated he had been when he received that call. He felt alive again, with every cell in his body buzzing with anticipation.
Cassandra might have forgotten their very first encounter, but he hadn’t.
Back in secondary school, she’d drawn plenty of attention, being both pretty and clever. Plenty of guys gossiped about her, and the ladies grew jealous.
Eventually, a few spiteful classmates started spreading rumours, claiming that Cassandra was involved with older men outside school, and even that she’d had an abortion.
It was a strange sort of cruelty that seemed to haunt school life–beautiful women got slandered, while the less attractive ones were bullied.
Ryan couldn’t stand to hear those lies any longer. He decided to make an example of the loudest troublemaker and put a stop to it all.
He was limbering up, ready to rough up the worst offender, when the classroom door fl open with a bang.
Cassandra, who was still just a young woman but had a powerful presence, stormed in. With a cold expression, she strode over and splashed the guy’s face with liquid from a bottle in her hand.
The guy screamed, “What did you throw at me?”
Chapter of
“Concentrated sulphuric acid,” she said, eerily calm for someone so young, almost like a battle -hardened commander. “Scared now? Did you ever think about the damage your lies could do
to someone else?”
Hearing the words “sulphuric acid“, the guy panicked and started frantically wiping at his face with paper towels.
The classmates nearby scattered, some running for the washroom to rinse off, and others dashing to the teachers‘ office to report what had happened.
The guy was so terrified that he looked half dead. When he glanced back, he realised that everyone else had vanished, except for Ryan, who still stood at the back of the room.
The guy pleaded miserably, “Please call an ambulance. I’m begging you…”
But Ryan simply locked both classroom doors, then turned to Cassandra. “Whatever you want to do, go ahead. I’ve locked the doors. The teachers aren’t getting in.”
He watched as Cassandra picked up a mop handle and gave the guy a sound beating, not stopping until his nose was gushing blood and he was on his knees begging for mercy.
The teachers hammered at the doors outside. The headmaster and the year leader arrived, taking turns to scold her, threaten her, and try to talk her around.
But in the end, Ryan didn’t unlock the doors until Cassandra was completely spent.
The guy looked like he’d been through a meat grinder, crouched in the corner with his head in his hands, shivering in fear.
Cassandra stood tall with a mop handle in hand, looking for all the world like some victorious
warrior.
When the headmaster scolded her, she wasn’t at all intimidated. She simply said, “Mr. Griffin, you have a daughter, don’t you? If people said your daughter was sleeping with men outside school, or had an abortion, would you stay calm?”
The headmaster was silent.
In the end, all he said was, “Fighting is still wrong. And by the way, where did you get that sulphuric acid? Did you steal it from the science lab?”
Cassandra smiled. “If I’d really used sulphuric acid, his airway would’ve been charred by now. He wouldn’t be screaming like that.”
“So what did you use, then?”