Chapter 258 Chapter 258

Chapter 258 Chapter 258
He tightened his grip around her throat even further, his eyes glazed with rage, blaming her for all his own failures: “If it weren’t for your dirty trick, Caroline and I would still be together! You ruined my life!”
“Cough, cough… L-Let me go!” Claire’s eyes widened in mortal panic as she felt herself beginning to lose consciousness. Her survival instinct took over.
She began to struggle violently, screaming with the air she had left and kicking him wildly.
In the midst of her desperation, she raised her leg with all her might and slammed her knee squarely into Edward’s groin.
The excruciating, paralyzing pain hit the CEO instantly. Edward’s face turned pale as wax. He released her neck reflexively, doubling over and staggering backward with a muffled groan.
Freed from the stranglehold, Claire lost her balance and fell forward with a scream. The sound was loud and grotesque.
She slammed hard into the corner of the heavy glass coffee table and collapsed onto the office floor. Ironically, as she fell, her belly—the source of all the lies—was the first thing to make violent contact with the floor.
A sharp, intense pain shot through the actress’s body.
BANG!
The office door burst open. Several employees, secretaries, and João Miguel himself rushed inside upon hearing the commotion and the sounds of destruction.
They froze in the doorway, completely shocked by the scene of chaos: Claire was lying on the office floor, moaning in pain, while the untouchable and powerful President Collins was bent over, clutching his groin with a pale and humiliated expression.
After a long moment of stupor, João Miguel took a hesitant step forward and asked, frightened: “President Collins… are you all right?!”
The employees exchanged terrified glances. Were President Collins and Miss Ford beating each other up?!
Judging by the state of the office and the scene, the fight had been extremely violent. This shocked all the StarColi employees. Just ten minutes ago, everyone at the agency believed the two were the perfect couple and that Edward adored her blindly. Before that day, he had never even raised his voice at her.
The physical pain and the humiliation of having his intimacy and weakness exposed in front of his subordinates made Edward explode once again.
“Who the hell told you to come into my office?!” Edward roared at the employees, his face contorted with pain and shame. “Get out of here now! ALL OF YOU! OUT!”
The workers jumped in fright. Seeing the murderous rage in their boss’s eyes, they immediately backed away, slammed the door, and fled down the hallway, leaving the former perfect couple locked in with their own wreckage.
As the terrified employees hurried to leave the office, one of the secretaries looked back and froze. His eyes widened in sheer shock, and he exclaimed, his voice trembling: “M-Miss Ford! My God, what happened to you?!”
Still bent over and in pain, Edward noticed the drastic change in the employee’s tone and looked down.
The blood drained from his face.
He saw Claire curled up on the marble floor, right next to the corner of the glass coffee table. She was clutching her own belly, moaning in agony. But what made everyone’s stomach turn was the fact that bright red bloodstains were blooming alarmingly fast on the immaculate fabric of her white jumpsuit.
She lifted her pale, cold-sweat-drenched face toward Edward, her eyes brimming with genuine pain. “Edward… I’m in pain. My stomach hurts so much…”
As she gasped, the bloodstains grew, spreading across her designer clothes and dripping onto the floor. The bright red color was grotesque and terrifying.
But Edward’s initial shock lasted only a second.
His expression hardened again. He frowned, cynicism clouding his judgment. In his mind, the doctor had just confirmed that the pregnancy was a fraud. So what was that blood? A fake amniotic sac? A cheap charade to simulate a miscarriage and cover up her own lie?!
“Do you really think I’m stupid enough to fall for your sick little act again?” Edward growled, looking at her with utter contempt. “You’ll never change, will you, Claire? You’ve been exposed, yet you still have the audacity to keep lying and acting right this very moment!”
Claire turned even paler, the excruciating pain tearing at her insides. With a trembling, blood-stained hand, she crawled a few inches and grabbed the hem of Edward’s pants. “Edward… no… I’m not lying. It hurts so much… help me.”
The employees standing at the door saw the pool of blood forming and the woman’s ghostly expression. One of them swallowed hard and intervened, terrified: “M-Mr. Collins… President, with all due respect… I don’t think Miss Ford is faking it! That cut looks deep!”
“Edward… please… help me…”
Claire’s voice faltered, reduced to a weak, raspy whisper from blood loss and pain. As soon as she finished the sentence, her eyes rolled back and she lost consciousness completely, collapsing at his feet.
...
While all hell was breaking loose on the StarColi executive floor, the atmosphere in the college dorm was one of pure anticipation.
Caroline thought StarColi would respond immediately to the leak of the dossier, sending its Public Relations team in full force to cover up the situation. After all, Edward’s crisis management team was famous for being lethal and extremely fast. In the hotel incident, within half a day, they had managed to twist the narrative, transforming Claire from a shrew who caused a scene into a “wronged victim.”
They had the power to do so. It was just a matter of figuring out what strategy StarColi would use to save her this time.
However, to Caroline’s surprise, three hours had already passed since the news broke all over the internet… and the agency hadn’t taken any action.
There hadn’t been a single official statement. The accounts for StarColi, Edward, and Claire remained completely silent and inactive.
It was as if they were completely oblivious to the fact that the world was on fire.
But that was impossible. Battalions of reporters and TV station vans were already camped out at StarColi’s doorstep. The agency’s management was certainly aware.
StarColi’s inactivity and silence were fascinating and intriguing.