Chapter 288
"On your knees."
"Lick it clean!"
Bruce Bowman's voice was like a poisoned ice pick, stabbing straight into Bella Quinn's heart.
Susan Thompson trembled with rage, but her legs were too weak to stand after the fall. Blood dripped from her reopened wrist wound.
Bella was forced down, her knees slamming against the marble floor. She bit her lip, eyes burning.
For a moment, she was eight years old again.
In the earthquake ruins, she'd clawed through rubble to rescue a boy with injured eyes. He'd called her "Little Crescent," his voice as gentle as her grandmother's lullabies.
She never regretted saving him.
Not even when he forced her to jump into the sea.
But now—she did.
She regretted saving a devil.
A devil who murdered his own child.
"Bella Quinn, lick it clean! Apologize to Michelle!" Bruce's command dragged her back to reality.
Bella suddenly laughed.
How absurd. He always demanded apologies from her. But who would apologize for her pain?
"Bruce, I did nothing wrong." She lifted her head, eyes hollow. "Even if I drenched her in filth, she deserved it!"
A vein throbbed at Bruce's temple. Michelle's sobs grated on his nerves.
"Calvin, step aside. She's doing this today."
Calvin Grant glanced at the sticky mess on Michelle's shoes, chest heaving.
"Have you lost your mind?" He shielded Bella behind him. "No one touches the woman I love."
Bruce felt an inexplicable irritation.
"So my woman deserves to be humiliated? Bella, kneel!"
Before he finished, a fist smashed into his face.
Andrew Lucas appeared in the hallway, fury blazing in his eyes. Ethan Sullivan and Calvin's punches followed.
"Susan!" Ethan rushed to help her up.
Andrew's outstretched hand froze midair before he withdrew it with a bitter smile.
Calvin stood guard before Bella, voice sharp as a blade. "Bruce, you're getting dumber by the day."
Bruce wiped blood from his lip, gaze venomous.
As they faced off, Bella slowly rose. She looked at Bruce, the last light in her eyes extinguishing.
"Bruce, the Little Crescent who saved you is dead."