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Chapter 21
“Fiona!”
Quentin appeared out of nowhere, lunging forward to pull Fiona into his arms. The impact sent them both stumbling backward, his lower back slamming against a
fire hydrant with a painful thud.
Everything happened so fast that Fiona didn’t have time to process it. Just as she was about to demand an explanation, she watched in shock as Quentin whirled around and struck Daisy across the face with a resounding slap.
“Who the hell gave you permission to hurt Fiona?” Quentin’s fingers wrapped around Daisy’s throat, his eyes blazing with murderous intent.
Fearing the scene would attract police attention, Fiona yanked him away. “Whatever drama you two have going on, leave me out of it! I don’t have time to
waste on your games!”
Daisy’s face flushed red as she gasped for air, but even then, she managed to maintain her victim act, forcing tears to her eyes. “Quentin, you’ve got it all wrong.
Fiona was the one who-”
“Enough!” Quentin cut her off, his voice trembling with rage. “How much longer are you going to keep lying to me?”
That morning, Zachary had already uncovered everything about Daisy’s past. She was far from the perfect angel she’d pretended to be. Since high school, she’d left. a trail of broken relationships in her wake. Any man who’d shown interest in Fiona, Daisy had methodically seduced, just like she’d done with Lockhart.
Quentin had just been another name on her list.
Even their supposed “chance meeting” wasn’t the innocent encounter she’d claimed, where she’d been working her way through college. The truth was, run away with a struggling musician, and when the harsh reality of that life became too much, she’d fled. After learning Quentin was in the area, she’d
carefully orchestrated their “accidental” meeting.
he’d
Learning the truth had nearly driven Quentin mad with fury. But right now, that wasn’t his priority. He’d been desperate to find Fiona and explain everything about
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their past. By some twist of fate, he’d ended up saving her instead.
не
“Stop the act, Daisy. You never loved me,” he spat. “You just used me to hurt Fiona!”
“I was such a fool,” he continued, his voice breaking. “I threw away someone who truly loved me for… for someone like you.”
Fiona watched them both, her heart a storm of conflicting emotions. The three of them had been tangled in this web for over twenty years. One was the man she’d once loved more than anything, the other the woman she’d hated with every fiber of her being.
But now, looking at them, her former love seemed almost laughable, and the object of her hatred merely pitiful. How things had changed.
For someone like Daisy, life was nothing but an endless battlefield. Every day was another fight, another conflict, another war to wage.
Love? She didn’t know the meaning of the word. Couldn’t comprehend its essence. It was as foreign to her as peace itself.
In her twisted worldview, every woman was an enemy combatant, and stealing away some worthless man was her idea of victory. A hollow triumph in a
meaningless war of her own making.
She had completely forgotten – or perhaps never realized that beyond these toxic men lay a vast world of possibilities, a universe of opportunities just waiting to be discovered.
And Quentin? What of him?
He was nothing but a wolf in sheep’s clothing, wrapped in designer suits and expensive cologne. A man who thought himself above others while wallowing in his own greed and selfishness. Beneath his polished exterior lurked something far more sinister – a predator masquerading as a gentleman.
Fiona stared directly into Quentin’s eyes, her voice dripping with contempt as she delivered each word with precision: “You make me sick to my stomach.” With that final verdict delivered, she turned on her heel, ready to walk away from
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But fate had other plans. A police cruiser suddenly pulled up, blocking her path to freedom.
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