Claire Shaw lifted her eyes and saw that longed-for face, her heart burst with anxiety, and she hurriedly got up from the ground to run towards Ethan Blackwood.
"Ethan..."
However, she overlooked her physical condition; her body was full of wounds, and as she had just risen, a severe pain shot through her foot.
Coupled with dizziness from crouching for too long, her body suddenly lunged towards the roadside mud pit.
"Luna!!!"
Ethan Blackwood finally reached her side in haste, as Claire Shaw fell into his familiar embrace.
Long-held tears finally slid down at this mont.
Ethan Blackwood was already going crazy; Claire Shaw’s disheveled state was apparent to the naked eye.
She had disappeared for so long, he didn’t care whether she had been aggrieved or not, he just looked at the scars all over Claire Shaw’s body, his heart aching again and again.
The delicate girl had a large wound sliced open on her arm and blood seeping from her foot.
Like a discarded rag doll, Ethan Blackwood didn’t even dare to use force, afraid of hurting her.
"Does it hurt a lot? I’m sorry, I ca late."
Ethan Blackwood embraced her carefully, checking her body’s wounds with his gaze.
In the high beam light, rain poured down, Claire Shaw hugged Ethan Blackwood’s neck tightly, tearful.
"It hurt a lot, but seeing you, it doesn’t hurt anymore."
Claire Shaw was like a child bullied in kindergarten, able to endure before an adult arrived, but feeling imnsely aggrieved once the adult was there, big tears rolling down.
Seeing her like this made Ethan Blackwood’s heart ache even more, he knelt and picked Claire Shaw up, "Don’t be afraid, I’ll take you ho."
Claire Shaw was carried into the SUV, and at that mont the door closed, unnoticed was a tall man standing at the edge of the forest.
The man adeptly twirled a black claw knife between his fingers, the blade tracing a sharp curve in the night.
Watching Claire Shaw being carried into the car, he sighed lightly: "Kiddo, am I late?"
The car was stocked with dicine.
Seeing the wound on Claire Shaw’s arm, he took a deep breath, feeling a pain greater than the bullet that once narrowly missed his heart.
The marks seed pulled out by so sharp blade; fortunately, they weren’t deep and didn’t require stitches.
But with so much blood lost, Ethan Blackwood watched feeling flushed with heat, wishing he were the one injured.
As he disinfected her, when the antiseptic solution touched the wound, Claire Shaw shivered painfully all over, teary-eyed she fixed on Ethan Blackwood: "It hurts..."
Ethan Blackwood gently blew on it, "Darling, bear with it, it must be disinfected, otherwise it’ll get infected."
Claire Shaw nodded, biting her lip, Ethan Blackwood’s touch light as it was, couldn’t ward off the pain.
The young girl didn’t cry out, just had tears rolling down her pointed chin.
Ethan Blackwood dared not take another look, quickly bandaging her up.
He lifted Claire Shaw’s foot, she reflexively pulled it back; she’d been running all the way, through puddles and mud, her foot must be very dirty.
"Don’t, my foot is a bit dirty..."
Ethan Blackwood pulled her ankle onto his lap, "Dirty? My darling is clean everywhere."
As he spoke, he cleaned the mud off her foot with disinfecting wipes, watching her toes reappear one by one, Ethan Blackwood felt no disdain, only heartache.
If it wasn’t for wanting to buy that tie clip for him, she wouldn’t have faced such a hardship.
Ultimately, it was his fault, he thought she’d be safe just for a few hours, little realizing soone would seize the chance.
With the pain from her foot wound too much, Claire Shaw had to change the subject, "Ethan, how did you find ? Who is trying to kill ?"
"She isn’t trying to kill you, she wants to ruin you!"
Claire Shaw widened her eyes, urgently grabbing Ethan Blackwood’s wrist and asked, "You’ve found out? Who is it?"
"Yasmin Yorke."
"It’s actually her."
This answer was sowhat unexpected, Claire Shaw could guess she would snitch to the principal, but didn’t think she’d pull off such an abduction.
"This afternoon, Yasmin learned your location through Mia Hughes’ social dia post, out of jealousy, she hired so thugs to abduct you, planning to assault you and take pictures."
Ethan Blackwood didn’t ask what happened after Claire Shaw was abducted, as a man he might care, but he knew Claire Shaw was the victim, what she needed was care, not interrogation.
Even if Claire Shaw had been defiled today, he wouldn’t despise her, only feel heartache, bla himself for not protecting Claire Shaw well.
Claire Shaw gritted her teeth with hatred: "Is she crazy, all because of Owen Crawford?"
That night in the hotel, the one having an affair with Owen Crawford must have been her!
She saw Claire Shaw et with Owen Crawford, sched, intending to strike at her.
Unexpectedly, Claire Shaw proactively resigned, leaving no opportunity for Yasmin to retaliate, hence today she took a risky step.
As long as Owen Crawford saw that Claire Shaw was sullied by other filthy n, he would no longer have any obsession with her.
"Yes, for Owen."
Ethan Blackwood finished applying the ointnt to her foot and brought up so photos on his phone.
All of them were of Yasmin Yorke secretly eting with Owen Crawford, several tis entering the sa hotel within a five-minute interval.
The tistamps on the surveillance footage showed that Owen Crawford had started his affair with Yasmin long before he cheated on Stella Sutton.
Claire Shaw felt a chill down her spine; Owen Crawford was like an onion.
He appeared smooth on the surface, but peeling back the layers revealed he had no heart at all. The man was terrifying.
It turned out that when Yasmin Yorke sent him photos in seductive lingerie, he professed loyalty to Claire Shaw on the surface while secretly having an affair with Yasmin!
That night had not been their first; they had done it many tis behind her back.
Even though Claire Shaw did not truly love this man, he was her boyfriend in na, and she felt utterly disgusted.
Now everything made sense, why Yasmin Yorke was always targeting her at school.
It wasn’t just because she thought Claire was lucky to have Owen Crawford, but because, outwardly, Claire was his acknowledged girlfriend.
Since Claire couldn’t be intimate with him, she beca a re pasti for Owen Crawford, never able to make it to the public eye.
The reason for finding Yasmin was not only to keep tabs on Claire but also to be a tool to damage her.
Claire Shaw’s hand holding the phone trembled; she couldn’t believe human nature could be so vile until she saw those photos.
She choked, "I thought Owen truly loved , but I never expected..."
The feeling of her heart being torn was the sa as that night when Owen confronted her, marking the extinction of humanity and the collapse of her worldview.
Ethan Blackwood sensed her emotional turmoil and pulled her into his arms, "Don’t cry, don’t be afraid, Luna, there’s only one Owen Crawford in the world, and only one Ethan Blackwood. I won’t treat you like that."
Claire Shaw never felt secure; her only relationship was now shattering all her perceptions, so it was normal for her to be upset.
"But people always change. Maybe at this mont, you truly love , but the next mont..."
"The next mont, this lifeti, I, Ethan Blackwood, will always love you. If I dare to betray you, may I be left with no place to be buried, and be childless..."
Claire Shaw covered his mouth, pointing to the thunderstorm outside, "Aren’t you afraid of a lightning strike?"
Ethan Blackwood shook his head, "I am not afraid. I am not like those boys, like Owen Crawford, who only know the desires in front of them. Luna, I am very clear about what I want."
"But what if soone offers themselves? How many n could resist?" Claire thought of Yasmin Yorke’s artificial face.
"Owen’s taste is heavy, seems like he’d eat anything." She silently mocked, "Just don’t know how to eat sothing good."
Ethan Blackwood felt relieved seeing she still knew how to joke.
"Do you think there were no won who offered themselves before you?"
Claire stared at him, Ethan’s gaze was as deep as the sea, as he reached out to stroke her dirty little face.
"I can live without other won, but I can’t live without Ms. Shaw. If it wasn’t you, I wouldn’t settle for anyone else."
Claire’s shattered heart seed to be gently enveloped, gradually growing warm.
She gently leaned into Ethan’s embrace, "Aren’t you going to ask what happened during that ti?"
Once she asked, Ethan’s body tensed up noticeably.
He was nervous and scared; earlier, he’d refrained from asking to maintain her dignity.
How could Claire not know his concerns?
"Ethan, if I really were..."
Ethan instinctively tightened his arm around her waist, "It doesn’t matter, I don’t care, I love you for who you are, as long as you’re safe."
Claire lifted her head from his embrace, touching his rugged cheek, "I wasn’t touched. Soone saved ."
"Who?"
"I don’t know."
Claire shook her head, "My eyes were covered, and my hands were tied. He deliberately changed his voice, untied , and left. When I removed the blindfold, I found those thugs had already been dealt with by him. Before leaving, he left a flashlight so I could safely run out."
"Oh! The thugs are still alive. They’re barely breathing; they must know who he is."
Claire realized after calming down a bit from the shock.
As soon as she finished speaking, a loud explosion echoed, thundering through the mountains, as if the earth were shattering.
It was as if a bomb had been dropped, and Claire instinctively clung to Ethan’s arm.
She and Ethan quickly looked outside the window, across the river, to the edge of the forest where she had just escaped, a fire and smoke rising.
Ethan’s phone rang, and when he answered, Finn Pierce’s voice ca through, "Boss, the abandoned factory has been destroyed. I’m afraid those people are long gone without a trace!"
So the only lead was lost.
A complex mystery savior had rescued Claire Shaw and destroyed all the evidence.
Ethan Blackwood’s gaze turned shadowy and deep, "Who is this person?"
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