Jason stopped in front of Finn, a shard of cold light hidden in his shadowed gaze. His thin lips tugged slightly. "Your business—solve it yourselves."
After he stepped out of the private room, Kristen let out a quiet breath. Seemed he didn't want Finn knowing she'd gotten into his car, either.
"If you don't let me go, the whole world will know tomorrow that Grace is a homewrecker who seduced someone else's boyfriend."
Finn's body went rigid; the blood seemed to drain and rush back all at once, sobering him instantly.
While he faltered, Kristen shook off his hand, a cool, mocking curve lifting her lips.
So he did care about Grace—very much.
Finn's dark eyes fixed on her, his voice tightening with a chill. "Grace isn't that. Don't talk nonsense."
"Whether it's nonsense or not, you know perfectly well," Kristen said, her gaze stripped of the softness it once held for him, left only with ice. "Handle the trending topic online properly—or I'll make sure her fans learn just how much their goddess likes sending nude photos to other people's boyfriends."
She turned to leave.
Finn grabbed her wrist, eyes narrowing. "You kept the chat logs?"
Kristen didn't deny it and yanked her hand free with effort. "Tell Ethan Qin to stop calling me. I don't want to see you again."
As she turned, Finn's voice dropped, edged with anger. "Kristen, delete the chat logs."
Her steps paused. She looked back into his angry eyes, and a wave of bitterness and sorrow welled up.
He claimed to love her, but all he worried about was Grace—terrified the logs might leak and Grace would be spat on by the public.
"As long as you two stop flaunting yourselves in front of me, I promise I won't—"
Before she could finish, Finn lunged, tore her bag from her hands, and pulled out her phone.
"Hey, what are you doing?" Kristen hadn't expected him to just grab her bag. She reached to take the phone back, but he stepped away and easily unlocked it.
Both their phone passwords were their dating anniversary. She hadn't had time to change hers.
"Give me my phone."
"Delete the logs and I'll give it back," Finn said, opening her gallery to search for the evidence.
Kristen watched the tense panic on his face and couldn't help a short, cold laugh.
"What are you laughing at?" His attention snapped to her.
She was laughing at his obsession with Grace—and at her own past naivete.
She had actually believed he truly loved her—enough that after marrying him, she would quit the industry, stay home, and be the perfect wife.
"You think I'd keep something that important on my phone?"
Finn's eyes narrowed. "Kristen."
His voice was taut, threaded with anger and helplessness.
"I've stored the logs in the cloud. As long as you two don't disgust me again—"
He was distracted; Kristen suddenly kicked hard at his calf.
"Hiss—"
Finn doubled over with pain, and Kristen snatched her phone back and ran.
"Kristen! Kristen—get back here!"
She glanced once at Finn's furious face, then sprinted without looking back.
She ran all the way out of The One, breathless—almost colliding with a sudden shadow.
"Miss Liang, Mr. Jin is asking you to get in."
Kristen followed the man's gaze to the curb, where a Maybach waited. The window wasn't down, yet she could almost feel the hawk-like eyes behind the glass fixed on her.
She didn't want to get in—but there was no choice.
Finn could come out any second.
Steeling herself, Kristen climbed in. She didn't notice her foot catch; she lurched—and fell straight into a shadowed figure beside her.
An arm locked around her waist. In the next heartbeat she was pulled cleanly into the man's embrace, her hips settling onto his solid thigh.
"Sorry…"
Heat rushed to her face. She scrambled to get off him—only to hear his low, cool voice by her ear:
"This is your thank-you? Throwing yourself into my arms?"
- Finn: "Jason, help explain things to Kris for me…"
- Jason: "Wife, I can testify—he really is a scumbag."
- Finn: "…"
( End of Chapter )