Encore of the Avenging Muse (Sylvia and Rupert)

Chapter 24

By the time he slumped unconscious beneath the seats, Sylvia finally ceased her assault. She adjusted her clothes, stumbling and rolling out of the car.

As she propped herself up, not a word could escape her lips; dragging a blood-soaked, deformed purse, she shuffled step by step towards the exit.

Halfway there, a car's dome light suddenly flickered on across the way.

Sylvia shielded her eyes momentarily, and then, as her vision adjusted, she saw Rupert, impeccably dressed, stepping out of his vehicle, in stark contrast to her disheveled state. Their eyes met, and Rupert frowned. It wasn't until the sound of police sirens filled the air that Sylvia snapped back to reality.

A gloved officer approached her, extending a hand, "Ms. Lloyd, we need the evidence you're holding."

"Is he dead?" Sylvia asked coldly.

"No, he's been taken to the ER."

Noticing her distressed state, the officer's response was cautious.

Sylvia nodded, though a tension remained in her mind.

her purse into an evidence bag, offhandedly remarked, "Lucky the call came in

latched onto

in?" she

was leaning against his car smoking, and without saying

callously, his black suit exuding a forbidding aura,

briefly flitting over the swelling on her forehead, and remarked sarcastically, "Quite the catch, isn't he?

the tension in her mind finally

blood, she quivered her lips while gazing at him, "You saw me, didn't you? While you were entangled

Rupert silently acknowledged.

into cold laughter; head down, she casually wiped away

this my punishment for defying you? A reminder of what happens when I cross you? What do you want then? For me to kneel and apologize? If that's the case, you could've said so." Stepping back to put distance between

cold and deep, his expression turning stormy like

walk past to somewhere else. But he grabbed her hand, pulling

to

loved him? Did

She shouldn't have agreed to the dinner with

her neatly adjusted collar coming undone