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.

officer, while placing her purse into an evidence bag, offhandedly remarked, "Lucky the call came in when

latched onto

called it in?" she asked, turning to

Rupert, who was leaning against his car smoking, and without saying more, secured

and approached Sylvia callously, his black suit exuding a forbidding

flitting over the swelling on her forehead, and

words, the tension in her

blood, she quivered her lips while gazing at him, "You saw

Rupert silently acknowledged.

head down, she casually wiped away the blood

apologize? If that's the case, you could've said so." Stepping back

deep, his expression turning stormy like

else. But he grabbed her hand, pulling her in front of him with a warning tone,

comply? Refused to be a

because she had loved him? Did she

did. She shouldn't have agreed to the dinner with Naomi, shouldn't

neatly adjusted collar