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.

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

latched onto

in?" she asked, turning to the

leaning against his car smoking, and without saying more, secured the

exuding a forbidding

her, his gaze briefly flitting over the swelling on her forehead, and remarked

Sylvia heard his words, the tension in her

while gazing at

Rupert silently acknowledged.

casually

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 them, she bowed, her voice thick with emotion, and laughed bitterly, "I was wrong. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have

Rupert's voice was cold and deep, his expression turning stormy like

to walk past to somewhere else. But he grabbed her hand, pulling her in front of him with a warning tone, "Cut it out." Cut

to be a scapegoat in

him? Did she deserve this

she did. She shouldn't have agreed to the dinner

her neatly adjusted collar coming