Encore of the Avenging Muse (Sylvia and Rupert)

"Send me the recording in a bit," Rupert said flatly.

Freya, eyes red and watery, looked utterly pitiful. "Mr. Rupert, I swear, I had no idea Sylvia would do something this insane. It's just—I couldn't take her teaming up with others to push me out. That's why I went to ask her to back off today. I never thought she'd use that to hurt Ms. Simpson."

"Who?" Rupert's gaze turned sharp as a knife.

Freya froze, caught off guard. "Who... what?"

"Who did she team up with? Give me the names."

"I..." Freya's shoulders began to shake.

Right then, the surgery room doors slammed open and a doctor rushed out, looking frantic.

"I'm so sorry, Mr. Rupert. We couldn't save the baby. And now the patient is in critical condition—she's losing a lot of blood and needs a transfusion immediately."

A nurse came running down the hall, clutching bags of blood.

Rupert's father, Tristan, heard the news and snapped. He didn't care about decorum anymore. He grabbed one of the blood bags and hurled it at Sylvia, hitting her square in the head.

"This family's been torn apart because of you!" he shouted, voice cracking. "I should've kicked you and your mother out the first day I met you!"

bag burst on one of the hairpins in Sylvia's hair, drenching her in cold, sticky blood. It trickled down her face, icy and humiliating. She stared at the fearful, judgmental faces

Her eyes went hollow, empty-like the surface of a pond on a windless day. All the fight drained right

Rupert stepped in, blocking him with a

was your child. Is

wasting any more time on people who don't matter. Bridget's

gave an inch, until finally,

to Orson,

the shoving is a gray area, but the drugs prove she planned all this. She shouldn't be

whose gaze was cold and unrelenting, as if he wouldn't rest until

didn't flinch. "Fine

a couple days in a cell. It's

herself, to explain. But the words stuck in

She'd already

returned

he said,

deepened, but he

ordered quietly, his tone

like a ghost, letting Orson guide her away. She didn't look back at