Love Beyond the Mask by Adelaide Sinclair

Chapter 749

"Can't you see?" Whitney grumbled, awkwardly pinned beneath him. Every word she spoke brushed his lips in an all too intimate way, flushing her cheeks an even deeper shade of red. "I can barely breathe with you on me, let me up!"

"Right... Sorry." Ludwik eased off her gently.

He winced as he got to his feet, softly patting her back. "Feeling better?"

"..." Seriously, she should be asking him that, considering he was the one who needed rescuing.

Whitney was a bit dazed. His sincere and graceful care for her was just like it had been three years ago.

Her heart skipped a beat, swatting away his hand, "Now that you're awake, you're obviously fine.

Be more careful next time. Inhaling smoke from a fire is no joke. And don't try to play the hero; you could have died."

"Thank you, Whitney... Did you really stop because you couldn't bear the thought of looking in the rearview mirror and not seeing me there, finding me passed out on the side of the road?"

"..." She really regretted saving this shameless man again.

"Ha! As if I was the one who found you. Shane did! He was about to give you CPR, but it was too embarrassing, so I stepped in," Whitney glared at him.

At that moment, Shane, lurking nearby with his tall frame, made his presence known.

Hearing her, Ludwik glanced at Shane's disparaging look, his playful smile morphing into embarrassment. "Why are you always everywhere?"

"..." Shane was on the verge of exploding.

Grinding his teeth, he managed a smile, "I should've just given you that CPR, disgusted you a bit. If it weren't for me convincing Whitney, she wouldn't have stopped to help you."

"Yeah. All thanks to Shane's generous heart," Whitney quickly disassociated.

a shadow of disappointment in his gaze as he looked at

head back to the

cough, my throat still hurts," Ludwik feigned a

Whitney rolled her eyes at him. Despite the fall and his crumpled shirt, his posture

his charm

and turned to Shane, "Just let him in

"... Ludwik, do you have no shame? Do you

a ride to someone

strategy had worked on Whitney but

it's a tactic worth learning for future use,

his place behind the wheel, the car heading down

the way, Whitney pretended to admire the scenery or checked

look, Shane

break the awkward silence, Shane, ever the peacemaker, started, "Ludwik, why were you out there alone? Where's your driver?" "Lost my phone in the explosion, can't contact anyone right now,"

or maybe Jason. I'll drop you

declined, staring out the window, "No need. Just drop me at the hospital. I'm not exactly on good terms with my old man, and my grandma's sick. No one's around to care. And the one person I

with a

hit

Whitney: "..."

to look

her, nearly failing to suppress a

back from retorting, not wanting

at the nearby

a sigh of relief; finally, this man

for sympathy, "Whitney, could you lend me some money? Lost my wallet and phone in the blast, can't pay for treatment." Whitney stared at him incredulously, "Ludwik, do you think I'm an idiot? You're a Lippert, for heaven's sake. Even if you've hit rock bottom, any hospital would recognize

was trying to get her attention, to make her

not lying. This isn't a Lippert-owned hospital," Ludwik