Shattered Longings

Chapter 28 I Bet You’ll Die

It was Leonard.

The troublemakers all stood up and began to close in on him. Seeing the situation take a turn for the worse, Bella rushed forward to stand in front of Leonard to block the group.

“Don’t do anything stupid!” she shouted. “I’ll pay you the money, but if you start a fight and someone gets hurt, you won’t be able to get away with it!”

Leonard didn’t even seem to care about the group of men. He was amused as he looked at Bella, who was clearly terrified but still trying to protect him.

“What are you doing?” he asked. “If I hadn’t called you because you were out so late, who knows if you’d still be alive tonight? Step aside, I’ll handle this.”

Bella thought Leonard had lost his mind. “There are so many of them! What are you planning to do? Don’t you know what they say about places like this? You can’t take them on!”

Leonard’s playful eyes narrowed slightly, giving her a half–smile. “Are you sure about that?”

Before Bella could understand what he meant, he suddenly pulled her behind him and, out of nowhere, took out two guns.

At that moment, the playful expression vanished from Leonard’s face, replaced by a look as fierce as a predator’s. He eyed the group of men like they were prey.

that she covered her mouth to stifle a scream. Who

were initially stunned, then quickly

leader, staring at the dark barrels of the guns, stuttered as he tried to maintain his tough–guy act. “Y- You wouldn’t dare! That’s just a toy gun, right? Don’t

I

smile. “Wanna bet? You

weighing their options, the group. reluctantly spat a

gave out, and she collapsed to the floor,

surprised. He quickly knelt beside her and tried to explain, “It’s not real, it’s fake! I was just trying to scare them. How did I end up scaring you too? You weren’t afraid of those thugs, but you’re scared

thought of him as just some rich playboy from the area, but what she had just witnessed completely

disbelief, Leonard nervously scratched his head. “I’m not lying. Do you want to take a

head. “No, no, keep it to

just the guns that had frightened her. It was also the way he had looked and acted; he seemed Tike

But she hadn’t eaten anything since the morning, and her stomach was growling, making it impossible to sleep.

Set You’ll

went to the kitchen to cook something. She tried

the kitchen doorway