Chapter 4
In that moment, my eyes stung, and all my strength crumbled into raw hurt.
A tall figure strode quickly out of the shadows by the doorway.
I instinctively looked up. A broad–shouldered man in a perfectly tailored suit came into view. His frame was commanding under the warm glow of the lights.
“Sorry, I’m late, honey.”
Samson Barlow’s deep voice rumbled as his strong arms wrapped around me, shielding me from the world.
His gaze swept across the room–cold, sharp, and merciless–as though he were staring at a room full of corpses.
“Maxine, really? Bringing some random guy here to make a scene? You’re being ridiculous.”
Clara’s voice oozed fake concern, though her eyes glimmered with barely contained delight at the unfolding spectacle.
“You’d better send him away. If Justin gets angry, you won’t be able to handle the consequences.”
“Who are you to talk to my wife? Justin, it’s been years, and wow, your taste has gone downhill,” Samson said.
The casual contempt in his tone cut deeper than anything could.
“You-!” Clara choked out before Justin could even respond.
No one had ever spoken to her like that.
She bit down hard on her lip, slipping back into her victim act. “Justin, please, do something about him!”
This time, Justin wasn’t swayed by her tears. His eyes locked on Samson like a predator sizing up an opponent. “What did you just call Maxine?”
Samson only smiled faintly, offering no explanation.
justin turned to me and suddenly let out a harsh laugh.
“Really? This is the best lie you could come up with? Maxine, if you’re going to put on a show, at least find someone believable.”
Everyone in the room knew that Samson and I had been sworn enemies since childhood.
We’d gone five years attending the same schools without exchanging a single word. Regentia’s social circle was small, but we’d always made sure to avoid the same rooms.
What no one knew was that on the night Justin and I made our engagement public, Samson had climbed into my bedroom
window.
He’d said only one thing, “Does it really have to be him?”
Back then, I thought he’d lost his mind.
Later, when I was drowning in the cold, dark sea, Samson saved me.
“Justin, do you still remember what it felt like to be jumped and thrown in a sack?”
“It was you!”
Justin’s eyes went bloodshot. Back when he had first gotten together with me, someone had ambushed him.
He’d scoured every corner of Regentia for the culprit and found nothing. Now, it turned out to be Samson all along.
“Justin, why are you even talking to them? Samson’s been kicked out of the Barlow family. He’s nothing but a loser now,” Clara
Chapter 4
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chimed in with a sugary laugh, looping her arm through his like she owned him.
“People like that will do anything to sneak into an event like this. I bet they’re just desperate for your attention.”
Of course, Justin bought it. He looked at me and Samson with outright contempt. “Maxine, drop your little schemes.”
I stared at them both like they were complete idiots.
That’s when the host of the evening, Terence Kinsman, president of the Regentia Business Council, finally appeared.
Clara’s eyes sparkled with malice as she seized the opportunity. “Mr. Kinsman, some riffraff managed to sneak into the banquet. It cheapens the atmosphere, doesn’t it?”
Terence gave a faint, knowing smile and turned to the security guards behind him. “Escort them out.”
Clara’s gaze met mine, full of smugness, her lips curling up.
Her look said, “You can’t even compare to me.”
Justin’s eyes flickered with hesitation, his expression unreadable.
Finally, as if granting me some kind of favor, he said, “Maxine, if you come over to me right now, I’ll forget about all your lies.”
I couldn’t help but laugh, genuinely laugh.
Where did Justin get this kind of delusional confidence?
“Are you out of your mind? Justin, you and I are done. Let me formally introduce you. This is Samson Barlow, my legal husband.”
As I said, I tightened my arms around Samson, pulling him closer.
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