Antonia was genuinely intimidated by Amara, her eyes widening in disbelief.

But she was an heiress of the Everly family, a woman who had seen the world. She wasn’t stupid. It quickly dawned on her that Amara’s influence was no match for hers; there was absolutely no reason to be afraid.

She shoved Amara away and scoffed. “So what if I plotted against you?”

“Do you think it’s unfair? This is a dog-eat-dog world. Crying about fairness won’t save you, because I have countless ways to ruin you.”

Amara narrowed her eyes.

She could have easily thrown out a threat like, ‘If you dare lay a finger on me, Finnian Everly won’t let you get away with it.’

It might have sounded arrogant, but it was the undeniable truth.

No matter how toxic Finnian could be, he was fiercely protective of her safety. If he knew Antonia was bullying her, he would undoubtedly step in and tear her apart.

But Amara had no intention of getting back together with Finnian, which meant she refused to ride on his coattails to fight her battles.

“Fine,” Amara replied coolly. “If that’s what you think, then go ahead and try.”

Antonia bit her lip, clenching her fists so tightly her arms trembled.

She was trying desperately to suppress the urge to strike Amara.

She had never been slapped in her entire life, yet Amara had just struck her.

If Amara were just an ordinary nobody, Antonia would have hit her right back. She would have chased her out of Wye and destroyed her reputation entirely!

But Amara had deep ties with her cousin, and Keith West cared for her deeply. Because of that, Antonia didn’t dare retaliate right after taking that slap.

Seeing Antonia render herself speechless, Amara gave her a cold, dismissive glance and turned to walk away.

Even though she had just slapped Antonia, a fire of resentment still burned in her chest. After all, Antonia had literally tried to have her killed the night before.

To make matters worse, she was pregnant. If Finnian hadn’t arrived in the nick of time, the black Buick would have slammed right into her, and she would have lost two lives.

Antonia wanted her dead, and all Amara did was slap her. In reality, Amara was still the one paying the heavier price.

But there was nothing more she could do to Antonia right now. Any further revenge carried massive risks. What options did she really have left?

Just then, the scene outside

he sce

wrapped up. Keith walked over to Amara without even changing out of his costume. “I didn’t check my phone all night while shooting the variety show, he explained. We didn’t finish until midnight, and I crashed as soon as I hit the bed. I only saw your missed calls this morning. Is everything okay?”

Talking as they walked, the two headed back to Amara’s dressing room.

Amara poured two glasses of water. “It’s nothing serious. I just wanted to bounce some plot ideas off of you. What show were you filming? Are you swamped?”

The horrifying incident from the night before was over, and Amara didn’t want to worry Keith, so she chose to keep it to herself.

Keith didn’t press the issue. “The

show itself is fine, not too heavy of a workload. But I missed the first two

episodes so I had to cram all my

segments into this shoot. It was absolute chaos…”

“Since we’re nearing the end of the year, I have to clear my schedule for the holidays. Everyone’s rushing to tie up loose ends.”

“By the way, where are you spending the holidays this year?” Keith asked.

His question made Amara realize the holidays were only two weeks away.

She thought about it for a moment. “I’ll probably spend New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day with the Sullivan family. Then, maybe visit Grandpa Arthur the day after.”