Chapter 459

Click.

The gun made a crisp, clear sound.

Glenn stood his ground, his expression calm from start to finish, showing no trace of fear or anxiety. It was as if he wasn’t the one who had just pulled the trigger, as if the gun hadn’t been pointed at him at all.

“Let her go,” Glenn said.

Victor raised his hands and clapped twice, a slow, deliberate sound.

“How touching,” Victor said, then gestured with his hand. The bodyguards immediately understood and released Evangeline.

“Go on home,” Victor said with a loud laugh.

The laugh was hearty, but to Evangeline’s ears, it carried an unsettling, eerie quality.

Had Victor really let her go so easily? He had hated her for so many years. Would he truly let her walk away unscathed?

Something was wrong. But she couldn’t put her finger on what it was.

“Are you okay?” Glenn’s voice broke through her spiraling thoughts.

Evangeline remembered his reckless action just moments before, and a wave of worry and fear washed over her.

“I’m fine.”

“But you, Glenn, that was so impulsive. What if…”

She bit her lip, the image of Glenn collapsing in a pool of blood, a bullet through his heart, flashing uncontrollably in her mind.

A chill ran through her entire body.

If something happened to Glenn because of her, how could she ever face Tessa?

Glenn seemed to read her mind.

“I wasn’t here to protect you before.”

“But since I’m here now, I couldn’t let you get hurt.”

“Besides, this all started because of Tessa. As her brother, it’s my responsibility to do this.”

As they talked, Arabella glanced at the battered Finn and said coolly, “You almost died for her just now.”

“And it seems she had no intention of saving you.”

“In your heart, you’re willing to die for her, but in her heart, you aren’t her top priority.”

“Look-“

Arabella tilted her chin toward Glenn, speaking in a low voice only the two of them could hear. “That man next to her… he might rank higher in her heart than you do.”

Arabella meant every word. She was genuinely angry. If she and Glenn hadn’t arrived when they did, Victor, in his rage, might have actually killed Finn.

But Finn didn’t get angry. He wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth and looked toward the slender figure of Evangeline in the distance. He gave a small, soft laugh. “It’s okay. That’s the O Evangeline I know.”

Once she set her mind on something, you couldn’t drag her away from it with a team of oxen.

She had approached him in the beginning for self-preservation. To make him help her with unwavering devotion, she could pretend to be in love even if she wasn’t. It was perfectly normal for her to choose Theresa over him.

But he knew that even as she made that choice, her own inner turmoil was no less than his.

When Arabella saw that not only was he not angry, but his gaze toward Evangeline had somehow grown even gentler, she was at a loss for words.

This was her

ronly brother. She used

to disapprove of his playboy lifestyle-flirting and changing women daily and always wished he would grow up Now that his mind was completely filled with Evangeline, she thought she preferred his old, carefree self.

“You…”

Before Arabella could say more, Finn’s brow furrowed.

His stomach churned violently, and a metallic, sweet taste suddenly flooded his mouth.

“Ugh—”

Finn suddenly coughed up a mouthful of blood. His vision went black, and he collapsed.

Evangeline, who was about to ask Glenn something else, caught Finn’s strange movement out of the corner of her eye.

Forgetting everything else, she rushed past Glenn and lunged forward, catching Finn by the shoulders just as he was about to hit the ground.

But while Fing didn’t look particularly brawny, the difference in their weight was still significant.

Evangeline couldn’t hold him steady, and his momentum pulled her down

with him, sending them both tumbling to the ground.