Chapter 71

That guy was seriously scary. I was not about to mess with him.
“If you want your son to survive, keep your hands off me,” Charlotte said.
The chaos around them faded into silence. Charlotte turned to face the boy’s mother, her voice steady, cool, almost cold. “So, do you want him to live or not? Make a choice.”
“I… of course I do,” the woman choked out, nodding desperately, tears streaming down her face. Her son was only ten. Of course she wanted him to be okay.
“Then do exactly as I say. Got it?”
The woman stared at Charlotte through her tears. It was obvious Charlotte was just a high school girl. She probably hadn’t even read a medical textbook. But there was something about her, a quiet authority that made the woman nod before she even realized it.
“Wipe your face,” Charlotte said.
The woman quickly scrubbed at her cheeks.
“Hold his face still. Don’t touch his head.”
The woman did as she was told.
Charlotte glanced at the boy, then looked around for Anthony. He was right behind her, watching her with a focused intensity.
Before she could say anything, Anthony crouched down beside her. His eyes never left her face. “What do you need me to do?”
Charlotte pulled herself together and lowered her gaze. “This is going to hurt. Don’t let his legs move.”
“Okay.” Anthony gripped the boy’s legs, holding them steady.
He was twenty-eight, but this was the first time he’d ever done anything like this.
Charlotte took a breath to calm herself. When she lifted her eyes again, she was all business.
She picked up a thin golden needle in one hand and searched for the right spot with the other.
The first needle went in at his temple, a spot that could help stop the bleeding from his scalp.
The boy twitched and groaned in pain, finally coming to. He started to struggle.
Seeing her son in such pain, the woman’s fear turned to anger. “Do you even know what you’re doing?” she snapped. “Why does it hurt so much?”
The boy’s father was across the street, in a restaurant for a meeting. He rushed over as soon as he heard, his legs almost buckling when he saw what was happening.
“What happened? Where’s the doctor? Why isn’t anyone helping?”
Charlotte barely glanced at him, already moving on to the next pressure point.
She cleaned the spot, inserted the second needle.
The boy screamed again.
Only then did the father really notice Charlotte. Without thinking, he swung his briefcase at her. “Who are you? Get away from my son!”
“Where’s the ambulance? Why isn’t it here yet?”
His hand was frozen midair, caught in a firm grip.
“You”
The man looked up, ready to explode, but the words died in his throat when he saw Anthony’s face.
Wait. Wasn’t that Anthony Blair, CEO of The Blair Group?
Thinking he must be seeing things the man wiped his eyes for a better look. There was no mistaking it. He had seen Anthony before aragala. and would never forget that face
As Charlotte placed the third needle, the boy stopped moaning.
The mother gasped, her voice trembling with relief. “The bleeding… it stopped. It really stopped!”
The father snapped out of his panic
and checked for himself. The
bleeding was gone. He looked up,
pale and shak
just in time to see
Anthony gently draping his own jacket over Charlotte’s shoulders, leaning in to speak softly to her. Cóntent
Every move, every word, every look screamed how much he cared about her.
The father’s heart pounded in his chest. Who was this girl to Anthony Blair? He’d nearly attacked her just now. Would Anthony hold it against him?
He was still trying to figure out how to apologize when the ambulance finally arrived.
A paramedic knelt down to check the boy, then looked up in shock. “Who stopped the bleeding?”