Chapter 351

Those two words from Hannah ripped apart the fragile restraint Vincent had fought to keep intact."Never happening?" His fury erupted without warning. The atmosphere sharpened, charged with hostility.

Vincent lunged forward, his towering figure drowning her in shadow. "What exactly do you mean by 'never happening,'Hannah? You can't erase Claude from your memories? Or you refuse to carry my child?"

Hannah raised her chin, locking her gaze on his wrath. Her stare-icy,cutting-showed not a trace of fear.She said nothing, but that silence stung more than a spoken reply, as if it screamed, "Don't you already know?"

"Hannah Scott!" Vincent snarled, seizing her chin with a brutal grip, shortening their distance by pulling her in. His breath scorched against her skin. "Do you really believe I won't touch you again?"

"Touch me?" Her jaw throbbed from his hold, but no defeat shadowed her features. If anything, something flared in the hollowness of her eyes. A blaze.

With one sudden, merciless snap, she slapped his hand aside. And before Vincent's shocked stare, she grabbed the hem of her loungewear top and yanked it off. Her skin, still traced with marks he had left, was fully exposed.

She didn't flinch. Then, she ripped away her pants-along with the thin underwear beneath-and flung them onto the carpet like refuse.

Barefoot, she strode to the sofa, turned, and dropped onto it in one smooth sweep. She sprawled wide body unhidden, legs parted.

She looked straight at him. There was no embarrassment in her eyes. Only a burning, ruinous defiance."Come on, then." Her voice wasn't loud, but it sliced the stillness like a blade. "Do it,Vincent."

She angled her chin higher, her lips twisting into a mocking, blade-thin smile."Isn't this what you like the most? Forcing me to break? Then proceed. Here. Now."

Every vein in Vincent's body pulsed upward to his skull-only to lock still. A violent, unfamiliar jolt of panic gripped him like a vice. "You think I don't dare?" His tone rasped, raw, as though shouting at himself.

He moved toward the sofa, but every step dragged, torn by reluctance.

Hannah just stared at him with frozen eyes, unshaken. No terror. Only steel.

Moments of dead silence pressed on them.

Vincent's fists coiled so hard that the knuckles whitened, veins swelling along their ridges. He searched those defiant, lifeless eyes, and at last, the strain in his fists collapsed into surrender. He spun away."Get some rest," he muttered, voice roughened low.

Without another glance at her, he cut for the door, his exit laced with a rare trace of disarray.

But just as his hand neared the door handle, a coffee mug smashed into the back of his head. Without warning. Without hesitation. Hannah had flung it with all her strength.

A blunt, ringing thud cracked the silence. Vincent stumbled forward, his large framne pitching under the blow.Pain roared through the back of his skull.

Still, he did not face her. He ripped the door open and stormed out.

The heavy metal door crashed shut behind him, locking with a mechanical snap.

Outside, in the corridor, Vincent ignored the sting on his head. He beckoned the butler. "Bring some medicine," he ordered curtly.

The butler froze, eyeing the disheveled state of his employer. A thought crossed his mind-a logical one, he assumed-and he asked cautiously, "Should I fetch some emergency contraception?"

Vincent's head whipped around. "Emergency contraception?" he echoed, voice lethal-sharp. His glare cut like a blade. "Why the hell would she need that?"

The butler collapsed to his knees with a crack. "I-I beg your pardon, Mr. Jones! | misspoke! | only thought...I assumed she might..."

"Assumed?" Vincent's voice dripped ice. "Clarify. Now."

His mind raced. Had Hannah secretly asked the butler for birth control? A swell of rage and alarm surged inside him.

Sweat drenched the butler's back. HHe dared not lie. "T-the maids have whispered," he faltered. "They said the lady's origins are uncertain, and since you guard her so tightly, perhaps she's... Perhaps she's someone you care for but can't reveal in public..."

His words dwindled quieter with each breath, hisforehead nearly brushing the floor. "They said perhaps she's forbidden to carry your child. So they guessed she might require birth control."

Cannot reveal in public? Forbidden to bear his child? Vincent's gaze darkened, his fury radiating like flame.So this was what they whispered of Hannah behind his back?