"Ah!"
Blood gushed from her hand.
Cold sweat instantly beaded on her back. Holly Sinclair's face turned pale, and she trembled all over from the pain.
Unable to stand, she collapsed to her knees on the ground.
Seeing her goal accomplished, Yvonne Thorne tossed the knife aside and fled in a panic.
"My hand... my hand... Tristan, my hand hurts so much..."
Vivian Linton fell into Tristan Sterling's arms, crying with such sorrow and despair it was as if the sky were falling.
People in design all need to draw drafts.
Their hands are crucial.
"It's okay. I'll take you to the hospital."
Tristan Sterling immediately scooped up Vivian Linton and strode towards the car a few meters away.
"Tristan Sterling..."
Holly Sinclair scrambled to her feet and chased after him, trying to grab hold of him.
Her hand was much more severely injured than Vivian Linton's and needed immediate medical attention.
However, the moment her fingertips touched the hem of his clothes, he violently brushed her away.
"Holly Sinclair, you'd better pray that Vivian's hand is okay!"
His every word was ice-cold and piercing.
Holly Sinclair froze on the spot.
Soon, a black Bentley sped past her.
Holly Sinclair watched the car's rear lights quickly disappear as large tears rolled down her cheeks.
Her heart felt like it was being twisted.
'She was so scared!'
'Scared her hand would be crippled.'
'Scared her dreams would come to an abrupt end today.'
'And she was filled with so much hate.'
'She hated Tristan Sterling for his cold-hearted cruelty.'
'Vivian Linton's injury was clearly so much lighter than hers, yet he only had eyes for Vivian Linton...'
...
Greg was the one who took Holly Sinclair to the hospital.
The doctor said she was lucky; she hadn't damaged any tendons or bones.
Holly Sinclair took some painkillers, but her injured hand still throbbed with excruciating pain.
The wound was deep, leaving her a bit feverish, and she didn't sleep well all night.
In her daze, she vaguely sensed someone by her bedside.
They sat there for a long time...
「The next day.」
When Holly Sinclair woke up, she called Justin Schofield.
After quickly washing up, she walked out of her hospital room.
Two young nurses were walking toward her—
"Wow! Did you see? Miss Linton is so lucky! It's just a tiny scratch—if she'd come in any later, it would have healed on its own. But Mr. Sterling still made a huge fuss and called in the most renowned specialist from neurology, Dr. Schofield, for her. Tsk, tsk, tsk."
"I know, right? Mr. Sterling must be head over heels for Miss Linton."
The two young nurses whispered to each other, their faces full of envy.
Holly Sinclair listened in silence.
She lowered her gaze to her hand, which was wrapped up like a dumpling.
A bitter smile touched her lips.
Her heart felt like it was being pricked by needles.
...
「The police station.」
Justin Schofield's cousin was the deputy chief, and after Justin's persistent pestering, he finally agreed to let Holly Sinclair see Yvonne Thorne.
After the assault, Yvonne Thorne hadn't gotten far before the police arrived and arrested her.
Despite a full night of interrogation, she had kept her mouth shut, refusing to confess anything.
「The meeting room.」
Yvonne Thorne's hair was a mess and her eyes were red and swollen. Her dress was wrinkled, and all traces of her former glamour were gone.
She looked utterly wretched.
"Bitch! I hope you die a horrible death!"
Upon seeing Holly Sinclair, her face twisted with rage as she spat out a vicious curse.
"Who put you up to this?"
Holly Sinclair asked, getting straight to the point.
It was just her and Yvonne Thorne in the meeting room, so she didn't bother beating around the bush.
Yvonne Thorne's actions had been too targeted, leaving her no choice but to be suspicious.
Besides, right before the incident, Vivian Linton had inexplicably grabbed her hand and wouldn't let her leave...
Yvonne Thorne froze at her words, her eyes darting nervously.
Holly Sinclair noticed the subtle shift in her expression and sneered, "Yvonne Thorne, you'd better confess everything. Otherwise..."
"Ha! Otherwise what? You think I'm afraid of you?!"
Yvonne Thorne straightened her back and shouted defiantly.
"You might not be afraid of me, but what about Tristan Sterling?"
"..."
"You just threw a glass of wine on me, and Tristan Sterling bankrupted the Thorne Family. Now that you've ruined one of my hands, what do you think he'll do to you?" Holly Sinclair held up her injured right hand for Yvonne Thorne to see clearly.
Holly Sinclair was bluffing.
Since Yvonne Thorne kept insisting that Holly had used her "pillow talk" to influence Tristan Sterling, then from Yvonne's perspective, Tristan must care about her a great deal.
So she decided to play along.
She would use Tristan Sterling to force the truth out of her.
"I..." A flash of panic crossed Yvonne Thorne's eyes.
"He'll make you wish you were dead!" Holly Sinclair leaned close to Yvonne Thorne's face, her words chilling. "And your family, too!"
"You..."
Yvonne Thorne's breath hitched, and her face went deathly pale.
'She didn't want to die.'
'She was still so young.'
'She still had a bright future ahead of her.'
'No!'
'She couldn't die!'
"So you'd better confess who the mastermind is. If you do, I can put in a good word for you with Tristan Sterling and ask him to go easy on you."
Seeing the strong desire to live in Yvonne Thorne's eyes, Holly Sinclair pressed her advantage.
"You... Don't try to scare me! You think I'd believe you?!" Yvonne Thorne ground her teeth, glaring fiercely at Holly Sinclair.
It was a last-ditch struggle.
"Was the bankruptcy not enough of a lesson?" Holly Sinclair scoffed.
Yvonne Thorne's pupils contracted. She began to tremble like a leaf.
Tristan Sterling's methods were too ruthless.
Neither she nor the Thorne Family could bear any more.
"Fine. If you won't talk, then you can take all the blame yourself!"
Seeing her hesitate, Holly Sinclair made a move to leave.
"Wait!"
Yvonne Thorne, terrified, quickly called out to stop her.
Holly Sinclair turned back.
"Will... will you really put in a good word for me?"
Yvonne Thorne had lost her nerve. Like a stray dog, she looked at Holly Sinclair with pleading eyes, all her previous ferocity and arrogance gone.
"Of course!" Holly Sinclair gave a barely perceptible twitch of her lips.
'Put in a good word?'
'Even if she begged him, there was no way Tristan Sterling would listen.'
'Besides, she wasn't some saint!'
'She couldn't just forgive and forget someone who had deliberately hurt her.'
Receiving Holly Sinclair's "promise," Yvonne Thorne breathed a sigh of relief.
"Speak. Who was it?"
Holly Sinclair's expression remained calm, but her heart began to race.
"It was..." 'Every man for himself.' Yvonne Thorne gritted her teeth, hardened her heart, and said, "It was Vivian Linton."
'Vivian Linton!'
Holly Sinclair reeled from the shock.
It was as if she'd been plunged into an ice cellar, a chill spreading through her entire body.
'So it really was Vivian Linton!!'
In truth, she had guessed the answer long ago.
But a suspicion could never compare to the shock and anger of hearing it confirmed with her own ears.
"What exactly did she tell you?"
Holly Sinclair ground her teeth, struggling to control her emotions as she forced the words out.
"Vivian said that you were the one who bad-mouthed me to Mr. Sterling, and that's why he was so ruthless to my family. She also said that Mr. Sterling loves your hands the most, and that if I ruined them, he wouldn't want you anymore..."
Desperate to save herself, Yvonne Thorne confessed everything.
Holly Sinclair's eyes were bloodshot, swirling with an endless sea of hatred.
'Vivian Linton...'
'The malice in her heart was punishable by death!'
'It wasn't that Tristan Sterling loved her hands.'
'It was that Vivian Linton was jealous of them!'
'Because as long as she was around, Vivian Linton could forget about ever making a name for herself in the world of qipao design!'
'So in Vivian Linton's eyes, she was nothing but a stumbling block on the path to success.'
CREAK—
Suddenly, the door was pushed open.
Two sets of footsteps entered the meeting room.
"Holly, what are you doing here?!"
At the same time, a sickeningly familiar voice sounded from behind Holly Sinclair.
Holly Sinclair spun around.
SLAP!
SLAP!
First with her right hand, then her left, she landed two vicious slaps across Vivian Linton's face.