CHAPTER 84: CHAPTER 84: MARITAL RIFT

Zinnia Lawrence poured the water she had brought into Crystal’s mouth, but Crystal struggled fiercely, so only a little went in.

Zinnia was about to pinch her cheeks and force it down when a hand appeared out of nowhere, tightly gripping her wrist.

Zinnia followed the hand up with her eyes and saw the man’s familiar, handsome face.

Her heart went cold. "Let go!"

Seeing Jenson arrive, Crystal shoved Yara Fairchild away and hid behind him.

"Jenson, please save me," she sobbed. "I don’t know what my sister tried to make me drink. I feel awful. My stomach hurts so much..."

Seeing Jenson Forrest stand up for Crystal, her group of fair-weather friends began to chime in.

"Oh my God, could Crystal really be pregnant?"

"Did Zinnia try to force-feed her abortion pills? That’s too outrageous and vicious."

"Yeah, how could she just force medicine on her? The child is an innocent little life. That’s so cruel!"

Infuriated, Yara Fairchild grabbed a bottle of wine from the table and hurled it.

CRASH!

The bottle smashed into a cluster of glasses, sending shards flying and setting off a fresh round of screams.

"Does anyone else have something to say? Do you have any idea what happened? Which one of you saw abortion pills? What kind of twisted morals do you people have? I hope that when you get married, your husbands each father seventy or eighty illegitimate children, just so you can all show off how kind and magnanimous you are!"

The women huddled together in fear.

Finn Quinn strode over with an angry scowl, glaring at Yara Fairchild. "You again! It looks like you don’t want to leave here in one piece!"

Yara Fairchild wasn’t afraid of him in the slightest, her lips curling into a sneer.

"Well, if it isn’t Best Actor Quinn. Did spending so much time in the entertainment industry make you soft? Getting involved in a women’s squabble... if you had this kind of fetish, you should have said so sooner. I’d be happy to sponsor Best Actor Quinn’s gender reassignment trip to Thailand."

"Yara Fairchild!" Finn Quinn clenched his fists, his face contorted with fury.

Fearing Yara Fairchild would be at a disadvantage, Zinnia broke free from Jenson and pulled Yara to her side. "Do you two know each other?" she asked.

Yara Fairchild chuckled. "We’re not really acquainted. It’s just that on set, I..."

"You wretched woman, I dare you to say another word!" Finn Quinn’s face suddenly turned ashen.

Yara Fairchild pouted. "If you don’t want me to talk, then you shut up! Otherwise, I’ll be more than happy to tell everyone all about it."

"Just you wait!" Finn Quinn gritted his teeth. But for reasons unknown, he actually fell silent.

At that moment, Jenson instructed Miles Chase, "Clear the room."

Realizing the situation could not be resolved amicably, Miles Chase had his men escort all uninvolved parties out of the room.

Once the room was quiet, Jenson looked at Zinnia.

"What happened? Explain everything clearly. It won’t be too late to act afterward."

Zinnia gave a dry laugh. "Today at the hotel, Crystal put sleeping pills in the water in my thermos, causing me to sleep unconscious through the entire afternoon."

Jenson’s deep eyes bored into her. "Why would she do that?"

Zinnia pressed her lips together. She didn’t want to tell Jenson about her dance audition.

Seeing that she was still keeping secrets from him, even at this point, the coldness in Jenson’s eyes deepened.

"You should be asking her why she did it!" Yara Fairchild interjected.

Unwilling to admit to anything, Crystal said tearfully, "Zinnia, why would I give you sleeping pills? What good would it do me to make you sleep all afternoon?"

Zinnia clenched her fists, her eyes fixed on Jenson. "I was drugged by the water from my thermos. The only people who know about this habit of mine are Crystal and you. If it wasn’t her, then it must have been you!"

Anger flared in Jenson’s icy eyes.

"Zinnia, are you now suspecting me?"

A sharp pain lanced through Zinnia’s heart, but she laughed mockingly.

"It’s a reasonable suspicion, just like four years ago, when you suspected me of drugging you."

Why was he allowed to suspect her of drugging him, but she couldn’t suspect him?

"Very well!" Jenson’s face grew even darker.

Unafraid, Zinnia stood her ground. "Step aside! Crystal is going to drink this bottle of water today!"

Jenson could not allow anything to happen to the child in Crystal’s womb.

He stood firm, his imposing figure unmoving, but his gaze landed on the bottle in Zinnia’s hand.

"What’s in it?"

Zinnia laughed softly, standing on her toes to get close to his ear. "Don’t worry," she whispered. "It won’t poison her to death, and it certainly won’t poison her precious baby!"

Her voice was gentle yet frigid. As she leaned in, her breath, carrying a familiar fresh gardenia scent, caressed his ear.

His heart stirred uncontrollably. As Zinnia pulled back, Jenson raised his hand and grabbed her wrist again.

Beneath his palm, her wrist was delicate. The warm, smooth touch of her skin stirred emotions deep in his eyes as untimely images of intimacy flashed through his mind.

Even though he had decided to let her go, his body craved her even more.

He couldn’t believe he was so susceptible to her teasing. Jenson’s Adam’s apple bobbed as he leaned down and whispered in her ear as well.

"If you want to vent your anger, you can slap her a few more times. But she can’t drink the sleeping pills. It would harm the child."

He was conceding. Zinnia was surprised. She couldn’t believe he would actually let her hit Crystal.

But Zinnia felt no gratitude for the gesture; instead, her heart grew even colder.

This just proved it. Jenson knew perfectly well that Crystal was the one who had drugged her. He cared so much about the baby in Crystal’s belly, but what about her baby? Wasn’t he worried that it could be affected by the drug too?

The thought of her research—that sleeping pills could harm a developing baby’s nervous system—made Zinnia’s heart twist as if being cut by a knife. The only way to quell her rage was to make Crystal suffer the same fate.

Zinnia violently wrenched her hand free and took two steps back, staring coldly at Jenson.

"I won’t hit her. I only want an eye for an eye! I wouldn’t deign to do anything more! Now, are you going to move or not?"

Jenson’s handsome face turned cold and stern. He hadn’t expected Zinnia to be so stubborn.

She had already slapped Crystal twice. He’d even said she could slap her a few more times to vent her anger. Yet, Zinnia was still pushing things, refusing to back down.

The man furrowed his brow. "Zinnia, why are you so dead set on going after an innocent child? You need to know when to stop!"

Zinnia looked at the man shielding Crystal, at his accusatory expression, and found it utterly laughable.

Her eyes instantly burned red, as if they were seeping blood, and she enunciated each word, "Jenson Forrest, don’t force me to hate you!"

For the first time, Zinnia’s clear eyes were filled with an intense, profound hatred as she looked at Jenson.

She stood there, her posture one of making a clean break from him.

Her gaze was like a knife, piercing straight into the softest part of his chest.

Jenson’s expression flickered, and his face paled slightly.

He was silent for a moment, unable to suppress the unfamiliar dread rising in his heart. When he finally spoke, his voice was hoarse. "I’ll make the call. You can slap her five more times."

Crystal felt as if she were carrying a gold nugget in her belly, and a touch of schadenfreude crept in. Jenson would never let anything happen to the child in her womb. Besides, Zinnia had no proof. Kicking up such a fuss would only cause a rift between the couple, make Zinnia look like a fool, and earn Jenson’s disgust. She stood to gain nothing from it at all. Only a fool like Zinnia would be so reckless.

But just as Crystal was feeling smug, she heard Jenson’s words.

Her eyes widened in disbelief. "Jenson! Why? I didn’t do anything! Zinnia is the one who’s framing me! I won’t do it! This is unfair!"

She reached out to grab the hem of his clothes, but the man suddenly spun around, his voice deep and commanding.

"Shut up!"