CHAPTER 124: CHAPTER 124: MISUNDERSTANDING

And Seraphina Redgrave would spend the rest of her life in a wheelchair.

Upon hearing this, Seraphina just calmly looked at Ethan Sterling, with not a hint of fear in her eyes.

Granny Coleman had been waiting outside all the while. Hearing these words, she couldn’t help but rush in, and with a thud, she knelt down before Ethan’s feet: "Young Master Sterling! Miss never had the intention of running away! If you break her legs, her life will be over!"

The young lady is only in her early twenties, and if her legs are broken, her future life would surely be incredibly tough.

Seeing someone interrupt him, Ethan’s expression turned even uglier.

Nathan Ayers quickly came to his senses and rushed in as well, pulling Granny Coleman attempting to drag her out.

"Granny Coleman! Understand some rules! Miss hasn’t even settled the matter of finding someone to impersonate you, and yet you dare to break in here!"

In his current fury, approaching Ethan Sterling was tantamount to courting death without offering any help.

"What are you saying?"

Granny Coleman looked stunned, but at this moment, she wasn’t in the mood to bother with Nathan’s odd words, and just wanted to protect her young lady with all her might, so she knelt on the ground and started kowtowing frantically to Ethan: "Young Master, if you really must break someone’s leg, break mine. Miss still has her whole life ahead of her; she can’t be ruined just after coming out of the forbidden zone! Young Master, I beg you!"

Another one protecting Seraphina.

Ethan looked at Granny Coleman kneeling on the ground, then at Seraphina, feeling even more displeased.

What kind of charm does Seraphina have to make people willing to serve her unconditionally in waves?

But he only wanted Seraphina to be his alone.

Seraphina looked at Granny Coleman kneeling on the ground with an expressionless face, then her gaze shifted back to Ethan, looking at his amber eyes.

Ethan lifted Seraphina’s chin with a bone-crushing plier: "Why are you looking at me?"

Seraphina looked at him, expressionless, and spoke: "I want to remember your terrifying look right now."

Hearing this, Ethan’s gaze towards Seraphina grew softer but became even more terrifying in this setting: "Seraphina, don’t be afraid, I’ll take care of you for the rest of your life."

She didn’t need it.

Seraphina coldly looked at him. Ethan opened the bone pliers in his hand and clamped them onto Seraphina’s calf.

The coldness of the pliers made Seraphina shiver briefly, but there was not a hint of fear in her eyes as she continued to look at him coldly, motionless.

Beside them, Granny Coleman was banging her head on the ground continuously, her pleading voice turning hoarse.

After securing it, Ethan looked at Seraphina, his hand gently placed at the back of her head, and leaned forward to plant a kiss on the corner of Seraphina’s lips: "Be good, it’ll only hurt for a moment, it’ll soon be fine."

Seraphina felt no warmth from that kiss.

She looked at Ethan, and as he once again gripped the bone-crushing plier, she spoke: "I just want to trouble you with one thing."

"Speak."

As Ethan responded to Seraphina, he tightened the bone pliers one notch. Even with this small notch, Seraphina could clearly feel her calf being tightened.

"Bring the box from the back of your sports car to me."

She spoke calmly.

"Nathan."

Ethan commanded while tightening the bone pliers another notch.

Seraphina gritted her teeth but made no sound, though her face turned deathly pale.

She forced herself to remember Ethan’s face, his helping hand extended to her, and every instance of pain he inflicted on her.

She clenched her fists, watching Ethan tighten the pliers notch by notch, while the bones in her calf ached more intensely.

Ethan looked down and noticed Seraphina’s knuckles turning white from exertion.

Seraphina was enduring the pain.

She was in a lot of pain now.

Ethan instinctively loosened his grip, but the next moment, realizing what he was about to do, he became frustrated again.

He couldn’t let her off.

If he didn’t teach her a lesson this time, she would surely become more unruly in the future, and who knows, one day, she might really escape when he’s not looking.

Nathan obeyed the command and left the room, retrieving the large box belonging to Seraphina from the car and placing it on the living room floor.

The box was an opaque storage box, its contents hidden from the outside.

Nathan opened the box, revealing it was packed with books.

All of them were law textbooks.

Ethan sat on the coffee table, about to tighten the bone pliers another notch, but when he lifted his eyes, he saw the box full of books in the living room, pausing his motion for a moment.

Books?

What was going on?

He looked incredulously at Seraphina, taking a long moment before speaking: "Why would you bring books if you were trying to elope?"

Seraphina, in her wheelchair and covered in fine sweat, couldn’t help but sneer at Ethan’s stiff expression: "Whatever you say goes."

Impose an accusation, and will there be a lack of excuse?

Ethan’s hand, resting on the bone pliers, paused as he stared intently at Seraphina with his amber eyes, searching for any hint of deception on her face.

A bodyguard rushed in from outside.

"Young Master, the woman dressed similarly to Granny Coleman was on a maritime business trip to Sovereign, her background has been investigated, and it’s confirmed she has no connection with Miss."

Though she hadn’t grasped the full picture, Seraphina seemed to understand what had happened.

Ethan had always feared she’d run away, and today, upon seeing a woman dressed like Granny Coleman, he assumed it was a diversion so Seraphina and Granny Coleman could escape.

Ethan gritted his teeth and glared at the bodyguard: "So you’re saying, you just followed the wrong person?"

"Yes." The bodyguard was trembling by now but didn’t dare to lie, "The individuals who went to the school reported back that Miss was only there to handle auxiliary law studies and after collecting her textbooks, she accidentally ran into the second young master of the Lynch Family, exchanging only a couple of words before you arrived."

She was merely taking care of auxiliary studies.

She had only exchanged a couple of words with Leo Lynch.

So he was mistaken.

In reaching such heights, it wasn’t just his powerful control he relied upon, but also his sharp vision, yet this time, how did he misjudge?

Ethan fell silent, turning his head to meet Seraphina’s cold gaze head-on.

The two looked at each other.

Neither spoke.

The air was filled with an awkward silence.

Seraphina curled her lips, her smile not reaching her eyes, she looked down at the bone-crushing plier still clamped around her calf.

Ethan quickly withdrew his hand, coughing into it nervously before awkwardly dropping it back down, not knowing where else to place it.

The earlier manic possessiveness had long disappeared.

After a while, he suddenly stood up, kicking Nathan beside him to the ground: "You come to me accusing without clarifying the facts? You have grown bold!"

Shifting blame was crucial.

Nathan, on the ground, found himself at a loss for words.

Clearly, it was Young Master who instructed him to report any movement with Miss, and upon discovering the guards misled by a woman in Granny Coleman’s attire, he promptly reported to Ethan, yet how was he to know Young Master would halt his meeting to seize Miss on the spot?

He hadn’t had the opportunity to investigate further.

Nathan understood that Young Master was giving himself an excuse to de-escalate, so he immediately stood up, quickly admitting fault: "I’m sorry, Young Master, it was my mistake."

"Get out."

Ethan coldly instructed.

"Yes, Young Master."

Nathan promptly orchestrated the bodyguards and Granny Coleman to exit the villa.

Inside the villa, only Ethan and Seraphina remained, as Ethan stood there, observing Seraphina’s pallid face.

She was hurt.

He crouched down in front of Seraphina, starting to remove the bone pliers.