CHAPTER 32: WAS IT AN ACCIDENT?

Elara’s hand ached terribly, and she let out a hiss in pain.

"Let go," she seethed, her eyes blazing with fury.

Carla, however, who still believed it was the same Elara from earlier who would never dare to retort, scoffed.

"Let go? So you can go around shaming me? Not at all. I’ll teach you a lesson today," Carla grabbed Elara’s right hand to pull her further down the stairs so no one would hear them.

On the other hand, Xylon panicked on the call when he heard Carla’s words.

"Hello? Elara? What’s going on? Who is this lady threatening you? Are you in trouble? Where are you exactly? I’ll send the team right there. Elara? Answer me, damn it!" Xylon rushed out of his base and quickly summoned his men to start the car so they could go to the place Elara was at.

Elara snapped her hand free from Carla’s grip before glaring at her.

"Carla, don’t think that you can forever hide behind your family name. Many people in this world can show you your real worth. Don’t mess with me," Elara glared.

Carla scoffed at Elara’s words.

"Or what? Hmm? What are you going to do? I am yet to get back to you for that slap. That day, you had quite a few people backing you up. Who will save you here? Hmm?" Carla pushed Elara’s shoulders to provoke her.

Elara broke into a cold sweat as another wave of excruciating pain travelled through her body.

"Don’t touch me there. I am already wounded," she hissed.

Carla, who was about to push her again, stopped her hand mid-air, raising her brows at the girl.

She was wounded? Carla wondered before a smirk appeared on her face.

Well, won’t that just make her work easy?

"Hah, so now you are wounded? You are quite a good liar, Elara. I know you are acting. You are here to make things hard for me. Or wait, are you here to stalk my brother again?" Carla asked.

Elara’s brows shoot up in surprise.

"Andrew is here?" She asked.

Carla chuckled humorlessly.

"So you are indeed here in hopes of seeing my brother. How pathetic. I don’t even know what my brother has ever seen in a pathetic woman like you. You are not even worthy of being our doormat," Carla said.

Elara glared at the woman. She wanted to fight back, but with her wounded hand, she knew Carla would deliberately strike at that wound, and it would make the healing worse.

"I don’t want to bother with you," Elara said and turned to leave.

However, Carla, who was still not done, grabbed Elara’s hair in a fist.

"I am not done, you bitch! I know you are the reason my brother won’t talk to Noah about me starring in the drama as the singer. You definitely did something," Carla said as she yanked on Elara’s hair, ready to rip a few locks.

Due to the impact, Elara’s heel slid on the stairs, and she stumbled backwards.

Carla, when she noticed Elara was about to grab her expensive dress to support herself, let go of her hair, which caused Elara to slip backward.

"Aah!" A piercing scream echoed down the staircase, and the people on the first floor immediately rushed to see what had happened.

Carla, who panicked when she saw blood oozing out from Elara’s wound, turned to flee the area. But as soon as she opened the door, she saw Andrew, who had returned to call her since he wanted to leave for a company meeting.

"What’s wrong?" Andrew asked when he saw her panicked expression.

Carla knew if she lied, she would get into even bigger trouble, and swallowed hard.

"Brother, I was coming to call you. It’s Elara. She slipped on the stairs and is bleeding. We need to help her. No matter how much I hate her, I can’t leave her like this," Carla said.

Andrew didn’t wait for her to say anything else and rushed behind her to the staircase.

He saw a crowd forming around someone and immediately descended the stairs, skipping a few steps to reach her quickly.

When he saw her lying in the pool of her own blood, his heart skipped a beat, and he quickly pulled her head up on his lap.

"Elara, can you hear me? Don’t close your eyes. I will take you to the hospital," Andrew said quickly, and was about to lift her when Elara pushed him away.

"Take this man away from me." Her teary eyes, full of resolution and hatred for him, made Andrew freeze for a second.

"But, miss, we need to take you to the hospital. You are bleeding profusely." One of the men gathered around said, and Elara nodded.

"I didn’t hit my head. It’s my old wound bleeding. There must be a man named Antonio in the lobby. Please call him. Say it’s urgent." Elara took a sharp breath.

When Andrew saw the woman refuse his help and still pretend to be so upright, he couldn’t control his anger.

"Must you act like this, Elara? What has gotten into you lately? Earlier, I thought you were just throwing a tantrum, but you are crossing all the limits." Andrew glared at her.

Elara clenched her fists to contain the pain she was feeling and looked at him with teary eyes.

"That day... on our anniversary, I called you; I needed you; we needed you... Where were you at that time?" She asked.

Andrew didn’t understand the context when she said ’we,’ but he understood that she probably saw those rumors in tabloids, and realization dawned on him. She was acting like this because of what those news channels said.

"Elara, that was all a lie. Beatrice was seriously injured that time, and I had no choice but to take her to the hospital. Would you have preferred it if I had left a wounded person behind?" Andrew asked.

Wounded person behind? Elara smiled at the irony of the situation.

She was wounded too. That night, she bled too, bled more than he would ever realize about what he actually lost. Their baby... Elara blinked back the tears before nodding.

"You are right. Don’t ever leave a wounded person behind, especially the ones who can go horseback riding and clubbing the next day," Elara said.

Andrew opened his mouth to retort, but couldn’t say anything because, in the next moment, Antonio walked inside.

"Miss Elara!" He nearly shouted in panic before he pushed Andrew away without even looking at him.

"How the fuck did this happen?" Antonio asked angrily.

"My love tried to push me to death again," Elara smiled, her sad smile piercing something inside Andrew’s heart.