Shane snapped to his feet, his face flushing a volatile, violent red as he pointed a trembling finger at her, his voice shaking uncontrollably, "Sienna! You... You played me?!"

"What if I did?" Sienna narrowed her eyes, her lips curling sharply. "It was a consensual game of one willing to strike and one willing to absorb the blow, was it not?"

Refusing to waste another breath on him, she offered the entrance a swift nod.

The towering security detail stepped forward without delay, catching Shane ruthlessly by the arms and dragging him out of the mansion.

"Sienna! You venomous bitch! I swear you will meet a horrific end! I will never let you off!"

Shane roared in an absolute, volatile fury, yet his frantic thrashing served absolutely no purpose.

Bang!

The heavy front doors slammed shut before his eyes with absolute finality.

Almost simultaneously, a violent crack of thunder shattered the air, and a torrential downpour exploded from the sky. Heavy, fat drops of rain slammed down onto the pavement, drenching Shane from head to toe in an instant.

He broke into a violent shudder, the burning fury in his chest rapidly cooling under the freezing water, leaving him entirely paralyzed in a state of hollow confusion.

A long moment bled away before he slowly scrambled back to his feet, standing unsteadily beneath the absolute deluge. His clothes were soaked through, his wet hair plastered against his forehead, his entire silhouette reduced to absolute ruin.

Sienna had genuinely and completely altered.

If that was the reality, what was he supposed to execute? What lifeline did he still possess?

Surrender? Or simply flee the city?

No! He absolutely refused to accept this defeat!

His entire dignity had been systematically dragged through the dirt; if he abandoned this pursuit now, he would truly walk away with absolutely nothing!

Gnash his teeth in bitter resentment, he anchored his steps beneath the pounding rain, his bloodshot eyes staring dead at the magnificent villa before him.

On the second floor.

Sienna cleansed away the exhaustion of the day, throwing on a comfortable silk robe. She walked toward the grand window, intending to draw the heavy drapes, when her eyes caught the stubborn, immovable figure lingering outside.

Her brows drew together in profound irritation. Turning away, she pulled the thick velvet curtains shut, cutting off the view entirely as she walked back to her bed to take her rest.

Stella had systematically exhausted the absolute last of her secret funds to secure a temporary release on bail.

The administrative procedures concluded, and the exact second she stepped clear of the detention center, her features smoothed into a mask of absolute, menacing scowl.

She lied to the distant relative who had arrived to receive her, claiming she needed to meet an attorney to appeal her case.

Yet the solitary thought consuming her mind was absolute, mutual destruction.

She was fully aware that her life had been reduced to absolute, permanent ruin; even if she secured this brief window of freedom, she would never escape a lifetime behind bars once the final trial concluded.

And the architect who had engineered this destruction was none other than Sienna!

If it weren't for Sienna, Shane would never have fallen out with her, she would never have crossed legal lines to secure funds, and her forensic records would never have been exposed!

Since her life had become an absolute nightmare, she would make sure everyone else burned alongside her!

Over the next two days, Stella deployed every ounce of her remaining network and cash, tracking Sienna's operational movements.

Securing a nondescript sedan, she kept a relentless, round-the-clock vigil near the Fontaine estate, waiting for her opportunity.

Finally, on this particular afternoon, she witnessed Sienna driving out of the gates entirely alone.

The opportunity had arrived!

Stella stared dead at the luxury vehicle, maintaining a careful distance as she trailed her target.

Approaching a sharp curve along the road, a murderous frenzy ignited in Stella's eyes. She slammed the accelerator completely to the floor, directing the sedan to charge straight toward Sienna with absolute, violent velocity!

Right at that critical fraction of a second!

A silhouette suddenly charged out from the shadows, throwing his body forward to intercept the vehicle with absolute, suicidal defiance!

Boom!

A thunderous crash shattered the air as the sedan slammed squarely into the human shield. The massive kinetic impact launched his body through the air, sending him crashing heavily onto the asphalt meters away. After rolling violently across the pavement, he came to an absolute, motionless halt.

Crimson blood instantly began to bloom beneath his broken frame, staining the road.

Chapter 21

The sedan was severely damaged as a result, its airbags deploying and pinning Stella completely inside.

Sienna's car, however, only sustained minor scrapes.

At the exact fraction of a second the impact occurred, she violently cut the steering wheel, causing the vehicle to collide with the roadside guardrail, which triggered her own airbags to deploy.

The massive kinetic force left her head spinning in a violent daze.

Shaking her disoriented head, she unbuckled her seatbelt at the very first opportunity and pushed the car door open.

First casting a completely detached glance at the blood-covered Stella, she immediately shifted her gaze toward the figure lying shattered in a pool of blood.

It was Shane Vance.

But how on earth could he be here?

Sienna's brows drew together, her face betraying nothing more than a flicker of intense irritation at being disrupted.

Shane's consciousness was sinking fast into a heavy fog.

With a massive effort, he rolled his eyes to look at Sienna, who was standing a short distance away.

Over these past few days, he had been persistently loitering near places where Sienna might manifest.

He possessed absolutely zero knowledge of what more he could execute; he was simply driven by a stubborn fixation to see her face one final time, even if it was merely a fleeting glance from afar.

Until just a moment ago, the exact second he witnessed Stella's sedan accelerating straight toward Sienna, his mind had gone entirely blank, and his body reacted far ahead of his conscious thought.

At this exact second, seeing Sienna standing there entirely unharmed, a sudden surge of profound relief rushed into his heart.

He had accomplished it... He had used his own life to shield her... Surely this would be enough to earn her absolute forgiveness? Surely it would earn him a single tender, heartbroken glance from her?

He desperately clawed for the strength to force a smile onto his face and utter a few words to her, but the moment he parted his lips, nothing but a torrent of warm, metallic blood gushed out.

Catching sight of Sienna retrieving her smartphone, a faint, fragile shred of hope ignited deep within his chest.

However, Sienna made no move to walk toward him.

She simply anchored her steps right where she stood, first placing a call to emergency services to calmly break down the situation, before immediately dialing for medical dispatch.

From start to finish, her gaze did not linger on his broken frame for a single fraction of a second.

Accomplishing all of this, she didn't even bother to wait for the arrival of the cruisers or the ambulance, walking straight back to her luxury vehicle, testing the ignition, and promptly cutting the wheel to drive clear of the scene.

Shane lay shattered on the freezing asphalt, desperately forcing his eyes wide as he stared dead at the retreating car until it vanished completely from his sight.

The absolute, final shred of hope in his heart was thoroughly extinguished.

So it turned out... even when he paid the ultimate price of his life...

In her eyes, he still... constituted absolutely nothing.

A solitary tear leaked from the corner of his eye, rapidly bleeding out into the ocean of blood surrounding him.

The ambulance arrived shortly after, rushing Shane straight to the medical center.

Inside the operating theater, following a preliminary evaluation, the physician lowered his voice to murmur heavily to the officers on duty, "The impact was far too severe, the left leg is completely unsalvageable. We must execute an immediate amputation, otherwise his very life will..."

Shane caught the faint echo of the word "amputation," and a wave of frantic terror rushed into his heart.

Yet an even more volatile fixation burned within him—the desperate craving to see Sienna.

He seized the physician's sleeve with a white-knuckled intensity, his lips parting with absolute, agonizing difficulty as a weak yet immovable murmur forced its way out, "Sienna... I need to see Sienna... If she doesn't appear... I refuse the surgery... Without seeing her... I would rather die than..."

The situation was sliding into critical danger, leaving the physicians with no choice but to request the officers to contact Sienna once more.

Ultimately, Sienna did arrive.

Her expression was entirely detached, as if she were looking at an absolute stranger.

Shane was so violently moved that he attempted to scramble up from the mattress, only to trigger his broken wounds, causing a sharp agony that left him gasping for air as his face turned even more deathly pale.