Love Beyond the Mask

Chapter 18

Whitney stood rooted to the spot, confused by his odd reaction.

It was a song she had composed a long time ago.

The man squinted his deep–set eyes, remembering the girl who had saved him. To calm his hysterical

fits, she had hummed a soothing lullaby while performing acupuncture, which closely resembled this

tune.

Suddenly, he asked again, “Are you trained in medicine?”

Whitney frowned. She had promised her mother to keep her knowledge of medicine a secret for self–

preservation, so she had not revealed it to anyone except Tiana.

But why would he ask that?

“No,” she denied instinctively.

The profound ripples in the man’s eyes faded away.

He ended the conversation. “You should get some sleep. Leave everything else to me.”

Whitney was left with several questions in her mind but did not dwell on them, simply nodding her

head.

In the study.

The man removed his mask to reveal a face of stunning beauty, his expression laced with deadly

intent. He called Nolan, his voice icy, “Here’s your chance to make amends. Take Whitney’s father and

stepmother and beat them senseless. They dare to harm my child without realizing who I am.”

“Huh? Ludwik, what did I do wrong?” Nolan was utterly perplexed.

“She was meeting Preston tonight. You misled me, made me misunderstand her… Just get it done!”

The man hung up the phone, still fuming.

At the same time, in the bedroom. ConTEent bel0ngs to Nôv(e)lD/rama(.)Org .

Lying on her side, Whitney could not sleep due to the bruises on her back. Then, Tiana called her via

video.

In a panic, Tiana asked, “Whitney, I heard you were beaten up by some guys at the Imperial Garden

Bar. What happened? Are you hurt?”

Remembering the night’s harrowing events, Whitney instinctively touched her stomach and recounted

the

ordeal.

Tiana was livid. “Is Preston even human? He doesn’t deserve to be a father! Monica framed you with a

false pregnancy scare, and you were only defending yourself. Yet, he wanted to beat you to cause a

miscarriage, all to vent Monica’s anger!”

Whitney shivered, her eyes narrowing. “Yvonne put him up to it. Monica wanted revenge. She released

the video to cover up her own embarrassment with the scandal of my miscarriage and to stop me from

entering the

competition.”

“That’s outrageous, just watch me!” Tiana roared.

Late at night.

Preston and Yvonne were returning home from a social gathering when several motorcycles suddenly

blocked their car.

A group of young men jumped off, yanked open the car doors, pulled Preston and Yvonne out, bagged

them,

14:59

and dragged them into an alley for a vicious beating.

Preston was in shock. They were no match for the younger assailants and were beaten black and blue,

shouting, “Who the hell are you, punks? Daring to hit me, Preston Valentine, you’re looking for a death

wish!”