But hell no! She realized her body was shaking as a cold chill ran down her spine. Her heart pounded heavily in her chest. She didn't dare to look at Kerr, but she could feel his intent gaze boring into her.
She was doomed. Quickly letting out a breath, her mind frantically started racing. Uh-oh! Kerr must have known that she was the one who escaped seven years ago.
Fiona nearly stumbled. She was breathing heavily out of anger as she continued to look at Nicole sharply. She didn't anticipate that Nicole would lunge at her without warning.
"Nicole, do you really think you are still the daughter of Ning family? You became a loose woman seven years ago. Do you believe you can hide it from Mr. Gu?
Seven years ago, it was you who climbed into the bed of..."
Nicole's instinct told her that Fiona was about to bring up what happened in the past, so she countered, interrupting her directly,
"Shut up, Fiona! You and Gregory sold me out for business back then. How dare you mention it here now? You can do whatever you want to do for the sake of your business. I'm really ashamed of you."
Relating to what happened in the past, Nicole didn't avoid meeting Kerr's penetrating gaze this time. As long as he hadn't found out that it was she who had been with him seven years ago, she was absolutely not afraid of anything.
She didn't even mind whether he heard that she was sold out. It wasn't her fault, so it was pointless to be ashamed of it.
Gregory soon rushed over, and he distinctly heard Nicole's sarcasm. Afraid to miss the boat, he didn't want to ruin his image in front of Kerr. The Song Group needed the help of his company, after all.
"Don't talk nonsense, Nicole. I know you hate that I chose Fiona over you. You opted to give yourself up just because you wanted to revive your family. And the Song family couldn't accept you at that time,"
Gregory rebutted while furtively glancing at Kerr beside him. He carefully regarded Kerr, who merely stood aside and watched coldly at the situation in front of him. He could sense that there was something behind his meaningful gaze.
He didn't hold them back, nor did he leave.
So with a straight face, Gregory straightened his attitude and purposefully put on a righteous look. And now that he and Fiona spoke in one voice, Nicole was cornered.
To his surprise, there was not a hint of anger on Nicole's face, but she beamed with a sarcastic smile.
For Nicole, at this point, Gregory and Fiona had already become irrelevant people. And she believed that only when one genuinely cared about someone, would that one sincerely care about what that person said.
Accordingly, no matter what Gregory and Fiona said to her, she was not hurt at all. Instead, she just watched them indifferently. Her face wore a cold expression.
"Do you think you can hide your real identity after returning from Manhattan? Don't even think about it, Nicole. You are a bitch. You can't change the fact, no matter how hard you try to escape,"
Fiona continued to taunt her while casting a glance at Gregory. She soon found it amusing that Kerr didn't even try to speak for Nicole. Not a single word. Now, she was totally confident that this guy didn't care about her.
"I have to admit that you two are remarkably good at acting. It seems that I have the impression that the Song Group will be lost because Mr. Song put all his heart into acting, so he has no time to take care of the Song Group, right?"
Nicole looked at Gregory with a sneer and deliberately poked him in the most painful spot. It was akin to adding insult to injury.
"Clap!"
A loud slap fell on her side face, so forcefully that she tilted her head. Instinctively, she raised her hand to cover her side face. Soon she felt a hot rush of burning sensation on her cheek.
Gregory was stunned as he looked at his hand in midair. Disbelief contorted his face as if he was not aware when he
started to fight with Nicole. He only knew that he had an inescapable responsibility for the Song Group's development to this day.
All this time, he hated it to the core when people spoke of the Song Group being destroyed by him. It was a matter of dignity.
"How dare you hurt my people?"
Kerr lifted his hand in a knee-jerk reaction and directly gripped Gregory's wrist, which was still hanging in the air. He looked at Gregory coldly. His calm gaze instantly turned red with a terrifying murderous intent.
"Mr. Gu, I..."
Gregory faltered while staring into Kerr's eyes. It was as if from hell and could never be questioned. His eyes seemed to control everything. It was so eerie that it scared him out of his wit.
He soon heard the sound of broken bones of his hand before he could finish his words. He was sweating profusely. Then he howled in pain.
"Ah!"
Still holding his arm, Gregory dejectedly slumped on the ground in complete agony. He could feel the shooting pain in his arm, and his whole body was in a tremor.
Seeing the frightened look on Gregory's face, Fiona staggered as she hastily took a step back subconsciously, completely startled and looking silly.
After loosening his grip, Kerr ignored him, and directly inched his way and sauntered to Nicole. He gently held up her little face and carefully tilted it to the side. His gaze fell on her red, swollen face. His heart twitched. He didn't know, but he couldn't help feeling more sullen.
"Come with me,"
Kerr managed to say without giving her any chance to react. He firmly held her wrist and immediately guided her outside.
For a brief moment, Nicole was in a daze. When she realized that Kerr was holding her hand, she nearly gasped. Yes, she was surprised. Things happened so fast that she never imagined that he would hurt Gregory for her.
After stuffing her into the back seat of his car, Kerr shortly got in. And his eyes had been fixed on the swollen side of her face. It was undeniable that Gregory had hit her hard.
And half of her face was horribly swollen.
"Does it hurt?"
It was not until she got in the car that she snapped back to her senses. When she heard Kerr's gentle voice, she blushed. She discreetly turned her face away while shaking her head gently.
"No,"
she softly mumbled. Though she only felt a little hot on her face now, it still hurt when she touched it.
He peered at her with an amazed expression in his eyes. If she were in the past, she would have cried herself out of grievance to get sympathy.
But the girl sitting beside him didn't seem to be hurt at all, as if it was not her who was slapped.
"Drive,"
Kerr spoke as he straightened up and settled himself comfortably.
Nicole, all the while, was immersed in her own thoughts. She had been worrying what Fiona had mentioned to Kerr, or he wouldn't have helped her. The more she thought about it, the more nervous she was.
"What?"
Nicole stammered after she heard him saying something. Her hands were trembling slightly.
But then the moment she opened her mouth, she realized that Kerr was referring to the driver.
She quickly turned to the window, acting as if nothing had happened, but feeling quite embarrassed.
It was very seldom of her to act so imprudently, only because she had something on her mind all the time.
Seeing her strange reaction, for the first time, he frowned slightly. But he didn't comment on it.
To him, Nicole was like a mystery.
Then both fell into a comfortable silence, absorbed in their own thoughts. And in no time, they were about to enter the community. Nicole busied herself, looking for a pharmacy. As soon as she spotted one, she hurriedly called the driver.
"Wait, please pull over here."
She couldn't go home now. Jay would surely worry about her when he saw her face.
When the car stopped, Nicole turned to look at Kerr and courteously bid him goodbye.