BIT

Suddenly, Sean gripped the paparazzi’s arm tightly. “Stop talking nonsense. Can’t you see there’s a baby here?” he hissed angrily, momentarily unaware that all the cameras. were focused on him.

“Sean,” Rebecca called, pulling his hand away from the paparazzo’s wrist, who winced in pain. Sean immediately realized what he was doing and released his grip, looking around in shock as everyone recorded his face.

“Let’s get out of here,” Rebecca said, quickly pushing Lily’s stroller out of the crowd. She knew that the media would blow this incident out of proportion. “Shit!” she cursed, realizing the chaos that was about to ensue.

“What?” Sean responded, offended, thinking her words were directed at him.

Rebecca frowned but said nothing as she hurried into the car. Sean followed a moment. later.

“You’re going to let them treat you like that? Don’t you realize they’re humiliating you? And now you blame me for standing up to them?” Sean ranted. For the first time, Rebecca saw a flash of anger in his eyes.

Rebecca took a deep breath. “I’m not blaming you, Sean, but we all know we can’t act like that with the media or they’ll retaliate mercilessly,” she replied wearily.

“Does that still matter to you? Huh? Is your reputation more important than your daughter’s dignity?” Sean snapped, slamming the steering wheel, making Rebecca stare at him in shock; she had never seen him act like this before.

She looked out the window, realizing they were the paparazzi’s prime target. In a few minutes, their faces would be all over the media, and Alicia would be delighted.

“Sean, what’s wrong with you? Take a deep breath, okay?” Rebecca asked, swallowing her pride. She didn’t know what was happening with Sean, but she knew she didn’t want to argue there and let all of America watch them.

Sean closed his eyes, regulating his breathing and opened them a minute later with a calmer expression. He started the car, checked Lily’s car seat to ensure it was secure, and drove

speed, leaving the paparazzi still busy taking pictures of away at a moderate

them.

14

Aug 15 Copyright by Nôv/elDrama.Org.

Rebecca stared out the window, feeling a tightness in her chest, but she held back her tears with all her strength. For some reason, she felt Sean would not handle her emotions as he had before.

“Just ignore it!” Sean snapped when Rebecca was about to check her phone because her social media notifications were incessantly buzzing.

Rebecca held back from snapping back. She switched her phone to silent mode and it back in her bag.

put

There was no conversation between them during the drive from Fifth Avenue to the condo: “Let me do it!” Sean barked when Rebecca was about to take Lily out of the car seat. Rebecca felt deeply offended by the way Sean spoke to her but took a deep breath, trying hard not to argue.

“Make sure she’s alright, Sean muttered after placing Lily in her crib.

Rebecca sighed heavily. “Sean, she is my daughter. Of course, I’ll make sure she’s alright! What’s wrong with you? I didn’t want to say this, but I have to: you’re overreacting,” she said firmly.

Sean turned, surprised. He pulled Rebecca out of the room so Lily wouldn’t wake up because of their conversation. “I don’t care. I will protect my daughter even if it’s overreacting!” he snapped, his eyes flashing with anger, then walked away, leaving Rebecca.

Rebecca was stunned, staring at Sean’s back in confusion. “Who are you, Sean?” she whispered. She was sure something was wrong with Sean. Since she saw Sean’s strange reaction when threatening Victoria, she knew something was off with him. She rubbed her neck, suddenly feeling cold, traumatized by the incident with Nicholas a year ago. She didn’t want it to happen again, especially since she had Lily to protect.

She took two cans of cold beer from the fridge and returned to her room. Feeling uncertain, she sat on the sofa, hugging her knees. She used to have Cathy to talk to, but now she had no one.

As if connected by some invisible thread, Cassie suddenly called her. She stared at her phone’s screen for a few seconds, wondering if Cassie was someone she could trust, but finally decided to answer.

“Becky?” Cassie’s voice sounded worried.

“Hey,” Rebecca tried to sound cheerful, though she failed because her voice was hoarse.

“You guys are all over the news. Are you okay? Do you need anything?” Cassie asked, her voice so sincere that it made Rebecca cry silently.

“Becky, are you still there?”

Rebecca cleared her throat softly. “Yeah, I’m not really worried about the news, but I’m thinking about something else,” she whispered, suddenly worried because Sean might be cavesdropping behind the door.

“Something else? What do you mean?” Cassie asked, confused.

Rebecca took a deep breath. “I don’t know, but Scan, he’s acting different. I mean, really strange. He’s overly protective of Lily and acts like he doesn’t trust that I can be a good mother. I mean, it doesn’t sound that simple; guess I have to tell you everything from the beginning-”

“About his late wife and daughter, right?” Cassie interrupted, making Rebecca’s eyes widen in surprise.

“You knew?”

“Becky, one of the Brushes members mentioned to me that they heard from a friend in Boston that Sean’s marriage background with his late wife wasn’t as smooth as it seemed,” Cassie said cautiously.

Rebecca felt tension throughout her body. She straightened up. “What do you mean?”

Cassie was silent for a few moments, making Rebecca even more fearful.

“Cassie? You still there?”

“Um, but this is from an unreliable source, okay? I mean, my friend only heard gossip circulating there, so it’s not confirmed,” Cassie said cautiously.

“Okay? Can you just tell me what you found out about him?” Rebecca asked impatiently.

“So the rumor is that Sean often committed domestic violence against his late wife, which led her to depression, and the accident that day was…