Chapter 164

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Chapter 164

Chapter 164

Rhett shielded Kristin with his body, delivering a solid kick to Vincent’s gut. “Are you out of your mind? Lay a finger on mine and you’ll regret it.”

“Rhett! Kristin belongs to me!” Vincent wiped the blood from the corner of his eye, his gaze heavy with rage. “We’ve been together since we were sixteen. Ask her if she still has feelings

for me!”

“Sixteen? You’ve got some nerve bringing that up. What did we know about love when we were just kids?” Rhett’s voice was deep and protective as he held Kristin close.

He didn’t need to ask Kristin about her feelings for Vincent. Whether she had them or not was irrelevant.

All he had to do was do what he deemed right. Whether Kristin would fall for him was her business.

“Kristin, tell him you still care. It’s me you love!” Vincent trembled his voice, betraying a childish desperation for affirmation and answers.

Kristin was numb with tension, her anxiety so acute she couldn’t speak or make a sound.

“Rhett, she’s not answering, which means she still has feelings for me,” Vincent persisted, as if winning over Kristin was the only way to one–up Rhett.

“Kristin, can we talk, please? I know you didn’t want this six years ago. it was James who forced you. I still care for you, I can’t forget you. Let’s have a talk.” Vincent pleaded, desperate for a chance to explain himself.

Rhett snorted in disdain.

Vincent claimed to love Kristin, to be unable to forget her, yet he was clueless to the fact that Kristin suffered from depression and was too traumatized to speak.

Rhett gently covered Kristin’s ears with his hands, his voice soothing. “Don’t listen to him. It’s just nauseating.”

The very people who had caused Kristin such pain now dared to say he couldn’t forget her.

Their words were filth.

Rhett wouldn’t let that filth hurt Kristin.

Kristin slowly closed her eyes, her body rigid and trembling as she curled into Rhett’s embrace. His heartbeat was strong, a surprisingly effective balm that quickly calmed her.

“Rhett, all you want is to ruin me because you hate that my mom took Holcomb from you. You’re scared I’ll take what should be yours, so you want revenge. That’s why you’re using Kristin, because you know I’d die for her.” In Vincent’s eyes, Rhett was deliberately provoking

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him.

Rhett was indeed doing it on purpose, using Kristin to get at him.

“Do you think you’re worth that?” Rhett said, leading Kristin away protectively.

Using Kristin against him would be giving Vincent too much credit.

Holding Kristin’s hand. Rhett ushered her into his office.

Kristin’s fingers were stiff and clutched tightly. She struggled to relax her grip.

The feeling of her hand cramping was beyond her control.

Fortunately, there were no employees around to witness Mr. FitzGerald holding his assistant’s hand.

Otherwise, the office chat would erupt in gossip.

“From now on, don’t leave my sight,” Rhett instructed as he handed Kristin a cup of hot water to warm her chilled hands.

Cradling the cup, Kristin felt a little warmer.

It wasn’t until she took a sip that she realized she was using Rhett’s mug.

“Mr. FitzGerald…” Kristin panicked, on the verge of tears.

How could she use Rhett’s mug? Rhett was a stickler for cleanliness.

Kristin hadn’t prepared her mug at the office and always used disposable cups.

Kristin was speechless for a while.

At the sight of her nervousness and inability to speak as well as her eyes brimming with frantic emotion, Rhett felt a pang in his chest.

He didn’t dare let York dig too deep into what Kristin had endured over the years.

Rhett pulled her head close and gently kissed her.

His kiss was tender, as if silently reassuring her that there was nothing to fear with him by her side.

Kristin stiffened for a moment, but then miraculously began to warm up.

Tears she couldn’t hold back anymore streamed down her face as she wept in his arms.

Rhett just let her cry.

“I… I don’t love Vincent.‘

Hearing her choked explanation, Rhett curled into a half–smile, and his mood lifted. “Yeah, I know.”

Only a fool would continue to love such a scumbag.

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Chapter 164

Kristin was no fool and she was the clever fox who knew how to bite.

“Vincent is a bad guy.‘

“Yeah, he’s no good,” Rhett agreed with her.

Kristin cried again. “I’m sorry to hit him.”

She seemed to remember hitting Vincent hard enough to draw blood, and she worried that the FitzGerald family would make a big deal out of it to cause trouble for Rhett.

“It’s indeed your fault for not finishing the job,” Rhett said, ruffling her hair affectionately.

Kristin looked up at him, her eyes red but shining bright.

Rhett caught his breath. Kristin’s eyes were probably the most beautiful he had ever seen.

“Now, try to relax your fingers, okay?” Rhett coaxed Kristin to open her hand and not hurt herself.

She would get scared, panicked, and clench her fingers so tightly that her nails would cut into her palms.

Kristin looked down, struggling to unfurl her fingers which seemed to have a mind of their own.

Rhett’s larger hands enveloped Kristin’s. “Didn’t I tell you, even when scared, you can’t hurt yourself?”

Kristin bit her lip guiltily and slowly opened her hands.

That was when Rhett noticed several deformed candies in her palm.

His eyes narrowed, instantly on alert. “Where did you get these?”

“York gave them to me,” Kristin confessed quietly.

“They’re not good,” Rhett declared, tossing the candies into the trash.

Kristin’s instincts screamed to intervene, but it was already too late. “No, that can’t be right.”

The last candy Rhett had given her was the same candy, delicious, of course.

“That’s a knock–off. He loves to scrounge up cheap stuff on Amazon, counterfeit crap. I’ll get you the real deal,” Rhett said with an air of solemnity, critiquing York. “The guy has got a thing for cutting corners.”

Kristin just nodded, a bit lost.

Rhett brought over the first aid kit and gently tended to the crescent–shaped cuts Kristin had accidentally made on her palm. Then, as if performing a magic trick, he produced a shiny red apple.

Kristin lit up her eyes like fireworks. “An apple?”

“Yeah, better than that stale thing York gave you,” Rhett murmured with a hint of mystery.

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Chapter 164

“I asked him to check on you, where the heck did he go?” “It was only now that Rhett remembered, his voice tinged with a dark edge, nearly grinding his teeth in frustration.

He had entrusted York to look after Kristin, and this was how he did it?

Outside the CEO’s office, York, clutching the documents Vincent had mentioned, inexplicably shivered.

After sneezing twice in rapid succession, he mustered the courage to knock on the door. “Mr. FitzGerald, Vincent was…”

As the door swung open, York nearly jumped out of his skin.

Rhett stood there, his expression stormy as a brewing tempest.

“Mr. FitzGerald, you nearly scared the life out of me. What are you doing lurking behind the door?” York couldn’t believe Rhett was there just to greet him.

“Vincent is not going to the desert project. How about you?” Rhett’s smirk was all but comforting.

York widened his eyes and was on the verge of dropping to his knees. What had he done wrong? “Mr. FitzGerald, you can’t be so heartless. You can’t spare me. I can’t go.”

Going for a trip that lasted half a month away, would anyone even recognize him when he returned? He couldn’t go there.

“Not going?” Rhett snorted. “Here’s your second option. Find a spot without cameras and put Vincent in a sack and give him a good thrashing.”

York involuntarily gasped. “I think I’ll take the desert project.”

York didn’t mess with the FitzGerald family.

Rhett was still fuming when Hertha arrived.

In her hand, she carried a manila envelope from the paternity testing center.