Chapter 62: The Urge to Win

Bella choked and started coughing violently. When she met Dominic's gaze and saw the harshness in his eyes, she knew he wasn't joking. She couldn't believe he'd been watching her. He'd noticed her meeting with Felix while he was talking to Leonard. She felt caught in the act.

Before she could recover, Dominic bent down and kissed her fervently. He casually placed his wine glass on the grass. He held the back of her head with one hand and wrapped his other arm around her waist, forcing her closer. Bella was unaware of how intimate and passionate they appeared, or that Dominic's eyes were cold and unfeeling. He looked triumphantly at Felix, who stood a short distance away.

Felix's expression was dark and unreadable. After a moment, he turned and left.

Dominic released Bella, who had been desperately trying to break free. The frustration he'd felt earlier, seeing her with Felix, was gone. This demonstrated that one should never underestimate a man's ego when it came to women. Bella assumed he was acting out because he was drunk and didn't realize the true purpose of his kiss.

Reluctantly, she followed him inside, where he joined Leonard and other men in a business conversation. She didn't understand what they were talking about and wasn't interested in listening.

Bored, she noticed everyone was dressed to the nines except for Dominic in his stark white shirt. His coat had been on her the whole time, making her feel like a sore thumb.

Bella was about to remove the jacket and return it when he abruptly turned to face her. His smile vanished, replaced by a stern and threatening look.

Bella lowered her gaze, pretending nothing had happened. She couldn't help but wonder how many eyes he had on her. If he ever took her to another party, she would wear a T-shirt and jeans. Since he wouldn't let her show any skin, what was the point of dressing up?

She thought long and hard. She concluded that he was ashamed of her figure and preferred her completely covered rather than risk her embarrassing him.

Suddenly, there was a commotion. Bella looked up just in time to see Pierre, standing next to Daniel, collapse in a pool of blood before Dominic pulled her into his arms.

Paralyzed with fear, she only realized what had happened when she heard the crowd gasp and shout. A fresh bullet hole marred the glass wall, a testament to someone having tried to shoot Daniel. However, Pierre had taken the bullet for him, sustaining the shot in his upper abdomen.

When she regained consciousness, she pushed Dominic aside and rushed to check on Pierre. In this setting, she was probably the only one with medical training.

Clutching his wound, Pierre was in so much pain he could barely make a sound. He was bleeding profusely. When she saw where the bullet had entered, she broke into a cold sweat; it had probably gone straight through his stomach.

Bella did what she could to stem the bleeding and yelled, "Get an ambulance! He needs surgery immediately!"

Dominic was caught off guard, while Diane was paralyzed with fear. Bella's frantic voice snapped Daniel into action. "Quick! We need to get him to the hospital!" Bella accompanied Pierre to the hospital, closely monitoring his condition throughout the journey. She worried he would go into shock.

(The marketing blurb at the end has been removed as it's not part of the story itself.)