Chapter 18

"Why are you all just standing there? Beat him up!" Trevor shouted at the bodyguards.

"Just try it!" Diane's heart leaped as she saw the bodyguards raise their machetes. She again shielded Severin with her arms. "My family may not care for me, but Shanahan blood runs in my veins! If anyone hurts me, you'll face the Shanahans' wrath!"

The bodyguards recoiled, fearful.

Severin, standing behind her, felt a surge of warmth. He stepped forward, patting Diane's shoulder. "Leave this to me. I can handle it."

"You? What can you do? All you do is brag!" Diane's retort left him speechless.

Trevor frowned. "Alright, Miss Diane. I'll give you one chance. I'll let you both leave if someone from the Shanahans pleads for him. Otherwise, I'll have to get rough."

"Sure!" Diane bit her lip, taking the chance. She pulled out her phone and called the Shanahan home. "Dad, you wanted to know Selene's father, right? Come now to the second floor of the Richemont Hotel!"

After hanging up, Diane looked at Severin, nervously unsure if the Shanahans would come.

Trevor chuckled. "Your home isn't far, Miss Diane, so I'll give you twenty minutes. If no one comes, well, I can't help it if I accidentally hurt you!" He knew the Shanahans would have disowned her if no one came to her aid. In that case, he wouldn't worry about Diane getting caught in the crossfire while Severin was beaten. Above all, he needed to vent his anger that day. Furthermore, he had an ace up his sleeve—something even the Shanahans feared. He wouldn't use it unless absolutely necessary, as he only had one chance.

Time ticked by. Severin could easily have handled the Loughs' bodyguards, but he wanted to see the Shanahans' attitude toward Diane.

Easton smiled coldly. A servant had summoned a doctor to bandage his wound. "Hehe! I didn't expect you to be so reliant on women, Severin. Hiding behind her, are we?" He stood up. "Fifteen minutes have passed. If the Shanahans don't show up in five, not even a miracle will save you."

Severin glared, causing Easton to take two steps back and hide behind the bodyguards.

Guests whispered among themselves.

"The Shanahans won't come. If they cared, they wouldn't have thrown her out in the first place!"

"I agree. The whole thing was a scandal. Diane having a child out of wedlock caused them so much shame!"

The passage has been cleaned up by:

• Correcting grammatical errors (e.g., subject-verb agreement, tense consistency).
• Improving sentence structure for clarity and flow.
• Removing unnecessary words and phrases.
• Fixing punctuation (e.g., comma splices, apostrophe usage).
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The cleaned-up passage maintains the original meaning while improving readability.