Chapter44
I felt a mix of surprise and guilt. “So you saw the whole thing?”
“Yep.” Samuel nodded.
Seeing us all cozy, Antonio shot up from the ground, his eyes bloodshot as he grilled me. “Who the hell is this guy?”
Samuel, trying to provoke him on purpose. let his hand glide from my shoulder to my waist. “Her fiance.” he announced.
“Bullshit. Take your hand off. Grace, he’s just lying, right? You brought him here to make me jealous, didn’t you?”
“You really think highly of yourself.” Freddy’s voice cut through the tension from behind us.
Antonio instinctively retreated. Samuel and I spun around to see Freddy approaching, a baseball bat in tow.
I wanted to intervene, but Samuel, still holding me close, guided us out of the way. “What are you doing? Freddy’s got a heavy hand,” I said.
Samuel just grinned, “Relax. I’ve got this. No one’s dying today.”
He whipped out his phone and dialed. “Get an ambulance on standby outside the Parrish’s place,” he ordered.
I was rendered speechless.
Antonio’s brows knitted as he looked from Freddy to me.
He asked, “Grace, we’re not done, are we? Our story hasn’t finished. You can’t marry someone else. Even if he is your fiance, you should back out.”
Freddy just sneered and swung that bat at Antonio’s leg without a second thought. Antonio howled in pain and hit the dirt.
Freddy scolded, “I’ve been out here listening, and let me tell you, you’ve crossed the line messing with Grace, and you dared to hit her? Antonio, you’re not my friend anymore.”
And with that, he raised the bat again.
Antonio let out a painful groan, but he kept his eyes on me, dragging himself over. “Stop, Freddy. That’s enough,” I said.
Freddy’s bat was mid–swing, frozen in the air.
Grinning through his pain, Antonio said, “There it is. You still care about me. You can’t just walk away, Grace.”
I shook off Samuel’s hold, strode up to Antonio, and knelt down right in front of him. Then I slapped him hard. “This slap settled our score, Antonio. We’re even..
“And don’t talk about a breakup. You never even called me your girlfriend. We were never official, so there’s nothing to break.
“Let me make this crystal clear. I’m over you, Antonio. Stay out of my life.” With that, I grabbed Freddy’s arm, ready to pull him away.
But Freddy refused to leave. I stomped my foot in frustration. “Seriously? You want to risk it all for this jerk?”
He gritted his teeth, chucked the bat aside, and dropped to the ground, landing a few more punches on Antonio’s face.
When Freddy was finally done, Samuel signaled to the ambulance waiting in the distance. A team of medical staff rushed over, loaded Antonio onto a stretcher, and carted him off.
As we were about to head back inside, Antonio, despite his condition,
had the audacity to call out to Samuel. “I was with her for seven years. Are you sure you want to marry her?”
Samuel and Freddy turned to look at him, but I held Freddy back. I didn’t expect Samuel to put his foot on Antonio’s injured leg and ground it down.
“You’re a disgrace.” Samuel said. “But don’t worry. I’ll make her so happy that it’ll hurt you to watch.”
“Get him out of here.” Samuel ordered.
Once Antonio was gone. Samuel came over, took my hand, and said, “Let’s get out of here. I’ll take you out for shopping.”
I blinked in surprise. With such a big thing happening, he neither asked about it nor said anything else. Yet, he just proposed we go shopping?