Chapter 151: Held Hostage

Giselle did not need to think.

The softness that had landed in her arms could only belong to one person.

In the next second, without even a flicker of hesitation, she caught him by the shoulders, shifted her weight with terrifying precision, and threw Elias out of the fight.

This place was too dangerous.

What the hell was he doing here?

[Favorability increased: Giselle Frost. Current value: 40%.]

Giselle’s only thought had been to get Elias away from the danger as fast as possible. She had not controlled her strength well enough.

Elias hit the ground unsteadily, dizzy from the sudden force. His vision blurred for a second, his feet staggered, and he almost went down hard.

A hand caught him at the last moment.

The pull was clean and light, just enough to keep him from cracking his head against the pavement. He still dropped into a seated fall, but he landed safely.

Elias looked up.

The bodyguard who had caught him was striking in a sharp, polished way. Not sweet. Not soft. Pretty in the way a knife looked expensive when someone bothered to clean the blood off it.

She gave him a small smile.

Elias said, "Wow. Pretty, too."

[System Theta: ...]

Was now really the time to notice that?

Its host was trash. Actual trash.

Elias scrambled up from the ground, and by the time he faced the bodyguard again, the lazy appreciation had vanished from his face. His eyes filled with fear and anger so quickly that anyone watching would have thought both feelings had been there all along.

"Who are you people?" he shouted. "Who gave you the right to hit her? Let her go. If you keep doing this, I’m calling the police!"

He yanked his phone out of his pocket.

Then, where Giselle could not see, he gave the bodyguard a look.

The bodyguard understood at once.

She stepped forward, crossed the distance in a single smooth motion, and caught his wrist before he could unlock the screen.

It was all theater.

Against Giselle, the bodyguards were actually fighting. Fists landed. Shoulders slammed. Every movement carried weight.

Against Elias, the grip was so gentle it barely counted as restraint. Her fingers circled his wrist with careful distance, closer to a staged hold than force.

After all, Elias was a man.

More importantly, both Miss Frost and Victoria Frost cared far too much about him. Depending on how this whole mess unfolded, he might very well become Giselle’s future partner in the eyes of the Frost family. A bodyguard with sense knew where the line was.

This one clearly had sense.

Elias, unfortunately for everyone watching, had acting skills.

The instant her fingers closed around his wrist, he cried out.

His whole body went rigid. His shoulders jerked. He rose onto his toes as if that tiny shift could relieve some crushing pain from his pale, slender wrist.

The bodyguard’s eyes flickered with surprise.

If she had not trusted her own control, she might have wondered whether she had really squeezed too hard. For one absurd second, even she almost believed she had crushed the poor boy’s bones.

If even she felt that illusion, Giselle had no reason to doubt it.

And Giselle Frost, for all her cold reputation and perfect silver-haired distance, really did have blood under that beautiful skin.

At first, four bodyguards had pressed her down through sheer numbers. Now that there were three, she had somehow forced the fight back into balance. Her mouth was bleeding. Her silver hair had come loose from its neat fall. Her breathing was ragged.

But she kept trading injury for injury, and the bodyguards could not take her down cleanly.

They were not going easy on her. Not really.

At most, they held back enough to avoid doing lasting damage. Even that restraint had become useless under Giselle’s reckless fighting style.

Then Elias screamed.

Giselle stopped.

The change was instant. She had been mid-strike, wild enough to look almost feral, and then she pulled herself back like a beast retracting its claws.

"Let him go."

Her silver hair fell across one side of her face. Blood stained the corner of her mouth. She stood there breathing hard, and somehow, with her uniform disordered and her body bruised, she still carried a thin, frightening thread of authority.

The bodyguard was not frightened.

She smiled at Giselle.

"Miss Frost, are you ready to go home now?"

"That place is not my home," Giselle said coldly.

Then she repeated, "Let him go."

"Mrs. Frost is still your mother," the bodyguard said, still smiling. "Wherever she is, that is home. And you probably don’t want to watch this boy cry from pain, do you?"

Elias fell silent.

Ma’am, please watch your wording.

Giselle did not answer. She only stared at the bodyguard, her gaze so fixed it felt like she was measuring exactly where to strike first.

But she did not move.

She knew the bodyguard was holding Elias.

The bodyguard’s smile brightened.

"In that case, I may have to break one of his arms for you to see. Maybe then you’ll be willing to come home with us."

She said it with a smile.

Elias knew, with absolute certainty, that she would not do it.

Even so, the moment the words left her mouth, his body gave a tiny instinctive tremble.

A chill slid up his spine.

So there was someone here whose acting could stand on the same stage as his.

No.

Maybe it was not acting.

Maybe this woman had really gotten blood on her hands before.

That kind of pressure was not easy to fake.

Interesting.

Inside, Elias let out a quiet laugh.

Outside, his features twisted with pain. His face drained nearly white, and even his lips lost their color. Still, even suffering like that, he bit back every sob and refused to cry out again.

Anyone could see who he was enduring it for.

Elias decided that still was not shameless enough.

He forced a faint, trembling note into his voice. His eyes turned wet, as if tears might spill any second, and he whispered, "Giselle... don’t worry about me. Run."

Giselle’s pupils trembled.

Again and again, she had been able to let go of Elias.

Again and again, in the end, she had not.

And now, at this moment, he was not letting go of her either.

[Favorability increased: Giselle Frost. Current value: 45%.]

Her sea-blue eyes rippled, like the last still surface before a wave broke high enough to swallow the shore.

Then another car came.

It did not slow to a clean stop.

It drove straight into the luxury car the bodyguards had left by the curb.

The second vehicle was clearly built harder. Reinforced. Heavier. Meaner. The bodyguards’ car was shoved out of position with a tortured scrape of metal, while the arriving car came away with only a few scratches along its side.

The new car stopped.

The door opened.

A long leg in sheer black stockings appeared first, followed by a tall figure stepping out into the open.

The instant Elias saw her, relief moved through him.

Good.

Serena Blackwood had arrived in time.

If that little untouched ice queen got her face ruined, he really would have nowhere to cry.

Serena wore the gentle, faintly warm smile she always gave outsiders. It was part of her image, as natural to her as a tailored coat.

But now, beneath that softness, rage burned hot enough to show.

Her phoenix-shaped eyes narrowed. She did not need to raise her voice. The authority in her face made her look less like a rich heiress and more like a queen deciding whether someone should be allowed to keep breathing.

"Victoria Frost has gotten bold," Serena said lightly. The corner of her mouth lifted, but her eyes were cold enough to cut. "Touching what belongs to me now?"

Her gaze swept over the bodyguards.

Every one of them froze.

The bodyguard "restraining" Elias released him almost in panic. She dropped her head and bent slightly at the waist, her posture close to apology.

Elias clicked his tongue inwardly.

He had just praised her acting, and now she was overdoing it.

Then again, maybe it was not overdone.

Maybe some of that fear was real.

Serena was the one Elias had called to pick him up from school. She had not been part of the plan he made with Victoria Frost.

To the bodyguards, she was not just an unexpected variable.

She was Serena Blackwood.

Victoria Frost’s employees could act polished. They could act ruthless. They could smile while threatening to break a boy’s arm.

But in front of Serena, they were still only Victoria Frost’s employees.

Of the people in this circle, Serena was one of the very few who could call Victoria Frost by name and make everyone else accept it as normal.

Serena walked toward Elias.

Her eyes dropped to the position he had been in a moment ago, then to his wrist.

"Are you hurt?"

Her voice softened instantly.

Elias looked as if he had not quite recovered from her sudden rescue. He stared at her for half a second, dazed, then shook his head.

"Let me see."

Serena took his pale hand naturally between both of hers and examined it with careful attention. His skin was perfectly unmarked. Not even a faint red line circled his wrist.

The anger on her face vanished like smoke.

She gave the bodyguard a mild glance and smiled.

"At least you know your limits."