Chapter 229
She Raised Her Hand and Slapped Him
The person grabbing her was Ethan Sterling.
Ethan Sterling still looked the same as when she'd run into him earlier: dressed in a white suit, his gaze on her carrying a hint of meaning and a dark undertone she couldn't quite read.
"Let go of me!" Claire Bennett frowned.
Ethan Sterling's gaze landed on her, neither light nor heavy. Claire Bennett was wearing an evening gown, with parts of her skin exposed, and the red mark on her collarbone was clear and obvious.
Just now, the entire Kinley Estate had been locked down. She'd heard that something had happened to the estate's mysterious owner, and he'd flown into a rage and even dealt with several people.
He had wanted to meet this mysterious owner and see whether he could make his acquaintance.
He hadn't expected to run into Claire Bennett instead.
He saw Claire Bennett asking those two servers who the owner of Kinley Estate was, and in that instant, a vague suspicion rose in his mind.
Could it be that the owner of Kinley Estate had taken a liking to Claire Bennett, then had someone bring her into a room and sleep with her? But Claire Bennett didn't know who he was?
Claire Bennett really did have a pretty face, attracting bees and butterflies everywhere she went. She'd actually managed to seduce even the owner of Kinley Estate like this and let someone sleep with her for nothing.
Yet she wasn't willing to sleep with him!
But all of a sudden, a bold and strange idea came to him.
Ethan Sterling curled his lips and said softly, "Claire, we've already slept together. You were passionate just now, clinging to me nonstop. We spent a very enjoyable time together."
When Claire Bennett heard Ethan Sterling's words, her face turned pale in an instant, and her mind went sluggish for a moment.
The disgusting scenario she'd feared most had come true, so revolting it made her want to throw up.
Could the person who touched her really have been Ethan Sterling?
No! She trusted her own instincts.
Right now, just having Ethan Sterling grabbing her hand made her feel such disgust. It was impossible that she would have felt nothing at all.
A cold, distant expression appeared on Claire Bennett's face, her eyes full of revulsion, and she struggled violently. "Let me go right now! Otherwise I won't be polite."
"And how exactly won't you be polite? Claire, when we were dating, you wouldn't let me touch you. Who would've thought that in the end we'd still end up together? I'll treat you well from now on."
Claire Bennett finally broke free from Ethan Sterling's grip. At once, she raised her hand and fiercely slapped him.
A sharp smack rang out, and Ethan Sterling's face was knocked to one side.
Claire Bennett looked at him coldly. "Taking advantage of someone when they're vulnerable is your idea of style? I won't let this matter go."
Unexpectedly, when Ethan Sterling heard that, he smiled confidently and said, "Claire, you wouldn't dare spread our business around. Otherwise the man you're seeing will dump you immediately. But don't worry, I won't tell anyone either."
As long as later she could help him get some benefits from Cameron Quinn.
Looking at the brazen smile on Ethan Sterling's face, Claire Bennett felt like she'd really stepped in dog crap.
She suddenly walked toward him. Before he had time to notice, her eyes darkened abruptly, then she bent her knee and drove it with perfect accuracy into his crotch.
Ethan Sterling hadn't expected Claire Bennett to pull something like this.
Caught completely off guard, he was hurt by her attack. His whole face went white, and the pain was so bad he couldn't straighten up.
Claire Bennett shot him an icy glance, then turned neatly and left.
Whether the owner of Kinley Estate was Ethan Sterling or not, she was definitely going to investigate it thoroughly. She wasn't going to be fooled just because of a few words from him.
She still refused to believe the person who had slept with her was Ethan Sterling!
It took Ethan Sterling quite a while to recover, and by then Claire Bennett had long since run off without a trace.
He braced himself and stood up. Claire Bennett's attack on him just now hadn't made him angry. Thinking of it instead made him let out a dark smile.
Claire Bennett really hadn't held back at all.
But when he thought about how he could use this matter in the future to keep Claire Bennett under control and make her help him, he could tolerate her willful injury.
Claire Bennett took a cab straight back to Sean Shaw's detached house.
On the way, she also stopped at a drugstore to buy emergency contraception. What had happened this time was an accident, and she absolutely could not get pregnant.
After returning to the house, she took the pill and then shut herself in the bathroom.
Thinking about how someone else's scent was clinging to her body, Claire Bennett felt dirty already. In the bathtub, she scrubbed herself viciously over and over until her skin turned red before she stopped.
There were still two days left before the time she'd promised to give Julian Sterling her answer.
Originally, she had planned to happily agree to his request that they date, but now, what right did she have to be with him?
At that thought, bitterness welled up in Claire Bennett's heart.
If she told Julian Sterling about this, maybe he wouldn't mind, but she couldn't get past it herself.
He was a very good man, one who deserved a cleaner woman.
Who would want to stand before the man she loved in such a filthy, unbearable state? Maybe in the future this matter would become the source of ridicule aimed at him.
Judging from the way Ethan Sterling had acted today, he definitely wasn't going to let this go. He might even keep harassing her.
Claire Bennett took a deep breath and scrubbed herself even harder.
Suddenly, a few traces of resolve surged up in her heart.
No!