Never Mistake a Queen for a Lapdog novel Chapter 1037

He locked his arms around her waist, crushing her tightly against his chest, shielding her from the blinding flashes and the imminent danger.

But the agonizing pain they expected never came.

The nearby security guards finally snapped into action, rushing forward to wrestle the bottle away from the older woman.

Breathing heavily, Seth looked down, frantically checking Noreen for injuries.

His voice held a tremor of panic she had never heard before. "Are you okay? Did it hit you?"

Noreen's voice shook just as badly. "Are you crazy?"

"That was sulfuric acid!"

"Are you hurt?"

She never imagined Seth would throw himself into the line of fire to protect her like that.

Seth glanced over his shoulder. "I don't think it was sulfuric acid."

Her hands trembling violently, Noreen hurriedly inspected his back.

It truly wasn't sulfuric acid; it just reeked of something severely pungent.

A massive wave of relief washed over her, though her eyes remained rimmed with red. "But what if it was? What if it was?"

She couldn't even bear to imagine the consequences.

Seth knew she was deeply terrified, which was why her usually unshakable composure was fracturing.

"I'm fine. Focus on the company's crisis first. We'll deal with everything else later."

Her panicked rationality slowly began to piece itself back together.

For a moment, she had completely forgotten where she was and the massive disaster she needed to fix.

Her entire world had narrowed down to her terror for his safety.

Even knowing the bottle hadn't contained acid, Noreen couldn't help but nervously check his back one more time.

His suit jacket was perfectly intact. It really hadn't been anything corrosive.

The older woman became agitated once more. "You're just trying to wash your hands of this! You executives are all the same, eating people alive and spitting out the bones!"

Right at that tense moment, Seth's call came through.

Noreen stood up and walked to the side to answer.

Seth informed her that Ian's medical records were perfectly clean.

The news made Noreen frown.

If there was nothing wrong with his health, why did Ian try to kill himself?

Was her entire theory wrong?

She composed herself, and by the time she sat back down, her expression was entirely neutral as she continued the conversation. "I have established a special investigative task force. We will provide you with a full explanation shortly."

"What explanation? My son is lying in a hospital bed clinging to life! You need to pay us!"

Mrs. Wilder immediately backed her up. "Exactly! Pay up! If you don't give us money, I'll go to every media outlet and tell them Winrich drove its employees to suicide!"