The Stand-In Who Burned the Script novel Chapter 374

"She knows martial arts."

As soon as those words left her mouth, Silas's eyes instantly darkened to the extreme.

Scarlett took a casual drag of her cigarette, her tone light. "She wouldn't let me tell you this, so you definitely wouldn't have been able to find out in the short term. Logically, she saved me, so I shouldn't be biting the hand that fed me, but..."

"Vivian has so many secrets, and this is the only one I know."

Silas's gaze was icy. "And how did you find out?"

"She saved me."

Scarlett's expression was a little unnatural. After all, Vivian was essentially her savior, and her current actions were nothing short of betrayal. But Silas would find out eventually, and besides... that man was too important to her.

"I ran into a few thugs, and she took them all down in a couple of swift moves."

A few thugs, taken down by one woman.

That went far beyond simple self-defense.

If she knew martial arts, then during yesterday's incident, even if Silas hadn't shown up, she could have walked away completely unscathed.

But she hadn't retreated. Either she knew he was outside...

Or, in the heat of the moment, she truly hadn't reacted in time.

But no matter which possibility it was, the stab wound he took while shielding her was... completely unnecessary.

Seeing that Silas hadn't spoken for a long while and his expression was growing increasingly somber, Scarlett felt a bit of apprehension. "This isn't really a big deal, is it? Vivian is so pretty, isn't it a good thing she can protect herself?"

"Yeah."

The man practically gritted his teeth. "It's fantastic!"

"..."

—

By the time Vivian came downstairs, Scarlett was nowhere to be seen. The man was sitting by the dining table, his back straight, his side profile incredibly handsome.

She framed him with her hands and made a quiet clicking sound with her mouth.

He turned around.

Their eyes met, and Vivian lowered her hands with a smile.

[I'm coming back in three days. Shouldn't you be thinking about how to throw me a welcome party?]

She glanced at it but didn't reply.

Her newly logged-in iMessage had no chat history, and she only had two frequent contacts.

One was Zoe Hunt, and the other was Silas.

She opened Zoe's iMessage and her fingers flew across the screen to type out a line.

[Still no news from Marcus's side?]

Two minutes later, Zoe replied: Mr. Vaughan is currently in Bayport. I asked around indirectly about his itinerary, and I expect he'll be coming over soon.

Vivian's pupils shrank slightly as she let out a soft breath.

She couldn't avoid the inevitable, so all she could do was follow Darcy Cole's advice.

Outside the window, the wind rustled the grass. The sound felt somewhat eerie in the dark night. Deep autumn in Northside was no different from winter, freezing people to the bone.

This world of theirs might never know peace again.