Trouble in Paradise

Claudia bit her red lips, her eyes wet and filled with gloom.

I was shocked beyond words when I saw her standing behind Nicholas and me. I had no idea how long she had been there, watching.

She might have been there for hours, witnessing everything Nicholas did to humiliate me. Her eyes were red, and she seemed overwhelmed. She abandoned all pretense and acted purely on instinct. As I lowered my head, she rushed over, grabbed the scissors from the floor, and cut my hair again.

"Give me Nick back to me! Give him back to me!" she screamed hysterically.

At that moment, time seemed to pause. No one spoke or moved. Only my hair fell silently to the ground. Each strand felt as heavy as a thousand pounds, crushing my heart.

The Hawk family had bullied me for far too long.

Summoning strength that I didn't know I had, I quickly picked up the dog shaver from the floor before. grabbing Claudia's hair and pulling her down. I pressed the shaver to her scalp and shaved a patch of her

hair.

"You like cutting people's hair, huh?" I shrieked. "Well, I prefer shaving heads!"

Seeing the white, soft patch of her scalp exposed, I laughed. However, it wasn't enough. It wasn't until I started a second pass that she realized what was happening and began to cry and struggle.

I had very little strength left, especially after what Nicholas had done to me. The difference in our physical strength was vast, and when he pushed me with one hand, I couldn't resist.

With a loud bang, I slammed into the wall. The pain in my back was excruciating. It felt like my internal organs had shifted.

Nicholas was always partial to Claudia. I was used to it. As I watched them embrace, I told myself i wasn't upset. I coldly observed the scene and laughed,

While holding Claudia, Nicholas glanced at me with an ugly expression. "How dare you hurt her!" he snapped.

My eyes burned, but I had no desire to argue with him.

"I'll deal with you later," he growled, his anger intensifying with my silence.

I watched as he carried Claudia out, thinking that the drama was finally over. But then, unexpectedly, he returned, still carrying Claudia. Pete and Neal, followed by ten officers, forced their way in. Though every man in the room was mature, the strange smell in the air made the inexperienced young officers blush, while the battle-hardened men stared directly at me. Among them was Pete. When he frowned, intending to scold me, he froze at the sight of my hair that was cut unevenly like it had been chewed by a dog.

He rushed over and grabbed my arm tightly before asking, "It's only been a few hours! What happened?" He bent down to pick up the hair on the floor, his hands shaking. I slapped the hair out of his hand and

said, "Don't touch that. It's dirty."

The hair he was picking up wasn't mine-it was Claudia's. My own hair had scattered all over the place where Nicholas humiliated me.

Pete stared at me, his clear eyes misting over. I realized I needed to explain. "That's not my hair."

He sighed with relief before turning to shield me and become the carefree, mischievous guy I knew. Hurry up," he commanded.

Neal stepped forward, addressing Nicholas, shouting, "Put her down!" He pulled out an arrest warrant and held it up to Nicholas. "You can't take her away!"

"I can put her down, but nobody is taking her away. She's a member of the Hawk family," Nicholas sald with a sneer.

He disliked being threatened. It had been years since anyone dared to speak to him this way. His lips curled in disdain.

Claudia clung tightly to his clothes, fearing she would be left behind. Nicholas patted her shoulder gently to calm her down.

He looked up at Pete and calmly asked, "Mr. Shelman, what do you think you're doing here?:

His piercing gaze sent a shiver down my spine. Standing behind Pete, I couldn't help but notice his eyes, and my body weakened, causing me to lean back against the wall.

Pete shifted slightly, standing even more firmly in front of me.

He said, "Nick, I'm just here helping with an investigation. According to the commander of the Criminal Investigation Division, Neal Steele, we're all law-abiding citizens here. You wouldn't want to interfere with police duties, would you?"All text © NôvelD(r)a'ma.Org.