Shattered Vows: Call Me Auntie Now novel Chapter 86

Struggling to breach the surface once more, she caught a glimpse of a familiar figure sprinting over through the hazy, rippling light.

It was Dante!

Her heart gave an involuntary tremor, a sliver of faint hope piercing through her fading sanity.

After all these years, there had to be some affection between them. He wouldn't just watch her die, right?

Yet, as Dante dove into the pool, he cut through the water straight toward her left.

Right toward where Vivienne was drowning.

Never once did he veer even a fraction in Quinn's direction.

Dante swam directly to the flailing, nearly unconscious Vivienne. Reaching out with a long arm, he pulled her tightly into his embrace and swiftly towed her toward the edge.

On the other side, Leon Ambrose rushed over as well. He dove in without hesitation, firmly scooped up the desperately struggling Yasmine, and dragged her out of the water.

In mere moments, Yasmine and Vivienne were both safely brought to the deck.

Leaving only Quinn, her stamina entirely depleted, her body sinking slowly and uncontrollably toward the bottom.

In that instant, Quinn thought to herself that this time, she didn't have her mother to save her either.

Just as she believed she was going to die at the bottom of the pool, a pair of strong, powerful hands reached out, wrapping firmly around her waist from behind.

The grip was steady and resolute, bracing her body as it sliced through the churning water, propelling her upward with immense force.

Splash!

The two of them broke the surface together. The man towed her the rest of the way, then scooped her up into his arms and carried her onto the deck.

Placed gently on the ground, Quinn coughed violently, hacking up mouthfuls of pool water, her throat burning raw.

She weakly opened her tear-blurred eyes, struggling to focus. The first thing she saw was Raymond Moretti's cold, intense face.

Dante, having just finished rescuing Vivienne, was about to turn back for Quinn when he saw Raymond already carrying her ashore.

"Quinn, are you alright?"

"Stay the hell away from her!" Raymond barked fiercely.

Startled by Raymond's intensity for a few seconds, Dante quickly recovered, looking annoyed. "I am her husband."

Raymond scoffed. "Her husband, who watched her fall into the water and immediately went to save another woman."

Dante nodded. He remembered her: Mrs. Landis. She had worked in this courtyard since Quinn was very little.

"Sir, Miss Quinn has had a bitter life. You must treat her well."

Mrs. Landis had watched Quinn grow up and knew all the suffering she had endured, especially after her mother passed away. Cynthia had tormented her endlessly, subjecting her to constant beatings and verbal abuse.

Facing Dante, Mrs. Landis reminisced about the past, unable to stop herself from rambling.

"Back then, after the Mrs. Yates passed, Cynthia would punish Miss Quinn whenever she got angry, locking her away without food. I snuck some meals to her, and she had me beaten up for it, too."

"As Miss Quinn grew taller, they wouldn't even buy her a winter coat. Her wrists were always exposed to the biting cold, making her cough all the time."

"There was another time she ran off into the mountains and caught a terrible chill. Her coughing worsened after that, and we found out it had turned into asthma."

Dante had been staring at the tightly shut door, somewhat distracted, but upon hearing this, his dark eyes narrowed.

Caught a terrible chill? Was it the year she went to Silverpine Mountain?

That year, he had fallen through the ice, and a sudden blizzard struck the mountain. She was supposed to have been evacuated by the hotel staff before his accident even happened.

But the temperature had indeed been freezing back then. It made sense she'd gotten sick from the cold.