The Stand-In Who Burned the Script novel Chapter 470

That final sentence succeeded in making Silas freeze in his tracks.

The dim lighting of the underground garage cast harsh shadows across his face, making his pitch-black eyes look dangerously unfathomable.

After a long pause, his Adam's apple bobbed.

"Fine."

The single word slipped past his lips, followed by his heavy, warning tone. "You are the elder, and Vivian is your daughter-in-law. I sincerely hope you have the basic decency not to do something you'll regret again."

It was a direct warning, telling Cynthia not to repeat the catastrophic mistakes of her past.

If she tried to pull anything with Vivian this time, Silas would absolutely not hesitate to cut her off completely.

Cynthia's grip on the phone tightened. "You really are getting bolder. Are you actually threatening me now?"

"If you think those words count as a threat, then yes."

A threat.

Cynthia sucked in a sharp breath and hung up the phone.

To think that because of one woman, the fragile peace she had barely begun to rebuild with her son had crashed back down to below freezing—this was something she had never anticipated.

However, she truly had no intention of physically harming Vivian again.

Long before flying back, she had already received a detailed dossier.

Vivian...

The Fairchild family.

The daughter of *that* man.

Memories of the past rushed back in an aggressive flood, making Cynthia's breathing far heavier than before.

She couldn't deny it—even before she had seen Vivian's face, she harbored a primal, instinctual disgust and hatred for her.

Who could have ever predicted this?

His daughter had actually ended up marrying her son.

It was a truly cursed twist of fate.

—

On his drive back, Silas received another call from Zoe. She sounded completely panicked. "Mr. Sterling, where exactly is Vivian?"

"She fell ill. If there's a problem, just tell me."

"Ill?"

Silas narrowed his eyes and looked over. A young girl had been slapped so hard she slammed into the side of a parked car. Immediately after, a large hand grabbed her and tried to drag her into the backseat.

"I'm doing you a favor by taking you home! You're just trying to hold out for a higher price, aren't you? Do I look like I can't afford you? Stop playing hard to get, you ungrateful little bitch!"

The girl fought back wildly, prompting the man to reach out and try to tear her uniform.

"Ah... get off of me!"

Her frantic struggling only acted as a catalyst for the severely intoxicated man.

"No... no! Help!"

"Shut up!"

The man raised his hand to deliver another brutal slap, but this time, before his arm could drop, a vice-like grip caught his wrist mid-air.

In the shadows, Silas's eyes were lethal and suffocating.

"Aren't you a little too old to be acting like such a creep, Chairman Fairchild?"

Dominic jumped out of his skin, staring dumbfoundedly at the man who had appeared out of nowhere—Silas, his allegedly blind son-in-law whom he had never officially met. He... he could see?

Seizing the distraction, the girl desperately clutched her torn clothes and scrambled behind Silas. Trembling violently, she looked up in sheer terror, only to be struck by the breathtaking, god-like profile of the towering man protecting her.