The Year I Stopped Being His novel Chapter 45

Everything happened in a chaotic blur.

The crying and screaming abruptly stopped. The blood, the tears, the pale faces, and Quinn's pathetically helpless posture... it all instantly ignited a wave of shock and sympathy from everyone in the room.

"Oh my god, she's bleeding!"

"Hurry! Get the first aid kit!"

"Sloane, how could you lay your hands on her?!"

"Exactly! It's bad enough you yelled at the kid, but hitting Quinn that hard? If the boy doesn't know any better, do you have no sense either?!"

The relatives' furious murmurs swelled into a hive of condemnation, their glares shooting toward Sloane like daggers.

Garrison immediately rushed forward, dropping to one knee beside Quinn.

"Don't move. Move your hand, let me see," Garrison instructed. His voice wasn't loud, but it carried the cold, commanding authority of a doctor taking control of a crisis.

He gently pulled Quinn's hand away from her forehead. A one-inch laceration was exposed, the skin broken as blood seeped out rapidly, trailing down Quinn's brow and staining half her face crimson.

Garrison's brow furrowed tightly. His sharp eyes locked onto the wound as he quickly barked out orders: "First aid kit. Under the cabinet on the west side of the living room, the white one."

"Garrison..."

Quinn's large, doe-like eyes welled with tears, making her look like a fragile, heartbroken victim.

"It's fine. The cut isn't deep; no major blood vessels or bones are damaged." As he spoke, someone rushed over with the kit. Garrison quickly pulled out a gauze pad and pressed it firmly and precisely against the wound to stop the bleeding.

"Quinn, does it hurt? Don't be scared, Garrison is right here..."

Vincent and Rosemary had already crowded around them. Rosemary knelt on the other side, gripping Quinn's hand tightly, her eyes red-rimmed and brimming with heartache.

Vincent's face was ashen, his lips pressed into a hard line. He didn't say a word, but deep furrows were etched into his forehead.

The surrounding relatives were already whispering relentlessly.

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