The Runaway Groom

Even at this juncture, Vivian was bent on foolishly shifting the blame to Lulu.

Grabbing Zachary's arm frantically, Vivian cried, "Wendy must have planned all this, Mr. Slate. Just arrest her-everything will be fine after."

Zachary had enough before she could finish and kicked her to the floor, leaving her looking up at him in disbelief even as she clutched her belly. "Mr. Slate..."

Zachary refused to speak another word to her and passed Star to Lulu. "Go to the car. I'll deal with this."

Lulu held Star firmly in her arms as she nodded repeatedly. "Okay."

Vivian was left staring blankly-why would Zachary still trust Wendy now?

"Mr. Slate, Wendy was the one who lost your baby!" she cried. "How could you still trust her? You're putting Star in danger!"

Zachary completely ignored her, however, and went in the precinct to speak with the officers inside.

He could no longer abide with Vivian after what she did to Star, even if Star turned out to be fine. There was no forgiving Vivian when she decided that Star was fair game too, which was why Zachary would have her arrested on kidnapping charges.

When the cops searched Vivian's house, they found Star's bottle there. She had brought it along when she kidnapped Star to appease the baby, but she had forgotten to drop it off at the precinct with Star. And with Vivian's accomplice arrested, they had both witness and physical evidence.

As there was no arguing her way out, Vivian was locked up, still wondering why Zachary would trust Wendy so much.

Despite her ambition, she lacked intelligence and ultimately proved clumsy.

Zachary would probably have no reason to move against her if she had refrained from laying hands on Star. But with her having done so, Zachary would not play nice at that point-if anything, not strangling her was already better than what she deserved.

After all, Star was Zachary's treasure!

The entire incident was resolved in just two days, proving Zachary's swiftness and decisiveness.

Having not much free time, he had put aside work to deal with it and headed home after.

Lulu was holding Star in her arms and feeding her, but Star soon fell asleep.

Zachary told Lulu right then, "I need to talk to you."

Lulu put down Star and proceeded to the living room, where Zachary loosened his collar. "It was a close shave, but I'd advise you to be careful-"

"I know. It was my fault, and I apologize for not taking good care of Star," she said, though her tone soon changed. "But you knew how Vivian felt about you. Don't you think you were endangering Star by bringing her into your own house?"

Zachary suddenly wheeled on Lulu, and she quickly averted her eyes uncomfortably.

"You just had to say the word, and

refused to speak," he said.

ay chased her away. I

s wond

Those words were clear enough—he knew.

And with that truth unraveled, both Lulu and Zachary were left standing there awkwardly.

They could have played it off before, but not now.

Zachary rose to his feet, saying, "I still have work to do. I'll be leaving by the end of today."

With that, he headed into Star's room.

Lulu was left closing her eyes in turn, regretting what she said.

How was she supposed to act around Zachary after this?

Zachary spent the night in Star's room and left the next morning.

Lulu avoided him as much as possible-she only felt freedom in his absence. Text property © Nôvel(D)ra/ma.Org.

Heading to Star's room, she changed Star's diaper and fed her.