Leanna rushed back to the Wheeler Mansion as fast as she could.
Several servants were already standing by the front door, waiting for her to arrive.
Two of the staff members jumped forward the moment she stepped through the door and grabbed her wrists. They forced her arms behind her back, pinning her in place.
Emilio walked toward her while leaning heavily on his cane, his face twisted in anger. "You ungrateful girl! How dare you try to back out of this engagement!"
He lifted his hand high in the air, getting ready to slap her, but a sudden cough from across the room stopped him.
Shifting her focus toward the sound, Leanna glanced toward the far side of the room.
Carl was standing there, watching the whole scene unfold.
He looked just as annoyed as Emilio because he had spent the last few days stressed out by angry shareholders and bad press.
His main goal was to find a way to make himself look like a good person to the public again.
Furthermore, the Spencer Group's next big launch was essentially a paperweight without Leanna's sketches, so he literally couldn't afford to let her go.
Carl gazed at Leanna with a calculating, predatory glint. "Leanna, drop the act. Just walk down the aisle with me, and I'll pretend this little tantrum never happened," he offered.
Leanna didn't blink as she looked him right in the eye, her voice icy. "Carl, stop trying to gaslight me. You're the one who cheated right in front of my face. I would never marry you because, honestly, you're just repulsive," she snapped.
"How dare you!" Carl yelled, his face turning red with rage.
Only the fear of that incriminating cheating video going viral had forced him to grovel at the Wheeler Mansion in person.
Beyond the scandal, Carl knew after three years of being together with Leanna that her creative genius was his biggest meal ticket.
"You stubborn, ungrateful girl!" Emilio bellowed, raising his hand once more to try and strike her.
Leanna stared her father down, speaking through clenched teeth with total conviction. "I don't care if you kill me in this house, I am never, ever marrying him!" she vowed.
Fire burned so brightly in her gaze that for a split second, Emilio felt like he was looking at a ghost from his past, making him flinch.
Leanna shouted for everyone to hear, "Lock me up or hit me all you want! It won't change a thing—this marriage is dead!"
During the scuffle with the servants, her collar shifted just enough to reveal a fresh, dark constellation of hickeys blooming across her neck.
Carl's eyes flared a bright, angry red the moment the truth hit him. He didn't actually have any feelings for Leanna, but the thought of her being with another man was a massive blow to his ego.
"Who did this to you?" Carl demanded, his voice shaking as he struggled to keep his temper under control.
The idea of marrying a woman who had already given herself to someone else was completely unacceptable to him.
Leanna looked around at the stunned faces in the room and let out a soft, mocking laugh. "You went out and found someone else, so I just followed your lead. It's only fair that we're even now, right?"
A cold, sharp smirk played on her lips as she tilted her head. "Are you still so eager to make me your wife after hearing that?"
Carl's face twisted with pure rage as he barked back at her. "There's no way those marks are real! Who would even want you? No decent man would even glance in your direction—no one but me! Or did you just pull some random guy off the sidewalk to help you lie?"
Leanna threw her head back and laughed again, though her eyes remained as cold and empty as ice.
"I didn't settle for just anyone," she replied in a perfectly steady tone. "I spent the night with your uncle, Ian."
"My uncle?" Carl repeated, the words knocking the wind right out of him.
He lost his mind and lunged forward, raising his hand to strike her across the face. "Leanna, you pathetic, lying brat!"
A deep, smooth voice echoed from the entrance before his hand could make contact. "Did you just say his uncle?"
Wesley walked into the room with such a powerful presence that it felt like the air had been sucked out of the space.
He kept his eyes locked on Leanna, his expression impossible for anyone to figure out.
"His uncle," he said again, shifting his focus toward Carl for a brief second.
Carl's heart dropped into his stomach the moment he realized he was looking at Wesley Stewart.
The color drained from Carl's face as he scrambled to take back his words. "No, that's not true," he stammered.
One look from Wesley was all it took to make Carl shut his mouth and stop talking immediately.
The two servants holding Leanna were so scared of the man approaching them that they quickly backed away and let her go.
Wesley reached down to pull Leanna up and kept a firm, protective hand on her waist while he scanned the crowd.
"Can someone explain what's going on in this room?" he asked in a relaxed voice that still made everyone's skin crawl with fear.
Emilio stood there in a daze, trying to figure out why this stranger felt so familiar and dangerous at the same time.
Emilio noticed how terrified Carl looked and realized that this newcomer was someone the Wheeler family needed to treat with extreme respect.
"Those marks on my daughter... Did you do that?" Emilio asked, his voice low and heavy.
"Yeah, that was me," Wesley answered, not even flinching as he owned up to it.
Shock hit Leanna hard—she never thought he'd actually show up. All that gutsy energy she had gathered to show off the marks just evaporated into thin air.
Turning her head, she took him in—the man was tall, with sharp features and piercing eyes that made him look like he owned every room he walked into.
A sudden wave of panic washed over her anyway. She couldn't help it; her legs still trembled at the memory of the night before.
Her eyes then drifted back to Carl, who hadn't made a peep since "his uncle" walked in. Carl looked completely humbled, acting like a kid showing massive respect to "his uncle."
Relief and nerves tangled in Leanna's chest. She started to wonder if she'd accidentally messed with someone way out of her league.
Was this side of the Spencer family actually way more powerful than she'd guessed? Still, he was exactly the kind of big shot she needed on her side.
Wesley's gaze shifted to Carl, a dangerous glint in his eyes. "So, my dear 'nephew,' you got anything to say for yourself about this mess?"
Just the way he said "nephew" was enough to make Carl start shaking from head to toe.