Chapter 2

The photographers stationed outside immediately pressed their shutter buttons. Within moments, Samantha retrieved the medicine bottle from the depths. As she turned, she deliberately hooked Angelina's bra strap. Angelina felt the last vestige of privacy ripped away underwater. Suddenly, the pool's spotlights all focused on her. The shame tore her apart before the crowd. Angelina jerked her head up, looking through the glass at the audience. Leo watched her, but his eyes held no concern, only detached amusement. He held a glass of red wine, his other arm draped around Samantha, clad in a revealing bikini. The audience erupted in a deafening roar. Their bloated faces pressed against the glass with lecherous expressions. Intense humiliation felt like blades cutting into her skin. Underwater terror relentlessly pushed her into the abyss. She felt her strength ebbing away. She released her hands, ceasing her struggle to swim, letting her body sink slowly. "She's stopped moving!" someone yelled. The raucous laughter abruptly ceased for a few seconds. Leo's hand holding the wineglass paused slightly, his gaze fixed on the motionless figure below the surface. Angelina floated in the water, her pale face pressed against the pool wall. The swimsuit fabric was almost entirely dissolved, only tattered scraps clinging to her body, barely covering anything. "Tch, she's faking it," Samantha sneered. "I told you, how could she really be afraid? She jumped into shark-infested waters to save someone before. Diving now is nothing. She's just fishing for sympathy." The audience buzzed with whispers again. "Maybe she wants Mr. Hayes to jump in and save her. How cunning." "Exactly, flaunting herself like that for attention. What a designer, she really knows how to play the game." Leo frowned, seeming irritated by the comments. He set down his glass, about to say something, when Samantha suddenly covered her mouth, gasping, "Oh! Leo, look at her face! Is she... is something wrong?" Angelina's face was indeed frighteningly pale, her lips bluish-purple, her body swaying gently with the current, showing no sign of struggle. A spectator near the pool edge shouted, "Something's wrong! She seems to have really passed out! Quick! Someone help her!" Even Samantha's face changed color now. She only wanted Angelina humiliated, not genuinely hurt. Samantha immediately dove back in. Staff on the deck followed suit. Angelina was hauled out, practically naked, sprawled on the deck like a drowned dog. "Cough..." Her consciousness had just returned. As she lifted her head, she met eyes as cold as a deep, dark pool. "What are you pretending for?" Leo gripped her chin, his thumb pressing down with crushing force. Angelina, utterly drained, had no strength. Leo took the medicine bottle Samantha had retrieved from the depths and hurled it back into the pool. "Didn't you say you loved me? "Go on! Get it back for me!" Physically and emotionally shattered, Angelina felt her lungs burning, every breath a tearing agony. Her vision darkened. She opened her mouth to speak, but only a weak whimper came out: "I..." Before she could catch her breath, rough hands grabbed her arms. Staff, following Leo's silent command, threw her back into the water. The piercing cold instantly flooded her nose, tearing her apart. "Gurgle gurgle..." The sensation of imminent drowning choked her. Angelina mustered every ounce of strength, fighting to surface, gasping, "Stop... please..." Her voice was faint as a mosquito's buzz. Samantha watched, a flash of triumph in her eyes, quickly masked by a look of pitying superiority. She sighed softly, "Sigh... it seems Miss Crawford's love isn't as deep or selfless as she always claimed. "If it were me, I'd have had that bottle ages ago." "Isn't that what loving someone means?" Leo's brow tightened, the coldness in his eyes deepening. He looked down from the deck at Angelina struggling desperately in the water. "Is this all your love amounts to? Can't even manage this little thing?" Angelina felt her body losing control, her strength draining away. She strained to speak to him, "Leo... you... if this continues, do you know the consequences?" Leo let out a derisive laugh, his gaze glacial. "Consequences? "Angelina, are you threatening me? What consequences? Loving me, sacrificing everything for me – isn't that the natural, unquestionable duty of the woman who belongs to me? "What right do you have to threaten me with 'consequences'? Trying to force my hand? Drop this pathetic act!"