"I don’t know." Clara looked dazed. Her mind was still a mess, her ability to think clearly not yet fully returned.

A long time ago, Director Keane had explained this scene to her, worried she might get nervous. He told her that nothing would actually fire from the gun and that all she had to do was act out her emotions. The effects would be added in post-production.

So she had no idea why it had fired a real bullet this time.

But she did know one thing: that bullet had been meant for her.

If this wasn’t an accident, then someone had planned to murder her.

And right now, the possibility of it being an accident seemed close to zero.

Clearly, Miles Quinn was thinking the same thing. "If it was premeditated, who do you think would do it?"

Clara shook her head. She truly had no idea who could hate her so much they’d want to take her life.

Her gaze shifted to Miles. "What do you think?"

Miles mulled it over for a moment before looking at her and saying a single name, "Sandra!"

"Impossible!" Clara shot down the idea without a second thought.

"Why?" Miles looked puzzled. "Out of the entire crew, she’s the one you have the worst relationship with. She hates you the most."

Clara lowered her gaze and explained her reasoning. "We have our issues, it’s true. But I spoke with her right before we started filming today. Our biggest source of conflict is that I took the role of Tina from her, and I told her I would help her land an even better role in the future. She seemed to accept my peace offering. Since we’ve already reached a preliminary truce, why would she need to kill me?"

The more she spoke, the more her thoughts cleared. "It’s true Sandra picks on me all the time, but her schemes are usually just petty tricks, nothing serious. Besides, knowing her, I don’t think she’s smart enough to come up with such a malicious plan."

"Then who do you think it could be?" Miles asked, conceding that her analysis had merit.

An image of someone flashed through Clara’s mind, but she ultimately just sighed, shook her head, and said nothing.

She wasn’t certain, and she had no proof. With something this serious, she didn’t dare make baseless accusations.

"But whoever it was, if I find out... I will never let them get away with it!" Clara said, her gaze shifting back to the closed doors of the operating room. Her eyes held an icy, bottomless chill.

’If it had only been me who got hurt, that would be one thing. But they hurt Seth. They hurt the man I love most. How could I possibly let the person who did this go free?!’

’The man I love most?’

’Yes, the man I love most. Even though I was forced to marry him, even though he lied to me about so many things... when I saw him take that bullet for me without a second thought, when I saw him lying so lifeless on the ground, when he was bleeding out but still forced a smile and told me he was okay... In that moment, I forgave him for all his past deceptions. I knew, with absolute certainty, that he was the man I love most!’

Miles saw the chill and determination in her eyes and nodded. "The police have probably arrived on set by now. Let’s just hope they can find something."

Clara didn’t move or speak, but her gaze was deep and thoughtful.

...

When Holly Summers got back from her errand, she bumped into River Sterling, Linden Jennings, and Chase Childs right at the hospital entrance. All three men looked frantic.

The moment he saw her, River Sterling rushed to ask, "Holly, what happened? How did Seth get hurt?"

Chase Childs, on the other hand, stared for a moment at the water bottles Holly was carrying before holding out his hand to her.