Chapter 7
He couldn’t let me go through with the surgery. I couldn’t accept the fact that I might die at any moment, and I certainly couldn’t bear the agony of knowing my sister’s killer still walked free. For him, it was a dead end no matter what he chose. But not for me. I was already dying, and every day I spent with the man I loved was a gift–one I refused to
waste.
What I didn’t expect was how much he’d come to hate me.
I was the only witness, yet I refused to testify. I turned away every investigation, shut down every inquiry. I couldn’t bring myself to dig the truth out of my own chest, not when it would mean losing the last moments I had with him. If I spoke, everything between us would be destroyed. So he did everything he could to provoke me–brought different women home, humiliated me, and tried to force my submission. Even when his secretary got pregnant, even when I was pregnant too, he still couldn’t force the truth out of me.
He thought Caleb was my lover. How absurd. I wanted to kill Caleb with my own hands. Hel murdered my sister, and the evidence to bring him down was lodged in my heart. I couldn’t begin to imagine the pressure Alaric was under. So I let him hate me. If hatred made it easier for him to walk away, then so be it. Better that than grief.
Time and time again, I swallowed the words on the tip of my tongue. Some truths are more
lethal than silence.
When I finally collapsed, Alaric waited outside the operating room. The surgeon came out quickly, holding a small piece of metal. It looked ordinary, nothing like Caleb’s broken. weapon.
“That’s it?” Alaric asked, visibly stunned.
“Yes,” the surgeon replied. “The patient may have been in danger before, but we’ve contacted the police.”
Alaric fell silent. When the investigation later confirmed that the metal shard had no connection to Seraphine’s case, he gave up. Neither of us expected I’d wake up at all. But. the 5% chance–the one even doctors doubted–fell to me.
When he came to see me, his face was unreadable, his tone cutting. “Your lies are truly pathetic.”
I looked at the shard, disbelief creeping in. “That can’t be it. It must have been switched.” “The surgery team consisted of experts,” he replied coldly. “Why would they risk their careers to protect a murderer? Besides, Dr. White is internationally respected.”
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careers to protect a murderer? Besides, Dr. Wine is internationally respected.
“Dr. White?” I asked, confused.
He turned away. “The doctor Arianne personally hired for you.”
His next words hit harder than any accusation: “After what you did to her, she still brought in someone to save your life.”
My breath caught. “Arianne hired the doctor?”
He scoffed. “Don’t act so innocent. If she hadn’t, you wouldn’t even be awake.”
Then he turned his back to me. “Maybe divorcing you is the best thing I could do. You’ve become someone I don’t even recognize.”
The door slammed shut behind him. I clutched my chest, my mind reeling. Would Arianne really go so far to save me? Would she find someone who could both remove the foreign. object and keep me alive?
I had been so eager to leave the hospital. But as I passed one of the wards, I stopped. A voice–familiar and sharp–cut through the air.
“I booked your ticket. Once you leave, don’t come back.”
“I know,” came a man’s voice.
“I’ll visit you abroad. It’s better than staying here and getting caught.”
I froze. That voice–Arianne?
“I’ve already stalled Alaric,” she continued. “Good thing the guy I hired looks enough like Dr. White. He actually believes that piece of metal came from Elysia’s heart.”
