Chapter 3

Looking down, I caught sight of a spreading crimson stain on my shirt, realizing with alarm that my wound had reopened. I urgently pressed the call button.

After a long wait, no doctor came. Forcing myself out of bed despite the pain to find help, I was violently slammed into and knocked down just as I stepped out the door.

“Sorry, I’m in a hurry. Please move.”

That familiar deep voice reached my ears, and I abruptly looked up.

I saw a panicked Dominic, tightly holding Seraphina, rushing to the emergency room.

A crowd of doctors and nurses followed close behind them. I heard one of them grumbling as they ran:

“It’s just a simple sprain, yet she’s acting like her leg is actually broken. Mr. Blackwood is far too concerned about this woman, isn’t he?”

“I heard she stabbed Mr. Blackwood’s fiancée, leaving her severely wounded, and faced no repercussions. That’s not just concern; he dotes on her like she’s the most precious thing in the world.”

Listening to the whispers, and seeing the large crimson stain on the pristine white floor beneath my feet, a dull ache pulsed deep within my heart.

I curled my lips in a self-deprecating sneer. I, his current fiancée, couldn’t even compare to a single toe of his ex. What a cruel irony.

Dragging my broken body and spirit, I returned to my room.

I grabbed the gauze from the bedside table and, with my one good hand, struggled to bandage myself.

Later that night, half-asleep, I was suddenly yanked out of bed.

Dominic, looking frantic, pulled me, urging me towards the door.

“Scarlett, you have a knack for massages. Go help Seraphina with her ankle.”

“She’s in so much pain, she can’t even sleep.”

*BOOM!*

My brain exploded in that instant.

I stared at Dominic, my eyes wide with disbelief.

“Dominic, I am your fiancée! You abandoned me to save another woman, and now you want me to massage her?!”

I tore myself free from his grip, screaming my questions at him.

“How could you possibly do this?!”

Seraphina’s knife wound was just one millimeter from my heart.

Even the doctors said if I’d been brought in a moment later, I wouldn’t have made it.

Just now, you violently knocked me down in the hallway, and my already life-threatening wound had torn even wider.

Excruciating, bone-deep pain threatened to swallow me whole.

But he ignored it, his eyes only seeing his ex, who merely sprained her ankle jumping from a waist-high window ledge.

“I…”

The man who was always so aloof and dignified in my presence, his usually composed face showed a rare stiffness.

He pleaded softly,

“But she was provoked by you, which made her jump and get hurt. Isn’t it only right to help treat her?”

I immediately retorted,

“You provoked her, not me!”

His heart still belonged to his ex, yet he came to provoke me.

He indulged her in repeatedly hurting me, yet swore I was the one he loved most.

I looked at Dominic, my voice cold.

“Stabbed by someone and then expected to treat them? I, Scarlett Hayes, am not some doormat!”

Dominic was stunned speechless again. A flicker of displeasure crossed his eyes as he turned away and pulled out his phone.

“Hello? Get that renowned specialist from New York to our city, *now*!”

He hung up, then cast a cold glance my way.

“I never thought you’d be so heartless. I truly misjudged you!”

With that, Dominic once again rushed out of my hospital room.

As if to punish my ruthlessness towards Seraphina, Dominic didn’t appear again for several days, nor did he send any messages.

While struggling to cope alone, I kept hearing from others about his preferential care for Seraphina.

“Did you hear? That woman with the sprained ankle is already well, but Mr. Blackwood insisted on flying in the most famous doctor by private helicopter to treat her, saying he was worried she might be permanently disabled.”

Another person shook their head, sighing,

“Talk about chalk and cheese, huh? The patient in Room 3, Bed 4, whose heart was almost pierced, her fiancé reportedly hasn’t even bothered to visit once.”

She then glanced at me, lying in my hospital bed, her eyes a mix of pity and mockery.

Even though I repeatedly told myself that Dominic and I were over, facing those strange glances, my heart still couldn’t help but ache.

To escape the gossip, I leaned on my crutches, alone, and made my way to the hospital lawn downstairs.

After soaking in the sun for a while, I got up and headed back to my room. Suddenly, I heard a shout of alarm.

“Look! Someone’s going to jump!”