Chapter 4

Chloe Evans POV

Eventually, the pain numbed my entire body, and my consciousness began to drift downward.

The last image I saw was Zachary's back as he held his phone in the garden, his shadow stretched long under the streetlamp.

Before darkness completely swallowed my vision, only one thought remained in my mind.

This is the last time I will ever suffer pain for him. Never again.

When I regained sensation, the sharp scent of antiseptic filled my nose.

Someone was speaking beside my bed—it was the hospital director's voice, laced with cautious deference:

"Mr. Hayes, Mrs. Hayes's wounds on her knees and shins are very deep."

"Use the most expensive medicine, bring in the best doctors," the man's voice rang out, devoid of warmth. "She cannot be left with scars."

"Understood, we will do everything we can."

Footsteps receded into the distance.

Then, a hand rested against my forehead. I forced my eyes open with great effort.

Zachary sat by the bedside, his brow furrowed into a tight knot. "You're awake? Does it hurt?"

I tried to shift my legs, and the wounds immediately flared with sharp pain.

"I'm fine," my voice was weak. "The nurses are here. If you have things to do, go ahead."

I thought he would leave. But he didn't.

He settled into the chair, his gaze somewhat conflicted. "When my mother treated you like that, why didn't you call for me?"

Remembering how he looked talking on the phone with his back turned, a faint smile tugged at my lips. "You looked busy."

After a beat, I asked softly, "If I had called you then, would you really have hung up the phone and come inside?"

"Yes." He answered without a moment's hesitation.

I froze.

That wasn't the answer I had anticipated.

"I've already dealt with the matter at home," he continued. "From now on, no one will dare harass you about having children."

"Okay." I averted my gaze. "Then you can go back to your work."

"Why are you always chasing me away?" he asked, displeased.

I looked up with slight surprise. "Aren't you always busy?"

Between all the company affairs, and Rachel Vance.

"I'm not busy these days."

He reached out to pull up the blanket that had slipped down. "I'll stay here with you."

I never expected him to say that.

Over the next few days, Zachary actually stayed in my hospital room every single day.

He was the one adjusting the bed height, feeding me all three meals spoonful by spoonful, and he wouldn't even let the nurses change my dressings, insisting on doing it himself.

One night, the pain from my wound kept me tossing and turning. Zachary sat on the edge of the bed and gently patted my back rhythmically, as if soothing a child, until my breathing finally evened out.

In my daze, feeling the warmth of his palm, there was a fleeting moment when I almost reached out to take his hand.

But the moment my fingertips brushed his cuff, I pulled back.

I remembered it all too well. The last time I had been burning up with fever and rambling in delirium, clutching his sleeve and refusing to let go, he had pried my fingers away—gently, but without the slightest hesitation.

Such gentleness and patience made me think, for a split second, that we had gone back to the old days. The days when we were closest to being a real married couple.

Yet I snuffed out that thought immediately.

I had already decided to leave, and I would never look back.

After recovering for a week, my wound had mostly healed.

That day, Zachary was crouching by the bed removing my gauze when I accidentally pulled at the wound, making me gasp sharply in pain.

His hand froze instantly.

I looked up, locking eyes with his deep, bottomless gaze.

His Adam's apple bobbed, and his body slowly leaned toward me.

We were so close that we could feel each other's breath.

*Clatter.*

It sounded like something crashing to the floor, shattering the charged, intimate atmosphere into pieces.

We turned toward the door at the same time.

Rachel Vance was standing there, her lips pale, tears brimming in her eyes. The fruit basket in her hands had crashed onto the floor, oranges and apples rolling everywhere.