Chapter 3
1212 Words
The pain twisted my face, but when I tried to explain that Genevieve had jumped by herself, and it had nothing to do with me, he gave me no chance to speak.
He shoved me away and bolted for the door, looking back at me with a glare so icy it felt meant to cut me apart.
"If Genevieve suffers so much as a scratch, I will make you pay with your life."
He ran without looking back.
The man who had once promised to protect me and love me for a lifetime now came at me with fists and venom.
So his love was that fickle and that worthless.
As these thoughts churned through my mind, I lost consciousness completely.
When I came to again, rough hands were dragging me up by the arms.
Two large bodyguards flanked me on either side. Blood seeped from my damaged right leg and left a grotesque trail smeared across the floor.
They ignored my struggles and hauled me straight to the entrance of the emergency room.
Doctors in white coats surrounded me and forced me into a chair without a word of explanation. A thick needle was driven into my vein.
I tried to resist, but my voice came out weak.
"What are you doing?"
"Ms. Knight has lost a lot of blood. Mr. Fiennes ordered us to draw yours."
I forced my head up.
Sebastian stood nearby, his expression thunderous.
"Genevieve is still in critical condition because of what you did. Giving a little blood is the bare minimum you owe her."
His words were colder than ice.
My heart felt like it was being carved open, but I had no strength left to fight.
Two bulging bags of blood were taken from my body.
My face turned a ghastly pale, my entire frame shook uncontrollably, and cold sweat soaked through my hospital gown.
One of the doctors nearby finally spoke up in a hushed voice.
"Sir, Ms. Sterling only survived a car accident two days ago. She is already severely anemic. Drawing this much more blood could be dangerous."
Sebastian let out a sharp scoff.
"Dangerous? She is clearly just putting on a show to gain sympathy. What harm can a little blood do? Keep drawing."
The doctor clenched his jaw and tried again.
"It truly is not safe. Any more and Ms. Sterling's life could be at risk. Besides, Ms. Knight only has minor abrasions. She does not require anywhere near this amount of blood."
"Enough."
Sebastian cut him off, his eyes blazing with fury.
"How much did she pay you to defend her like this? Genevieve is still unconscious. What is wrong with having extra blood on hand? Are you really this incompetent as a physician?"
The doctor's face went pale, and he lowered his head in silence.
The blood kept flowing from my vein.
My vision flickered. Each breath came harder than the last.
As the darkness closed in and my consciousness began to slip, I finally heard Sebastian's panicked shout.
"Doctor. What is happening to her? Why is she collapsing?"
"Ms. Sterling has lost too much blood, and beyond that, she has lost the will to live. I am afraid she may not make it."
"No."
Sebastian's voice cut through, sharp and unyielding.
"She cannot die. How can she die? I have not even married her yet. You have to save her."
I felt Sebastian's hand grip mine tightly.
"Aurora, just hold on. If you wake up, I swear I will give you the grandest wedding you have ever dreamed of."
Hearing this belated promise through the fog of my mind, I felt nothing but bitter irony.
Marry me.
After everything he had done to reduce me to this state, he still had the nerve to say those words.
When I came to again, the first thing I saw was Sebastian's face with a faint trace of relief.
His tone was stiff, carrying a note of awkwardness he could not quite hide.
"You are awake. Are you thirsty? Does anything hurt?"
How could anything not hurt?
Every fiber of my body screamed with pain.
I parted my cracked lips.
"Water."
Sebastian hurriedly poured a glass and held it to my mouth. Then he muttered under his breath.
"You are being so dramatic. It was only a little blood. There is no need to act half-dead."
Dramatic.
My lips twisted into a hollow, bitter smile.
An amputated leg. My blood drained until I nearly died. And he called it an act.
My tears had long since run dry. Only then did I understand that the deepest pain eventually gives way to numbness.
The following days brought something unexpected. Sebastian kept vigil at my bedside.
He brought me meals and occasionally asked about my injuries. He sat beside me in silence.
I almost let myself believe the illusion that he had finally come to his senses, that he finally cared.
I held onto that fragile hope until the day I was discharged.
Until I returned to the place I had once called home and saw Sebastian with his arm around Genevieve's waist, their lips locked together.
I stood frozen in the entryway, my fingernails digging deep into my palms.
I had decorated this house myself. It was meant to be our future home.
Now the sight of it made me nauseous.
At the sound of the door, Sebastian finally noticed me.
He released Genevieve immediately, his throat working as he fumbled for words.
"Aurora, do not misunderstand. Genevieve's apartment flooded. I am just letting her stay here for a while."
Misunderstand.
I let out a quiet laugh, the sound eerily calm.
Genevieve shot me a triumphant smirk before arranging her face into something pitiful.
"Aurora, my place is being renovated because of serious water damage. Without Sebastian's kindness, I would have nowhere to go. But I have a strong aversion to sharing my living space with anyone except Sebastian. So I was wondering if you would mind staying somewhere else, just for now."
My gaze traveled slowly over their disheveled clothes and landed on the poorly concealed panic in Sebastian's eyes.
"Your apartment flooded so badly that the water reached our couch. It flooded so badly that the two of you had to wrap yourselves around each other. And now you want me, the actual owner of this house, to move out so you can have the space to yourselves."
Genevieve's smug expression flickered for just a moment before she resumed her delicate, wounded act.
"Aurora, how can you think of me that way? Sebastian and I were only..."
"Shut up."
I cut her off coldly, my gaze never once leaving Sebastian.
"This is my home and Sebastian's home. No outsider gets to tell me to leave."
I stepped forward. The friction between my knee and the prosthetic sent searing pain through my body, and cold sweat beaded on my skin, but I gritted my teeth and endured it.
I looked straight at Sebastian and spoke with icy precision.
"Sebastian, you abandoned me at our wedding. You brought another woman into our home. You completely threw my feelings back in my face. How could you do this to me? How could you throw away everything we had for ten years?"
- Writer
