Chapter 29
Alex remained in a coma for an entire week. When he finally regained consciousness, his first question wasn’t about how long Violet had been by his side.
Instead, he immediately asked about Charlotte.
When he learned that the person he had rescued wasn’t Charlotte–that she had escaped long before–his reaction shifted from shock to disbelief, and finally, he collapsed back onto the bed as if
all his strength had drained away. Yet his lips curled into a relieved smile.
That smile stabbed at Violet’s eyes, strengthening her resolve to use the drugs.
Upon hearing that Charlotte was also in this hospital, Alex forced himself out of bed to see her without considering his own injures.
This time, Violet didn’t try to stop him. She simply watched him leave in silence.
In her mind, she replayed the scene from the fire.
After learning that Alex had rushed alone into the flames to save Charlotte, Violet had felt more anguish than anyone.
When she arrived at the scene, Alex had already gone inside.
Frantic, she searched everywhere for rescue workers.
Then, not far away, she spotted Charlotte–who should have been trapped in the fire–being tightly embraced by Ryan as he kissed her with relief.
After her initial shock, inexplicable anger and sorrow rose within her.
What would Alex’s reaction be if he knew the woman he was desperately trying to save had already escaped and was being kissed by another man?
As she moved toward them, Ryan noticed her first. After comforting Charlotte and helping her into a car, he approached Violet and proposed a collaboration.
Their shared goal: to make Alex finally give up on Charlotte.
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Chapter 29
Violet agreed.
The first step was to let Alex overhear Charlotte’s complete rejection–to hear that she would never return to him.
Sure enough, when Alex wheeled himself to Charlotte’s hospital room and prepared to knock, he heard Ryan mentioning his name inside.
“Charlotte, there’s something I want to tell you… about Alex.”
Outside the door, Alex’s breath caught, his hand frozen in mid–air.
He hadn’t appeared before Charlotte in a long time, and he didn’t know how she would react to him
now.
Would it be disgust? Or something else?
But Charlotte’s voice through the door was unnervingly calm: “Why bring him up?”
Those few words made his heart lurch, followed by an icy pain that spread throughout his body.
She didn’t even want to hear his name anymore?
The conversation inside continued, with Charlotte’s tone remaining steady from beginning to end, as if discussing a stranger’s story.
“I’ve told you, from the moment I agreed to marry you, he became irrelevant to me. For me, he had died on that mission. Whatever happened after that… well, guess I had it coming for being blind. I’ve opened my eyes now, and I won’t give a damn about him or anything tied to him anymore. I only want to focus on our life together.”
“So you don’t hate him anymore?”
‘Hmph. Why would I waste energy holding a grudge against a dead man?”
Those few sentences shattered what remained of Alex’s already fragile heart, breaking it beyond repair.
His face drained of color as he closed his eyes. His hands, clasped together on the wheelchair, turned white at the knuckles from the pressure, making him look like a silent statue.
In a pitch–black room reeking of alcohol, Alex sat slumped on the floor, eyes unfocused, swaying
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Chapter 29
with a glass in hand. Empty bottles lay scattered around his feet.
He kept pouring alcohol down his throat while calling Charlotte’s name, bitter tears of regret mingling with the liquor. The bitterness felt like countless needles piercing his entire body, making it difficult to breathe.
O
Unable to bear it any longer, he collapsed to the floor.
THUD!
As Alex fell, a bottle shattered, spraying alcohol that blurred his vision.
In his haze, he thought he saw Charlotte slowly pushing open the door and walking toward him, just like when they were first married, sweetly calling his name and embracing him tightly.
Believing he was dreaming, he completely let himself go wild.
He pulled her into his arms and kissed her deeply, tasting nothing but bitterness.
His alcohol–saturated mind grew increasingly foggy.
Thinking she was crying, Alex anxiously moved his lips to the corner of her eyes, kissing away her tears while comforting her.
“Shh, don’t cry. I’m here…”
In the cool night, a light rain began to fall.
As the evening breeze swept through, the rainfall grew heavier, gradually masking the muffled
groans of the man and the woman inside the house.
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