Her eyes, venomous as a scorpion's, stared fiercely at the window of my room.

"Clara, if I can't have it, don't you ever think you will either!"

Chapter 29

The rain grew heavier.

Ethan returned with dinner and, seeing me staring blankly out the window, lightened his footsteps.

"I bought your favorite corn and pork rib soup."

He set down the thermal container and poured a bowl of steaming soup.

I turned to look at him, my eyes narrowing slightly.

He was wearing a black jacket, the white shirt underneath stained with dust, and his unkempt dark hair was messy.

The usually piercing gaze was now as soft as if its edge had been retracted; his weary face was pale, and the stubble on his chin made him look somewhat slovenly.

No one who saw him now would ever associate him with the president of the entertainment group.

For the longest time, this was the first time I had observed him so carefully.

His eyes were filled only with me—it was exactly how I had dreamt of him loving me in the past.

"Thank you..."

I whispered the words. They lacked the coldness of before, yet were still tinged with a faint, unmistakable sense of estrangement.

But this one sentence was enough to settle Ethan's heart.

He handed over the soup and spoon.

As I reached for the spoon, a sudden stiffness seized my fingers.

"Clatter"—the spoon fell onto the blanket.

My vision dimmed, and a sense of helplessness flashed across my pale face.

Ethan immediately swapped it for a clean spoon: "This spoon isn't quite right; let me get you another one."

His clumsy attempt at comfort made my heart feel heavy.

Regardless, nothing could change the fact that my condition was worsening.

Once I regained feeling in my hand, I took the soup and spoon as if nothing had happened and drank in silence.

It wasn't until I finished that I spoke faintly: "Let's go to the Civil Affairs Bureau tomorrow and get the divorce certificate. While I'm still not completely immobile, the longer we drag it out, the more troublesome it will be."

At these words, Ethan’s brows knit together.

But soon, he composed himself, acting as if he hadn't heard, and picked up his own overcoat to cover my blanket: "The temperature is low these days. Call me if you get cold."

Another evasive response.

I looked at his profile, so close to me, and my voice turned hoarse: "I promised my mother. I don't want to face her when I go down there without a face to show her."

This seemed to strike a nerve, causing his eyes to tremble.

The child and my mother had become an unbridgeable chasm between us.

But he couldn't let go of me either.

Ethan turned his head, meeting my slightly surprised gaze: "I was the one who proposed the marriage; it's up to me when it ends."

He paused, then added: "What, do you look down on me now that I've stopped running the company and think I'm destitute?"

At this, I was left speechless.

Clearly, my life was running out—how had I become the one who looked down on him?

"If you're sleepy and muddled, get to sleep. Don't talk nonsense."

With that, Ethan packed up the thermal container, turned off the lights, and left the room.

The light from outside the window spilled in, reflecting on my distracted face.

I hadn't expected Ethan to say those things; my once-firm resolve felt as if a corner had been pried open, and I began to waver.

Unconsciously, Xu Li’s words echoed in my ears again.

"Although I don't know what conflicts you two have, I can see that your husband is sincere..."

My heart grew chaotic. I closed my eyes, trying hard to banish thoughts I shouldn't be having.

At the end of the corridor.

Ethan gazed at the distant lights of the high-rise buildings, his thoughts drifting.

Suddenly, his phone rang.

It was Harvey.

Ethan pressed answer: "What is it?"

"Mr. Ethan, we've found information on Liam."

On the other end, Harvey's voice was urgent: "He isn't just an insurance salesman; he's also a manager at a large casino in Las Vegas."

Ethan frowned.

Melanie had also gone to Las Vegas. What was the connection?

Before he could ask, Harvey explained: "He and Melanie registered their marriage in the U.S. two years ago, but six months ago, Melanie suddenly owed the casino 20 million, and the two of them got a divorce."

Chapter 30

Hearing Harvey’s words, Ethan’s face changed.

Back then, Melanie had suddenly returned to the country and taken the initiative to find him, wanting to be the PR Director. Although his father forbade her from entering the company, many of the company’s artists were being hit by scandals at the time, and Melanie did indeed have the ability to handle it, which was why he had kept her on.

Thinking of the project funds that had been siphoned off, Ethan’s eyes turned freezing cold.

It seemed that from the very beginning, Melanie had been planning to approach him.

To pay off the 20 million owed to the casino, she was willing to play a dangerous game.

"Where are they both now?"

Harvey was silent for a moment, the sound of rustling papers audible: "After Melanie was released, she went to see the heads of four different companies, but was turned away. A week ago, she was dragged out and roughed up by the wives of those executives. She shouldn't have left the city yet. There is very little information on Liam; all we know is that he appeared in the southern part of the city half a month ago."

Ethan’s fingertips rubbed together.

Intuition told him that this Liam character was definitely not simple.

He looked toward my room and said in a low voice: "No matter how little info there is, send people to watch him."

"Yes."

Hanging up the phone, Ethan rubbed his temples, his mind increasingly chaotic.

Putting everything else aside for now, the most important thing was to take care of me...

The night grew deeper.

Cold wind blew from the window into the room, and I tossed and turned, unable to sleep.

I turned to look at the chair where only his jacket rested, my eyes dimming.

Ethan had gone out.

It was unclear whether the feeling in my heart was relief or disappointment, but I reached for the phone beside my pillow.

It was almost midnight.

I opened the photo album; the photo of my mother and me looked like it was taken only yesterday.

"Mom, will you blame me?"

Blame me for not divorcing Ethan yet, for softening my heart because of a few words he said...

After a long time, sleepiness began to wash over me. I sighed, turned off the screen, and placed the phone back.

But just as I prepared to fall asleep, I realized my eyes wouldn't close.

I froze, fighting the panic that clawed at my heart, trying to control my eyelids.

I exerted all my strength, but my lids felt as if they had been glued shut—I couldn't close them.

My tightly contracted pupils trembled as I looked at the call button.

I didn't know when, but my stiff hands had become heavy as lead; the effort to lift them exhausted every ounce of energy in my body.

Cold sweat rolled down my pale face, and my unclosable eyes slowly grew dry and red.

Just as I was about to touch the button, my tilted body rolled heavily off the bed.

The coldness of the floor seeped through my skin, piercing my nearly collapsing heart.

Everything I needed was within reach, but I could only lie on the floor like a wooden doll, capable of nothing.

Tears cascaded from the corners of my reddened eyes, and despair devoured the last remnants of my hope.

"Clara!"

In a daze, my mother's voice caused my breathing to stutter.

In the next second, my cold body was lifted into a warm embrace.

I looked up to see my mother's gentle face, filled with anxiety and heartache.

At this moment, I completely broke down. I clumsily grabbed her sleeve, struggling to make small, intermittent sounds: "Save me... Mom... it's gone... the things I could do by myself... it's all gone..."

I had thought I had the courage to face death.

But only now did I realize that what I feared wasn't death, but the long, hopeless process ahead.

I cried until I nearly lost my voice, and Ethan’s heart was torn to shreds.

He gritted his teeth and said softly, his voice trembling: "It's okay, I'm here. I'll stay with you always..."

Just as he finished speaking, the person in his arms suddenly let her head drop, and the hand that had been gripping his sleeve fell limply to the floor.

Chapter 31

Outside the operating room.

Ethan leaned against the corner, staring blankly at the glaring surgical lamp.