Chapter 4

Charlotte's POV

My memories were hazy as I slowly opened my eyes and felt a sharp pain erupting from my spine. “Ouch!” 

I tried to recall how I got here but I felt a pain shot through my head and I laid down calmly. As my vision got cleared, it fell on dozens of doctors surrounding me and my heart hammered in my chest.

“What! She's awake!” One of the doctors announced.

“Don't try to move too much, just relax,” he added calmly.

For a moment, my gaze darted around as my labored breath came in slowly. As well as being trapped in beeping of machines and wires.

“Thank God, you're getting better now,” the doctor stated, as he checked my heart beat and gave a brief smile.

“When was I brought here? I mean I'm confused,” I finally managed to ask, with my brows knitted together.

“You have been unconscious for three days now and been under care all this while,” he replied, and turned to whisper some words to the nurse close to him.

Three days? 

Suddenly, fragments of images flashed in my mind and my entire body felt cold. My mind whirled and I could feel the heavy beating of my heart.

Then my memories resurfaced, my eyes shook and tingled, not realising when tears started to cloud them.

My throat was clogged and my chest tightened due to the building pain. I parted my lips to speak but I couldn't as my voice betrayed me.

I drifted my blurry gaze towards the doctor as he fiddled with his iPad. And my voice cracked, “My parents,” just as those words escaped from my lips, a single teardrop escaped from my eyes before it poured down like an open dam.

I swallowed as a whisper in my head told me there's something more to my parents' accident. It was probably planned by someone.

As my voice died, the doctor's words rang in my ears. “Mr Blackwood, your wife is awake now,” he said, on a phone call.

All of a sudden my brows rose. Wait a minute, Liam? Was he the one who brought me here? Hell no! 

“Relax yourself, your husband will be here in no time,” he assured me.

But at that point, my eyes were choked with tears as it streamed down on my face. I drew a shaky breath as my lungs seized as I tried to breath and the guilt eating me up wholly.

I threatened them with a knife just for them to allow me to go to the wedding ground all by myself. And now this! Just maybe if I was around them, it would have been different. I didn't know how fresh tears clouded my eyes again.

“Is that not Charlotte Knight?” A murmur escaped into my ears and my heart gave a nervous jolt. 

Not just that, but the blazing gazes of the nurses around sends cold shivers down my spine. Why? Is it because of those stupids comments I saw online? 

Suddenly, out of nowhere, someone barged into the ward that made even the nurses around breathless.

“Where the yell is that whore!” A loud venomous voice followed and it sounded very familiar.

As I drifted my gaze towards the direction of the voice and I caught a glimpse of her about a few footsteps to my side, my heart fluttered. Ruby? Who the hell informed her I was hospitalized?

I felt numb when she got near me as panic evolved me. Her piercing gaze roamed on me. And I felt like the ground should open up and swallow me. 

Or just maybe, I should have been with my parents by now. I tried to fight back my tears as I avoided eye contact with her.

“He's never coming here to see you here. Just wake up to your reality,” she said, nonchalantly.

But wait, is that really my problem at this moment? Numerous thoughts oozed through my mind as uneasiness stirred in the pit of my stomach.

“I warned you but I guess it fell on deaf ears. You're never different from the others!”

I was mute and I was beginning to doubt if she's really his sister. Why is she guarding him so jealousy? 

A shaky smile fell on my lips and I shook my head. “What do you want from me, Ruby?” 

“Perfect question,” she said, pulled the chair behind her and made herself comfortable.

“Divorce Liam Blackwood and everything about you will fall in place once again,” she revealed, with her posture demure despite the defiance burning deep within me.

“I know your deal,” then she gave a brief laugh.

“I'm willing to give you that in folds,” she added, as she threw a mischievous look.

For a moment, I knew clearly that Ruby wasn't Liam's sister. “Because you perceive me to be a gold digger, huh?” My knuckles suddenly turned white as I tried to maintain a calm composure.

She said, with a slight laugh, “Not just that, a scheming bitch! You want to ripen what you did not sow and that will not happen unless I'm dead!”

Meanwhile, confusion etched my face as I drifted my gaze away from her.

“You're the bitch he left me for! I shouldn't have been this calm with you, you know! You deserve to die!”

Then she took a deep breath, “The humiliation, embarrassment and heartbreak! Can you imagine it! I've been a topic online for days just because of you!” Her voice was suddenly loud, groaning in emotions.

“What!” 

“Yes! If I can't have Liam then no other woman would! Trust me on this!” she exclaimed and stomped out of the ward, with her voice still ringing in my ears like a deafening siren.

My shoulders hunched in fear as helplessness tugs at me and I was at the verge of breaking down. I was completely stunned and gaping at the door as my heart pounded beneath my rib cage.

It wasn't long when the door creak opened. And a few nurses together with a different doctor strolled in. 

He smiled at me so tenderly that my aching heart skipped a bit. But his eyes widened when he got nearer to me. 

His gaze remained glued on me but his facial expressions didn't give anything away.

“Are you Charlotte Knight?” He enquired as if he wanted a confirmation of something.

I held back for a few seconds as my mind raced wildly. “Yes, is there a problem?” I asked.

At that moment, my answer hung in the air and his utmost attention was on his phone as he fiddled with it.

I let out a low growl at all horrible thoughts that crossed my mind. I was about to utter another word but a sudden lump came into my throat.

I didn't calculate the time but before I knew it the door swung open and three gentlemen strolled in. 

The moment I set eyes on them, my stomach dropped with my mouth agape. Who the hell are these?

It was as if the doctor was expecting them. “She's Charlotte Knight, boss. Is she the one you're looking for?”

All of a sudden my spine became tense when he spoke those words and my heart was beating so fast that it made me breathless.