Chapter 3

I stared into Rachel's eyes, her gaze brimming with love and affection.

For the first time ever, I realized that she had the talent to become an award-winning actress.

When snooping through her phone earlier, I had seen her chat history with her assistant, saying how the wedding would proceed as usual.

However, upon looking through all the details that she had personally approved, I discovered that the person she had planned on walking down the aisle with was Cameron all along.

From the backdrop at the wedding venue to the decor and invitation cards, everything belonged to Cameron—including Rachel.

Letting out a breath, I wiped away my tears and said, "My wounds hurt."

Rachel was well aware that I had a very low tolerance for pain, so that one sentence was enough to dispel all of her suspicions.

"Rach, can we postpone the wedding? Considering my current condition, I don't think I'll be able to recover in time."

She furrowed her brow as though feeling conflicted. "But we've already informed everyone of the date. It's definitely too late to change it now, at the last minute. How about we think of another plan? Like maybe we can find someone else to complete the ceremony on your behalf?"

It seemed like she had practiced saying this a million times. The words left her lips so naturally that I wouldn't have sensed anything amiss at all if I hadn't been aware of the truth.

I nodded. "We'll do as you suggested."

She spent most of the day with me, only leaving after receiving a phone call.

"Sebastian, the company has an emergency meeting that requires me to be present."

I didn't behave out of the ordinary at all, simply telling her to go ahead and pretending that I hadn't heard the sound of a child crying on the other end of the line.

Once I was sure that she had left, I contacted an overseas hospital and had them reach out to organ donors who could provide me with a heart. After all, an artificial heart was still quite risky, so I had to switch to a real one as soon as possible.

Besides that, I also planned on erasing all records of my existence here.

Over the next few days, Rachel would keep me company at the hospital whenever she had free time.

She attended to me with great care, and whenever I randomly said I wanted to eat certain food, she would head out to buy it for me, no matter how far away it was. When I complained about being bored in the room at night, she would wheel me out to look at the stars.

During those moments, it occurred to me that if I hadn't been aware of all that she had done behind my back, I would've thought we were truly a loving couple.

However, now that I knew the truth, I had no intention of continuing with this farce.

That night, after she returned to the room, I suggested that we adopt a child from one of the Lindt family's branches.

"I can't produce viable sperm, and now that I'm disabled, the Lindt family needs to pick someone to be their heir."

She was so touched by my words that she was practically beside herself with joy, not even protesting when I said I wanted to be discharged from the hospital ahead of time.

When we arrived at the Lindt residence, almost everyone was standing at the entrance to welcome me back. Tears shimmered in their eyes, and they looked at me with sympathy as I was carried out of the car.

Marcus Lindt and Patricia Moore, Rachel's parents, hurriedly stepped forward to grab my hand.

"Does it hurt, Sebastian?" Patricia asked.

"I've already had your room remodeled into a medical treatment room," said Marcus, "so you can stay right here as you recover. Only by taking care of you myself can I feel at ease."

I ignored the fake smiles on their faces, my gaze landing on the little boy sitting on the couch.

"Who is he?"

Crouching beside me, Rachel explained, "He's my father's cousin's grandson. His parents died last year in a car crash. If you like him, we could adopt him. What do you say?"

I stared at the boy whose features were almost identical to Rachel's and smiled.

"Rach, he looks so much like you. If you hadn't told me who he was, I would've thought he was your son."

The smile on Rachel's face stiffened imperceptibly. "Don't joke about things like that. He has Lindt blood running through his veins, so it's only normal that we'd look alike."

Patricia was quick to add, "Sebastian, we value and respect your opinion, so if you like the boy, we'll take him in."

"Yes, we'll go with your decision."

The others eagerly expressed their agreement, though they all had confident looks on their faces, as though they were sure that I would choose what they wanted.

From that, I knew that even if I disagreed, they would still think of ways to make me agree.

Hence, I nodded. "I really like him."

Everyone breathed a silent sigh of relief.