Chapter 5

The next second, Xavier turned and ran, as if he couldn't bear what he'd just witnessed.

Fiona's expression changed instantly.

She pulled away from Joe, leaving him with a hurried "Wait here," before rushing after Xavier without a second thought.

All Xavier had done was see them together, and she'd panicked enough to chase after him.

What the hell did that make Joe?

He stumbled to his feet and straightened his disheveled clothes.

Feeling completely hollow, he walked out of that sickening corner like a puppet going through the motions.

But just as he stepped out the nightclub's back door, someone shouted from above.

"Someone's jumping!"

Joe instinctively looked up.

A figure was falling straight down from the upper floors of the nightclub.

A sickening thud followed.

The body landed directly on Joe, who had only just stepped outside.

Agony tore through him.

Something warm and sticky splattered across his face and clothes.

In the final seconds before everything went black, he caught a blurry glimpse of the person who had fallen on him.

It was Xavier.

The same Xavier who had run off in tears just moments earlier.

...

When Joe regained consciousness, the first thing he noticed was the strong smell of antiseptic.

He was barely aware of being wheeled toward an operating room.

A nurse's anxious voice reached his ears.

"Both men are critically injured! They've got bleeding in the brain and multiple fractures. But we just received a huge number of patients from a pileup, and we're running dangerously low on blood. We've only got one operating room left!"

Her voice grew more urgent.

"Whoever doesn't get surgery first might not survive! Major General Spencer, who should we operate on first?"

Fiona's voice came a moment later, hoarse and strained.

"Save them both! Can we transfer one of them to another hospital?"

"We can't, Major General! Neither of them is stable enough to be moved. You... you have to make a decision."

A suffocating silence followed.

Joe struggled to open his eyes.

Through the narrow gap between his eyelids, he saw Fiona standing outside the operating room.

Her jaw was clenched tight, her expression torn with an anguish he'd never seen on her face before.

Finally, as though the words took every ounce of strength she had, she spoke.

"Save... Xavier first."

Save Xavier first.

Even though Joe already knew the truth, hearing her make that choice with his own ears shattered what little was left of his heart.

The pain was so intense he could barely breathe.

And yet...

He smiled.

Beneath his oxygen mask, the faintest smile touched his lips.

It was a smile utterly devoid of warmth.

Of course.

Of course she'd choose him.

Then darkness swallowed him again.

He had no idea how much time had passed before he slowly woke up.

To his surprise, Fiona was sitting beside his hospital bed.

The moment she noticed he was awake, she leaned forward.

"Joe? You're awake. How do you feel? Does anything still hurt?"

Joe slowly turned his head away, avoiding her touch.

"You already made your choice outside the operating room. You chose to save him and left me to die. So why are you pretending to care about me now?"

Fiona clearly hadn't expected him to hear that conversation.

Her body stiffened.

She fell silent.

For so long that Joe thought she wasn't going to answer at all.

"Xavier used to work with the military's performing arts unit," she finally said. "Then he got seriously ill, and his health has been poor ever since."

She paused.

"Given his condition, he would've died if he hadn't been operated on immediately. That's why I chose him first."

She looked at Joe again.

"Afterward, I immediately contacted other hospitals and arranged for you to have surgery as soon as possible. Joe, I didn't abandon you."

Joe listened without a trace of emotion on his face.

Inside, though, he felt nothing but cold, empty despair.

He gave a bitter laugh.

"Fiona Spencer, if he's just someone you used to work with in the military, just some sickly former subordinate you feel responsible for, then why did he completely lose it when he saw us together?"

He stared at her.

"Why did he go so far as to jump off a building?"

Fiona fell silent again.

Joe watched her swallow.

A long moment passed before she finally answered in a low voice.

"Xavier was deeply in love with someone once. But for various reasons, they couldn't be together. He's been bottling up his feelings for a long time, and he's been emotionally unstable."

She continued calmly.

"Seeing us together at the nightclub that night might have triggered something. Maybe he just couldn't handle it and acted on impulse."

Joe looked at her quietly.

At her sharply defined jaw.

At her calm, unreadable eyes.

He'd never realized she was such a good liar.

He remembered something he'd said shortly after they got married.

He'd been half joking, but he'd meant every word.

"Fiona Spencer, there's one thing you should know about me. I hate being lied to more than anything."

He'd looked at her and continued, "My mom spent her whole life believing one lie after another from my dad. In the end, those lies even cost her life. So if you ever lie to me, I'll walk away and never look back."

Back then, Fiona had lowered her head and kissed him.

"I'll never lie to you," she'd promised in a husky voice.

But now?

One lie after another.

Joe had never believed love was something he couldn't live without.

To him, it was something that made an already good life even better.

If a relationship worked, great. He'd stay.

If it didn't, he'd find someone else.

And if he couldn't find anyone worth being with, he was perfectly capable of living a wonderful life on his own.

So the moment he confirmed that Fiona had lied to him, she was already out of his life.

For good.