Chapter 3

The doctor shook his head and sighed as he continued the surgery. The anesthesia wasn't working for me at all, but I no longer had the strength to even groan.

After the operation, I was transferred to a hospital room, and Terrence came to visit me.

He sat by my bed and wept. As his tears fell onto my face, he cried, "I'm sorry, Quinn. I'll never let you suffer again."

In the past, I would've immediately gotten up and tried to comfort him. But now, the sight of his broken expression only made me feel sick.

All of a sudden, the door creaked open.

"Are you hungry, Terrence? I brought you breakfast," a voice said.

Yvonne had dropped by.

Terrence let go of my hand. Without turning around, he rejected her offer.

"I don't have an appetite. You go ahead. In three hours, you should board the return flight and head back to Eulasia. It's not safe here," he instructed.

"I don't want to go alone," Yvonne whined coquettishly. "I'm scared. Can you keep me company on the flight back home?"

"No," he refused immediately. "I need to stay with Quinn."

"But I'm really scared…"

Not to my surprise, Terrence hesitated. In the end, he gave in.

"Fine. I'll go and inform the team."

He claimed that I was the only one he loved, but he could never bring himself to turn down Yvonne's requests.

The moment he left, Yvonne dropped her act.

She walked up to my bed and slapped me hard across the face. "You're awake, aren't you? Cut the crap. We all know you were given a stimulant injection."

She stared at me condescendingly and continued, "How does it feel to be passed around like that? I heard that your limbs are practically ruined now. How pitiful."

I forced my eyes open and shot her a cold glare. "It doesn't matter what condition I'm in. You'll never become Mrs. Lawson."

Yvonne had been madly in love with Terrence for years. But unfortunately for her, the latter had never reciprocated her love.

Upon hearing my statement, her expression shifted, and she let out a disdainful scoff. "Don't get too cocky. Terrence only brought me here to take credit for what you did. I'm about to be rewarded for capturing the fugitive."

"How dare you!"

My eyes widened with fury as I forced my words out through gritted teeth.

Initially, only my team had been dispatched on this mission. But later, Terrence claimed he was concerned about me and insisted on joining the operation. As it turned out, he didn't tag along to protect me—he was there to put me through hell.

My colleagues and I had lost two of our closest friends to capture this fugitive. Now, the credit for our efforts was going to be handed to Yvonne instead.

Yvonne picked up a syringe and injected it into my vein without any hesitation.

"You should just die," she snarled. "Look at you. At this point, staying alive will bring you nothing but pain."

Flashing me a vicious smile, she added, "This is a sepsis-inducing injection. Terrence was afraid you'd get in our way, so he told me to give this to you.

"Goodbye, Quinn. In your next life, don't bother competing with me over a man."

She cackled before she strode outside. Less than five minutes later, the monitor alarms began to blare.

Doctors and nurses rushed in, and the room was thrown into chaos.

"The patient's vitals are dropping fast! Her coagulation abilities are failing. If this continues, she'll die from an infection! There are coagulation agents back in Eulasia. We need to have her transferred immediately!"

"There are no flights available right now!" someone shouted frantically.

My colleagues were panicking. Then, all of a sudden, one of them seemed to have remembered something.

"Wait—Terrence applied for a helicopter transfer! He can send Quinn back to the country!"

A flicker of hope stirred within me. I wanted to live.