Chapter 5

Tristan's words extinguished the last flicker of hope in Margot's heart.

Just then, a nurse rushed into the room in a panic. "Mr. Boyle! Something terrible happened! Ms. Duffy fell near the stairs, and she's bleeding heavily!"

The color drained from Tristan's face. He sprang to his feet and rushed for the door. In his haste, he knocked over the bowl of soup Nina had left on the nightstand. Most of the hot liquid spilled onto Margot's bare arm, which lay outside the blanket.

"Ah!" she screamed in pain as her arm immediately turned red.

But Tristan didn't even look back. He was already gone.

Sweat beaded on Margot's forehead. She could barely reach for the call button, and even after she pressed it repeatedly, no one came.

Enduring the agony of both her burns and her injuries from the car accident, she struggled out of bed and tried to find a doctor herself.

At the far end of the hallway, a crowd of doctors and nurses had gathered outside a VIP room. Tristan's tall figure stood out among them.

He was lashing out at the medical staff, his voice raw and furious. "I don't care what it takes. You will save her! If anything happens to her, none of you will get away with it!"

He only ever lost control like that for Nina.

Bitterness welled up inside Margot. Unable to bear watching any longer, she turned away and followed the signs toward the nurses' station.

Fortunately, a young trainee nurse had been left at the station while the more experienced staff attended to the emergency.

When the nurse saw the horrifying burns on Margot's arm and how pale her face was, she gasped in alarm. She quickly fetched burn ointment and gauze and treated the wound.

Margot gritted her teeth and didn't make a sound. The physical pain was nothing compared to what she felt in her heart.

After her arm was bandaged, she dragged her weakened body back into the hallway and heard a doctor telling Tristan that Nina had lost too much blood. She had the rare Rh-negative blood type, and the hospital's blood supply was running low.

Tristan immediately rolled up his sleeve. "Take mine! I'm Rh-negative too!"

What happened next was etched into Margot's mind as if it had happened in slow motion.

She watched as the nurses drew bag after bag of bright red blood from Tristan. His face grew visibly paler, but he stubbornly remained seated.

"Mr. Boyle, we have to stop!" the nurse said anxiously, trying to talk him out of it. "You've exceeded the safe donation limit! Any more and your life will be at risk!"

Tristan shoved her aside. His voice trembled with weakness, but his resolve was terrifyingly unshakable. "Keep drawing blood! I don't care if I die! Just save Nina! You have to save her!"

Margot stood a short distance away, watching Tristan push himself to the brink for Nina. His words from the hospital room echoed in her ears.

"I'd give up my life for her."

So he really meant it.

And what about her? When she'd been fighting for her life after the car accident and needed someone to sign off on her treatment, all he had said was that she had brought it on herself and deserved the lesson.

Who he loved and who he didn't love had never been clearer.

Margot laughed until tears streamed down her face, and even her bones seemed to ache.

Over the next two days, the doctors and medical resources were all prioritized for Nina, leaving Margot to fend for herself. Still weak from the car accident, she had to change her own dressings, get her own meals, and wash up on her own.

One day, she overheard two nurses gossiping quietly in the corridor as they passed her room.

"Hey, what do you think is going on between that Ms. Duffy in VIP Room 1 and Mr. Boyle? He treats her like she's the center of his universe!

"He nearly went into shock from donating so much blood that day, and he hasn't left her side since. He gives her whatever she wants."

The other nurse said, "She can't be his girlfriend, right? Isn't his girlfriend, Ms. Irving, staying in Room 3 on our floor? But Mr. Boyle hasn't even come to see her once these past few days."

The first nurse continued, "The other day, I saw Ms. Irving struggling to change her bandages. Her wounds looked like they were about to split open.

"I asked Mr. Boyle if we could spare a doctor to help her out, but he just yelled at me and said every doctor needed to focus on Ms. Duffy. Jeez, it's just awful."

Margot leaned against the door and listened to their conversation. Her heart hurt so much that she could barely feel anything anymore.

On the day Margot was discharged, she watched Tristan bring Nina back to the mansion himself while she made her own way home.

Nina leaned against Tristan's chest, her face still a little pale. She gave Margot a gentle smile. "Margot, I'm sorry I have to impose on you two for a while. I'll leave as soon as I'm better."

Tristan immediately reassured her, his tone firm and protective. "This is your home too. You can stay as long as you want. No one can make you leave."

Margot looked at them and smiled bitterly. The house she'd once thought of as her home with Tristan now opened its doors to the woman he truly loved.

Over the next few days, she saw for herself just how much Tristan cared for Nina.

He would wake up early in the morning and drive across town just because Nina mentioned craving fresh handmade croissants from a specific bakery.

He would patiently watch the artsy movies he'd once scoffed at with her. Even when he got so bored that he fell asleep, he never complained.

Whenever Nina took a nap, he would gently tuck a blanket around her and sit nearby, watching her with a look so tender it could melt anyone's heart.