MasukThe heavy, suffocating silence of ICU Suite 402 stretched out like a fragile thread waiting to snap.The morning sun bled through the reinforced glass, casting long, pale golden shafts across the bed where Rex Hidalgo lay suspended between life and death. The mechanical hiss of his ventilator, rhythmic, persistent, and unyielding, served as a stark, sterile cadence against the unspoken history hanging between them.Rex’s dark irises, clouded with fog from heavy narcotics and sheer physical exhaustion, never wavered from Jenna’s face. His hand, pale and trembling under the weight of his failing strength, squeezed her fingers with a desperate, agonizing grip, as if letting go meant sliding back into the cold, dark abyss he had spent twelve hours fighting to escape."...can we... start over?"The question echoed through the quiet room, sounding small, stripped of all corporate arrogance, and heavy with a raw, terrifying vulnerability.Jenna froze.Her breath trapped itself in her throat,
The mechanical hiss of the ventilator seemed to soften, fading into the quiet background as that single, fragile whisper hung in the sterile air of ICU Suite 402."...Jen...na..."The sound was barely a rasp, stripped of its usual commanding resonance, but to Jenna, it sounded like a thunderclap breaking through a storm that had lasted two agonizing years.Her breath hitched in her chest. She froze, her hands clutching his limp fingers as if reaching across an abyss. For a second, she was terrified that if she moved or spoke, the moment would shatter, exposing itself as nothing more than a fevered illusion born from sheer exhaustion and grief."Rex?" she whispered, her voice trembling violently.Slowly, heavily, Rex’s eyelids fluttered once more. The thick, dark lashes raised to reveal irises that were clouded with pain, fogged by narcotics, and swimming in profound weakness. Yet, as his gaze swept slowly across the room, it ignored the harsh fluorescent lighting, the IV lines, and th
The continuous, piercing scream of the heart monitor hung in the air like a death sentence.Rain swept through the shattered window of ICU Suite 402, whipping the sterile curtains into wild, frantic shapes as the cold Madrid night air mixed with the sharp smell of ozone, blood, and burnt skin. On the bed, Rex Hidalgo lay entirely motionless, his pale chest bare, his skin cold under the harsh fluorescent lights."Charge to three hundred!" the lead cardiologist shouted, his voice cutting through the mechanical chaos. "Clear!"THUMP!Rex’s body jolted violently off the mattress, his head snapping back as three hundred joules of raw electrical current surged through his chest. He crashed heavily back onto the sheets.The green line on the display fluttered for a fraction of a second, a erratic spike rising, only to flatten out instantly back into that horizontal, relentless line.BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP."No response! No pulse! Start chest compressions!" the doctor ordered,
The quiet hum of the ICU hummed with an ominous rhythm as the digital display above the service elevator chimed, announcing Alice Florence’s arrival on the fourth floor.Disguised in stolen blue medical scrubs, a surgical cap pulled low over her matted hair, and a sanitary mask concealing her pale, twitching face, Alice blended seamlessly into the sterile environment. In her right pocket, her fingers squeezed the grip of a heavy stainless-steel surgical scalpel. Her left wrist was hastily wrapped in a blood-soaked bandage, a grotesque souvenir from her violent escape from the police transport van.She did not feel the physical pain. Her mind had completely succumbed to a manic, blinding obsession. In her warped reality, Rex’s survival meant her absolute ruin, and Jenna’s heartbreak was the only prize left worth claiming. If she couldn't possess Rex Hidalgo, then no one would. She would sever his life support, slit his throat, and force Jenna to watch his remaining blood spill across t
The shrill, mechanical screech of the defibrillator charging was the last sound that echoed in Jenna’s mind before the Madrid night dissolved into an endless blur of red lights, shouting paramedics, and the sterile smell of antiseptic.The transition from the grand, blood-soaked hall of the Palacio de Cibeles to the private surgical wing of Madrid’s top trauma center had happened in a harrowing haze. Rex’s heart had been jump-started twice on the marble floor before he was rushed into an emergency thoracotomy to repair his shattered lung and severe vascular damage. Hours bled into one another while the surgical team worked frantically under blinding operating lights, battling the catastrophic blood loss that had nearly claimed his life.Now, the silence of the Intensive Care Unit was heavy, broken only by the rhythmic, artificial hiss of a ventilator and the steady, haunting beep of a heart monitor.Rex Hidalgo lay motionless in the center of the private critical care suite, surrounde
The air in the grand ballroom of the Palacio de Cibeles tasted of ozone, burning velvet, and copper.An agonizing second had passed since the feed abruptly cut, a second in which the heavy service doors beneath the stage had been breached not by the detonation of Alice’s localized charges, but by a precise, violent breach. Outside, Daniel had intercepted the mercenary line at the sub-level terminal, disabling the remote detonator signal before Alice’s trembling thumb could complete the circuit. Trapped, panicked, and driven into a feral, cornered frenzy, Alice had bypassed the complex console, lunging out of the service corridor herself with a concealed, high-caliber sidearm raised directly at Jenna’s chest.She had fired twice.Two suppressed thuds had cut through the screaming crowd. But the lead had not struck velvet or skin belonging to the Anderson heiress.It had struck Rex Hidalgo.The impact of the heavy rounds tearing through his back had thrown Rex forward, his immense body
Marcus raised his eyebrows and glanced at Rex, then shook his head. "How could I possibly imagine becoming in-laws with you? My daughter certainly doesn't deserve such an exceptional man like Rex Hidalgo."Old Master Hidalgo paused, his smile faltering briefly, then chuckled awkwardly. "Speaking of
As Jenna and Kelvin stepped into the night, the air around them felt lighter. They left the venue with grace, Jenna's heels clicking steadily against the stone pathway, her gown trailing like stardust behind her. A smirk played on her lips—tonight, she had reclaimed more than her dignity. She had r
The old master slammed his palm against the armrest, his face flushed angrily. "She hung up on me? Me?!"The butler flinched at the sound but calmly replied, "Yes, old master. We've tried calling several more times, but she keeps rejecting the calls.""That ungrateful brat! She dares treat me like
The moment Jenna accepted Stella's video call, the screen lit up with Stella's flustered expression. Her brows were furrowed, and her lips were tight with frustration."Jenna, you've gone viral again. But not in a good way," she said gravely.Jenna's smile vanished. "What happened?"Alexa leaned in







