Chapter 2

When I opened my eyes again, I was lying on a hospital bed.

My chest was covered in thick bandages, and even the slightest movement sent a sharp pain shooting through my body.

This was Zachary's doing.

After I fell, he took advantage of the chaos and drove the dagger straight into my chest. He'd never intended to let me live.

"Mr. Fuller is awake, Ms. Quinton!"

A nurse's voice snapped me out of my thoughts. Moments later, Wendy hurried into the room. When she saw me lying in bed, her lips parted, but she couldn't utter a word.

As I stared at her side profile, I lost myself in thought for a moment. When she was quiet, she really did look like my first love, Zara Langston.

Five years ago, Zara had thrown herself into harm's way to save me from being hit by a runaway truck. As a result, she ended up losing her life.

Countless nights, I'd wondered what could've happened if she hadn't saved me that day. If she were still alive, perhaps I wouldn't be stuck in this fake engagement, forced to endure Wendy's sickening betrayals.

After a short while, Wendy finally broke the silence.

"You should consider yourself lucky. The dagger missed your heart by three inches—"

I cut her off with a cold laugh. "Stop lying to yourself, Wendy. You know perfectly well that Zachary was the one who stabbed me!"

Not willing to meet my gaze, she argued, "You brought this upon yourself by insulting my grandfather and me! Zachary acted in the heat of the moment. You're completely fine now, so don't even think about pinning the blame on him."

She walked over to my bed and looked down at me condescendingly.

"I don't mind postponing the marriage registration by a few days, but you and I are getting married no matter what."

I quietly scanned my surroundings and didn't respond.

This was the same hospital Edward had stayed in after his condition worsened. Even if I had no intention of marrying Wendy, I still needed to show her the truth.

Zachary had killed her beloved grandfather. They insisted on being together even though he'd killed her father. In that case, I'd wanted to see just how strong their love really was.

"Have you visited your grandpa yet?" I asked.

Wendy froze. Before she could answer, Zachary walked in.

"What kind of lies are you trying to spin now, Colin?" he sneered. "Wendy just video-called Edward this morning. He's doing perfectly fine. Spare me your fake concern."

My heart sank. Edward had stopped breathing a week ago.

I'd already uncovered the truth three days earlier.

Initially, Edward had only been hospitalized for high blood pressure. But Zachary had bribed the surgeon to deliberately induce a stroke during surgery, leaving Edward in a vegetative state. Then, in the middle of the night, he'd pulled the plug on Edward's ventilator himself.

"We have no reason to lie to you. I even recorded the call." Wendy pulled out her phone impatiently.

On the screen, Edward looked as cheerful as usual. In a warm voice, he said, "Once you're married to Colin, make sure you build a happy life together. That way, I'll finally be able to rest easy."

Everyone else might've believed the video. But with my computer science background, I immediately noticed something was wrong.

The video Wendy had just shown me wasn't real. It had been digitally generated.

Zachary knew Wendy all too well. On top of that, he was very familiar with Edward's usual tone and mannerisms, which had allowed him to fool her completely.

I set the phone down on the table. "If I remember correctly, Edward is staying at this very hospital. If you had the time to video-call him, why didn't you just visit him in person?"

"The doctors told us Grandpa is in a critical stage of recovery and can't have any visitors," Wendy replied, her eyes darting around nervously. "Besides, he said we could visit him after we've registered our marriage!"

I knew exactly what Zachary was doing. He'd already figured out that Wendy and I would never make it to the registration office. That was the only reason he dared to make Edward say those words in the "video call".

"You're his granddaughter. If anyone should be allowed to visit him, it should be you," I told her.

Then, I pressed on. "You haven't seen him in almost two months. Even if they won't let you into his hospital room, you can still look at him from the doorway."

"Don't listen to him, Wendy," Zachary snapped before Wendy could respond. "Your grandpa is being treated by the most renowned specialist in the country. Colin's just trying to stir up trouble because he doesn't want to marry you!"

"I'm stirring up trouble?" I scoffed.

I turned to Wendy. "Go to his room right now. If Edward is willing to see you, I'll go to the city hall with you immediately."

Wendy looked torn. She tugged at Zachary's sleeve and lowered her voice.

"I really miss Grandpa, too. Could… Could we at least go and sneak a glance at him from the doorway?"

Zachary let out an exaggerated sigh. "I was trying to spare you the truth. Fine then. You'll have to find out eventually."

Wendy hesitantly followed him toward the door.

Just before he shut the door behind him, Zachary turned around and flashed me a taunting smile.

I felt slightly uneasy.

Less than ten minutes later, the door to my hospital room flew open. Wendy stormed inside, her face flushed with rage.

"Colin! Why did you transfer Grandpa to another hospital? There's no one in the intensive care unit!" she roared. "You're so desperate to get out of marrying me that you won't even leave my sick grandfather alone? You're despicable!"