Chapter 4

At Jeanne's words, Randy's brows tightened for a brief moment before smoothing out again. He kept his eyes on the road, giving me no further glance.

The amusement park was bustling, packed with visitors coming and going.

While riding the carousel, the machine suddenly malfunctioned, spinning violently out of control.

By that point, all the other riders had fled the platform. Only Jeanne and I remained.

I clung to the handle with all my strength, refusing to let myself be thrown off. But the carousel's speed was dizzying, my head swam, and in the next instant, my grip slipped. I fell hard from the machine.

At the same time, Jeanne was flung off as well. She screamed in panic.

In that split second, Randy lunged forward, catching Jeanne in his arms.

I wasn't so lucky. After hitting the ground, I barely had time to react before one of the wooden horses crashed straight toward me.

A sharp, sickening crack split the air from my lower leg. Splinters flew into my eyes. Pain ripped through me so fiercely that for a moment, I couldn't even speak.

"Zoey!"

After settling Jeanne down, Randy rushed toward me, for the first time showing genuine panic.

His thin lips had lost their color, and sweat beaded at the bridge of his nose. I had never seen him this tense over me.

"Don't cry. I'll take you to the hospital right now!"

I looked up at him. Pain spread through every inch of my body, and my lips trembled without a single word managing to escape.

"Jeanne, why do you look so pale?" Patricia suddenly said.

At that, Randy immediately set me down and hurried to her side, his steps stumbling in urgency.

The injury on her pale arm was no more than a faint scrape—nothing compared to the state I was in. Yet he fussed over her, fanning at her arm as if she were gravely hurt.

Jeanne's eyes shimmered with unshed tears. She stubbornly pushed him away.

"I'm fine. You should take Zoey to the hospital first."

Her selflessness only deepened his tenderness. Without a second thought, he scooped her into his arms and strode out of the amusement park, leaving me behind, disheveled and in pain.

The park staff cast sympathetic looks my way, and somehow that made the pain sharper.

After an emergency dressing was applied to my injury, I made my own way to the hospital, where I happened to overhear the nurses chatting.

"Mr. Johnson treats Miss Moss so well. Just a scrape and he's completely beside himself!"

Another nurse laughed in agreement, praising him as a good man.

I glanced at my leg, that still looking gruesome even after being treated, and let out a low, derisive laugh.

'A man who abandons his seriously injured wife to dote on an old flame—yes, a very good man indeed,' I sneered inwardly.

Back home, I continued packing up my remaining belongings. Time trickled on, bringing me closer to the day I would leave.

Then, out of nowhere, Randy sent me a couture gown, telling me to accompany him to his mother's birthday banquet.

There were still some important documents I needed from her, so I changed into the dress and went.

The banquet hall glittered with light, guests coming and going in a whirl of elegance.

In the center of the crowd stood Jeanne, surrounded and admired by a circle of socialites.

As soon as I entered, Anne called me over. She handed me my documents.

"All these years, you've managed every detail of this household for Randy. The Johnson family has run smoothly under your care, yet he's ignored you from beginning to end. Now you're going abroad… who knows when we'll meet again. Zoey, are you sure about this?"

I met her gaze with a faint smile.

"It's all in the past. It's time for me to move forward."

She let out a long sigh, patted my shoulder, and a flicker of regret crossed her face.