Chapter 2

Wesley's POV

Norman had just posted a new update. In the photo, he lay comfortably in the hospital bed that should have been mine. He wore loungewear and was tucked beneath a down comforter.

Curled up in his arms was a puppy he'd just brought home. Moreover, the puppy was wrapped in an imported medical-grade thermal blanket.

I stared at the screen, unable to look away. Even my breathing hitched.

It was the imported medical-grade thermal blanket I'd spent three months trying to get my hands on. I'd bought it for my recovery after surgery. The blanket alone had cost me over two thousand dollars.

The caption read, "Amelia said the puppy gets cold easily, so she stayed up all night getting this blanket ready. It's unbelievably soft. She really gets me."

In an instant, everything I'd brushed off as coincidence came rushing back.

The day before, while packing for the hospital, I'd realized that the imported thermal blanket was missing.

I had searched everywhere in a panic.

Amelia, however, avoided my gaze and casually said the housekeeper had probably put it away in the wrong place. Then, she tossed a few cheap fleece blankets from a department store into my bag instead.

"You're a grown man. Stop making such a big deal out of it," she'd said. "These regular blankets are perfectly fine. You don't need anything fancy."

As it turned out, she hadn't misplaced it. She'd taken something I'd bought for my own recovery and given it to her precious Norman instead, just to pamper him.

To Amelia, my life mattered less than Norman's dog.

Rage and despair crashed over me until the pain in my chest became unbearable.

Suddenly, the taste of blood flooded my mouth. I coughed violently, and blood splattered across my hospital gown.

A nurse making rounds gasped. Her clipboard clattered to the floor, then she yelled, "The patient's in acute heart failure! Move! Get him to the resuscitation room!"

In an instant, the hallway descended into chaos.

The doctor came running. One glance at the monitors was enough to drain the color from his face.

"Acute heart failure with V-fib! His heart rate's dropping too fast! We need to get him to the OR for emergency bypass. Where's his family? Get them in here to sign the consent forms!"

The nurse was sweating bullets. "She was just here. She said she was going to one of the private suites."

"Then go find her!" the doctor barked. "Every minute we lose could cost him his life!"

Several nurses sprinted to the private suite and pounded on the door. They shoved it open, only to find an empty room. Norman was gone, and so was Amelia.