Все главы HE LEFT ME FOR MY STEPSISTER, I MOVED ON TO THE NEXT: Глава 131 - Глава 140

Chapter 132He didn’t speak for a long time. The silence pressed heavy, broken only by the rhythmic beep of Lucian’s heart monitor. I sat in the chair at Lucian’s side, clutching his limp hand in mine, whispering words he couldn’t hear, while Matthew simply stood there… frozen.Then, finally, his voice cracked the silence.“This is not the future I planned for him,” Matthew said, barely above a whisper. His eyes never left Lucian. “Not like this. Not like this.”I swallowed hard, my throat raw. “He’s alive, Matthew. That has to count for something. We almost lost him completely.”His head turned, just slightly, his face a map of torment. “Alive? Look at him. Lying there… broken. And what if the doctor’s right? What if he never walks again? Do you have any idea what that means for him? For his life?” His voice shook with anger, but it wasn’t directed at me. It was despair, boiling over. “No woman will want him. No family. No children. No o

Chapter 134I pushed the restroom door open, and the faint whoosh of the air conditioner hit my damp skin. The fluorescent lights of the hospital suite buzzed quietly above me, cold and unwelcoming. For a moment, I thought of splashing water on my face again, just to steady my nerves, but I told myself I had already wasted enough time away from Lucian.I stepped back into the room, still drying my palms against the sides of the hospital slides I was wearing, but stopped dead in my tracks the moment my eyes landed on him.Someone was standing by Lucian’s bed.At first glance, it looked ordinary… just another nurse checking on him, but the longer I stared, the more wrong it felt. His frame was all wrong. He was tall, broad-shouldered, his figure too imposing for the slender women I’d seen scurrying in and out earlier. Even the male doctors hadn’t carried themselves like that. They moved with a casual confidence. This man’s stance was rigid and coiled, as if he were trying too hard to bl

Chapter 136The impact knocked the breath out of me. I flew backward, stumbling, and landed hard on the edge of the bed, right on top of Lucian’s still, unconscious body. My hands instinctively reached for Lucian’s chest to steady myself, but the collision made a choked sob escape my lips.The air rushed from my lungs when my back hit the mattress, and my body crashed against Lucian’s fragile frame. His chest rose weakly beneath me, the rhythm slow and mechanical, driven by the machines keeping him alive. The beeping of the monitor spiked for a moment, and I froze, terrified I had hurt him.The man straightened, adjusting his mask with a quick, furious tug. He glared at me, his chest heaving.“You should have stayed out of this,” he hissed, his voice thick with venom.I twisted on the bed, reaching toward him again, but he was already moving. With one last glare, he turned and bolted toward the door, his heavy footsteps pounding against the linoleum floor.“Coward!” I shouted after hi

Chapter 138I searched her face, desperate to unlock a memory, but nothing came. Only that same empty fog.“No,” I admitted quietly.Her hand tightened around mine. “It’s okay. The memories will come back and until then… I’ll keep trying to remind you.”The way she said it unsettled me. Like she wasn’t just reminding me, like she was rewriting something.We stayed at the park for a while before heading back. She clung to me, always keeping physical contact, as if afraid I’d vanish if she let go.When we got home, she busied herself with lunch, and I found myself wandering through the living room. My gaze fell on the framed photos on the shelves. Strangely, there were no pictures of us together. Just her. Smiling at beaches, at parties, at dinners.“Where are our pictures?” I asked suddenly when she walked in with two glasses of juice.Her body stiffened before she forced a laugh. “Oh, those? They’re in storage.

Chapter 140And Now, with one word, he had shattered that nightmare.I bent over his hand, pressing my forehead against it. “You scared me, Lucian,” I whispered through tears. “You scared me so much. Don’t you ever do that again.”The machines beeped steadily, marking his fragile hold on this world. But all I could hear was his voice, replaying over and over in my head.“Elena.”He had pulled me back from the edge, not just from chasing the masked man, but from losing myself in fear.I lifted my head, brushing my sleeve across my wet face, and leaned closer to him. His eyes fluttered, trying to open, but even half-closed, they searched. They searched for me.I squeezed his hand harder. “It’s me,” I told him softly, my voice trembling but steady enough to carry the truth. “I’m here. I’m not going anywhere.”His lips moved again, too faint to make out the sound, but I didn’t need to. The effort alone was enough to split my chest wide open with relief.Memories crashed into me, unbidden.