All Chapters of The Ultimate Cure: A New Husband: Chapter 691 - Chapter 700

"Adriana. It's been a while."Chris stepped in from outside and pulled the door shut behind him, as if afraid she might slip out."Why?"She hadn't spoken in so long that her words came out stiff, dragged up from somewhere deep in her throat, hoarse and rough."To protect you."Chris reached out a hand, wanting to touch her pale cheek.Adriana turned her head away, the line of her neck drawn tight, like a swan on alert."This isn't protection. This is harm. Please, let me go."His hand hung in the air for a moment, fingers curling in, before he slowly drew it back and clenched it into a fist at his side. He sat down at the foot of the bed and looked around the room, at the drawn curtains, the few books on the table that had been flipped through. Finally, his gaze settled back on her face.Seeing the disgust and fury in her eyes, something in him twisted, sharp and painful. That look shouldn't belong to his Adriana."Don't worry. I'll let you go someday. Just not now."Adrian

Adriana slept fitfully all night. Nightmares clung to her like thick, tangled seaweed, dragging her again and again into some darker depth. Each time she jolted awake, she'd see Chris sitting in the shadows at the foot of the bed. She couldn't make out his expression, but she could feel his eyes on her, just like in the dream, clinging to her skin, cold and dark.Morning finally came. Outside the window, the sky was a blinding blue, and sunlight spread across the sea.She stared into that brightness and said coldly, "I want to go up on deck for some air."Chris sat at the edge of the bed, his face blank in the morning light. "You can leave this room. Just not the deck. Not yet."He got up and knocked three unhurried times on the door. It opened from the outside.This was the first time Adriana had seen any other part of the ship since she'd been taken aboard. Outside was a corridor lined with bright windows on both sides. The sunlight poured in, making the wooden floor look even

Adriana woke when the sky had already gone fully bright. The moment she opened her eyes and saw she was still lying in that all-too-familiar cabin, despair washed over her like seawater, swallowing her whole, making even breathing difficult."You're awake? How are you feeling?"Chris's voice suddenly came from beside the bed. Adriana pulled the blanket up over her face, unwilling to look at him.Chris kept talking anyway. "Adriana, I could die alongside you. But I can't let you go back to Francesco."Adriana yanked the blanket back down and turned to look at him. The instant her eyes landed on that face, pale as paper, something sharp seemed to stab into her chest, and the question slipped out before she could stop it."What's wrong with you?"Chris tugged his sleeve down and lowered his eyes. "I'm fine."Getting a flicker of concern out of Adriana brought him no joy at all, only deeper pain.Adriana sat up, grabbed his wrist, and pushed the sleeve back up. A row of needle mark

That same night, Dean made his way to the Stanley family estate.Francesco leaned back on the sofa, legs crossed.Dean strode in, furious. "You won't even spare a child?"Francesco stayed unmoved, his tone indifferent. "The moment you let me see Adriana, you can see your son. Everything else is off the table."Dean clenched his jaw, ice settling in his eyes. "And you're not afraid of what I might do to Adriana?"Before the sentence had finished, Francesco's gaze snapped toward him, cold and razor sharp."If you don't care about that brat, go ahead and try it."Dean's chest tightened, and he found himself taking two involuntary steps back. His chest heaved as fury and regret churned together inside him. He'd been careless. He'd spent so much energy guarding against Francesco's moves on the Slater Group that he'd never once imagined this man would use Edward against him. That was his only son. How could he not have seen this coming?Francesco seemed to think even another glance

A little past three in the morning, Francesco got off the plane and, with no time to rest, headed straight for Sophia's residence with Mars.At the darkened villa, Mars stepped up and knocked on the door. Sophia's steward opened it, and seeing it was Francesco, immediately showed them into the sitting room, served tea, and sent a maid to fetch Sophia.Sophia hadn't slept all night. She had been waiting for Francesco to show up. Once the maid came for her, she deliberately mussed her hair to fake the look of someone just woken from sleep, slid on her slippers, and hurried downstairs."Cesco, when did you get back? What brings you here at this hour?"The next second, she froze in place.Francesco pulled out a handgun without warning and leveled it at her face."Take me to Adriana."His expression was cold, his thin lips pressed into a hard line.Sophia's face went white, her lips trembling as she said, "I don't know what you mean..."Before she'd even finished, a deafening crack