Chapter 2
James and Ethan’s expressions had already visibly darkened, heavy and oppressive, like the sky right before a storm breaks.
“Well done,” Ethan let out a low laugh. There was no warmth in it, only something sharp and cold. “That performance. If she doesn’t get an Oscar, the Academy’s blind.”
James’s fist clenched so tightly his knuckles cracked. The next second, he drove it hard into the icy hospital wall. A dull thud echoed down the corridor.
“To ruin a wedding,” he said quietly, fury rolling under every word, “and she even dared to make up something like ‘I’m dying.’” His jaw tightened. “We really raised ourselves a good daughter.”
Michael leaned back against the wall, hollow-eyed. His body slid down inch by inch until he was sitting on the cold floor.
He felt like the biggest idiot alive.
For a lie, he had abandoned the woman who should’ve been standing beside him, sending her alone onto a honeymoon flight that was supposed to belong to them.
Just then, the ER doors opened again.
Lily came out in a fresh hospital gown, supported by a nurse.
The sickly pallor was gone. In its place was a healthy flush, clear eyes, steady breathing, nothing about her looked like someone who was “running out of time.”
The moment she lifted her head, she met three pairs of eyes, cold enough to cut.
Her expression froze.
She lowered her head instinctively, her voice cautious and soft. “James… Ethan… Michael… what’s wrong? Did the doctor say something about me…?”
“Say what?”
Ethan folded his arms and strolled up to her, a lazy, mocking smile curling at his lips. “Say you acted so well? Or say you have a ruthless heart?”
Lily’s face went pale in an instant.
Almost on reflex, she looked at Michael. Her eyes reddened immediately, tears welling up on cue.
“Michael, I didn’t mean to. I just love you too much. I was afraid of losing you…”
Michael slowly raised his head.
The eyes that once held nothing but affection were now nothing more than dull, lifeless gray.
Word by word, he asked softly like he was asking himself:
“Lily, where is my fiancée?”
Lily froze.
Ethan let out a cold laugh and finished it for her.
“Your fiancée? You personally sent her on a flight straight to hell.”
The world inside Michael’s head went completely blank.
Lily’s whole body jolted. Her lips trembled. “Ethan, you…what nonsense are you talking? What flight? Emily, she...”
“Our family doesn’t have a sister like you.”
James finally spoke. His voice was ice, stripped of any warmth. “From today on, you’re on your own.”
He didn’t spare Michael who collapsed on the floor a single glance. He turned and walked away.
Ethan stepped closer to Lily, lowering his voice so only the two of them could hear.
“You’d better pray Emily is alive,” he said coldly.
“Otherwise, I’ll teach you what it really means to wish you were dead.”
The color drained from Lily’s face. Panic flooded her eyes.
She instinctively tried to hide behind the nurse, forcing out a weak, innocent tone: “Michael… James… Ethan… what’s wrong with you? Don’t look at me like that. I’m scared…”
“Heh.” Ethan’s laugh was sharp, cutting straight through her act. “Scared? I thought someone who’d already come to terms with death wouldn’t be afraid of anything anymore.”
He sized Lily up and down, clicking his tongue in exaggerated wonder. “Look at that color in your cheeks and look at that pep in your step! Anyone who didn’t know better would think you just came out of a spa, not the ER. Your family really knows how to raise people. Even cancer cells can’t survive under your care.”
The words were biting and sarcastic. And with that, the last layer of Lily’s disguise was torn clean away.
