"Ethan, my mother is critically ill. She needs surgery immediately! Otherwise she will die! Please, I beg you, can you help me? Please, Please..."
At the Royal Dragon Bay Villa, the gate was tightly closed. Thea Talbot pounded the door and shouted loudly, her voice breaking as tears streamed down her face.
It was raining heavily. The biting cold wind picked up the rain and drenched her clothes.
Thea's voice grew hoarse from prolonged shouting, and began to cough. "Hack—Ethan, hack—please open the door..."
At this time, a car suddenly rang in the distance.
Swoosh.
The car splashed through puddles before screeching to a halt in front of the villa's gates.
The water splashed all over Thea's body. She shrank back in the cold and turned her head with a pale face.
Only saw—Ethan, who was dressed in a black shirt, got out of the car with an umbrella.
He took good care of the woman in the car and waited for her to get out. Then he held her waist tightly. The black umbrella tilted decisively over her head, leaving his own shoulder exposed to the downpour—rainwater soaking through his shirt without earning so much as a glance.
This picture deeply hurt Thea's heart.
"Ethan." Her frail voice cut through the scene, clinging to the perfect picture like mud splattering across a masterpiece.
The man's gaze finally flickered toward her, as if noticing her existence for the first time—his eyes brimming with undisguised disdain and revulsion.
"I thought you wouldn't come back."
She should be the one to ask him that question.
They had been married for only three days, yet he hadn't returned since their wedding night. When the hospital called yesterday to inform her of her mother's critical condition, Thea justifiably left the villa for the hospital.
And before she came back this morning, she called him and confirmed that he was back, so she came to the villa to find him. As a result—She stood in the heavy rain and knocked on the door for half an hour, but no one opened it.
Thea looked at him and the woman in his arms, her once nominal sister—Enya Sorel. "Ethan, my mother is ill. Can you lend me some money for my mother's surgery?"
Ethan's voice was full of mockery. "Thea, how dare you ask me for money?"
Four years ago, he ran into someone in a traffic accident and had to stay in jail for a few years. When Thea heard the news, she impatiently climbed into Ronan Shaw's bed and abandoned him without hesitation.
Four years later, he finally went out of prison. The Talbot family was in dire straits. After he took over his family business, he proposed to her. This woman, who was greedy for vanity, agreed shamelessly.
She even deluded herself into thinking he might still love her madly, as he once did...
Ha, it was ridiculous. Did she really think that Ethan was like four years ago, a fool who would do anything for love?
Thea's face grew paler and paler as she stared at him in a daze.
She knew that he was talking about Ronan, but there was nothing between her and him!
Back then, she had made a deal with Ronan in order to protect Ethan, but she couldn't tell the truth.
Otherwise, she would not be able to protect Ethan.
She clenched her fists and remembered that her mother was still lying in the hospital, waiting for the surgery with money.
"I'm not asking you to give me the money. I'll sign a contract—every penny will be paid back in the future..."
"Shut the hell up!" Ethan’s hand snapped around Thea’s throat, his voice raw with fury. "You walked out on me four years ago and destroyed Harlan—you’re lucky I let you breathe. And now you beg me to save your mother?"
His younger brother—that boy who once radiated sunlight—had been raped because of her.
Harlan trusted Thea so much, but she ruined his life. What kind of heart did she even have?
"I didn't." Thea remembered very clearly that when she cooperated with Ronan, Harlan came to see her, but she just refused to see him and did nothing. "Ethan, I have never hurt him, and I have..."
She had cancer and was already in the advanced stage. She would not lie to him.
But the words died in her throat as she could hardly breathe.
Ethan's face had darkened to a terrifying degree, his pitch-black eyes brimming with pure hatred.
At this moment, Enya, who had remained silent the entire time, suddenly pulled Ethan's hand.
"Don't be like this, Ethan. Although she betrayed you, after all, you guys used to be... Just let her off, for the sake of what you once had..."
Let her off?
No way!
Ethan's eyes glinted with icy mockery as he flung Thea away like discarded trash.
Thea crashed heavily into the rain-soaked pavement, her knees scraping raw against the concrete. Blood seeped through the torn fabric, blooming in crimson stains.
A coughing fit wracked her body as she gasped for air—only to look up and catch the fleeting smirk playing on Enya's lips.
And there stood the man who once loved her above all else, his arm now possessively wrapped around Enya's waist. His obsidian eyes burned with such violence, it felt like a thousand cuts slicing into Thea's flesh.
Her breath hitched when his voice lashed out, colder than the winter rain—"Behave, Thea. Or I'll reduce the Talbot family to ashes."
Thea's body trembled as the freezing rain needled her skin.
She knew that Ethan would keep his word.
He had once said that he would put her in his palm and dote on her unconditionally.
Before his accident, he had made her the happiest woman in Neuris City.
Almost everyone in the circle knew that Ethan loved her to the core.
He would do anything just for her smile.
After his accident, the first thing he thought about was not himself, but her.
"Don't be afraid, I will be fine." At that time, he gently wiped her tears and whispered, "I said I would protect you for a lifetime, so I will definitely do it. Don't worry about me, okay?"
Unfortunately, she had no choice but to hurt him...
She knew that he must hate her, but the first thing he did after he was released from prison was to propose to her.
She couldn't believe it, but she really loved him, just like how she had dared to make a devil deal with Ronan for his sake.
She promised him, put on the wedding dress with joy, and married him.
Who would have thought that the misunderstanding between them had already far exceeded her imagination? The current Ethan only hated her and no longer had any other feelings for her.
Thea watched as Ethan carried Enya into the villa. Warm tears welled up in her eyes.
There were still drops of warm things flowing out of her nose. She raised her hand to wipe them, and what she saw was a dark red.
Thea laughed bitterly.
"Ethan, I don't have much time left... to continue loving you."
