Chapter 4

Nina's POV

I moved to a downtown apartment.

Ethan was too busy comforting Isabella to care where I'd gone.

On the third day, Blackwood Group held a yacht celebration for the Bay Area new development.

I had to attend to sign documents.

At the dock, Ethan and Isabella stood on the deck.

Isabella wore Ethan's suit jacket, chatting with investors.

Seeing me appear, Ethan's expression turned cold.

"Why are you only just arriving? Mr. Li has been waiting."

He made no mention of that night, as if I were still his obedient fiancée, ready at his beck and call.

I ignored him, my gaze sweeping over Isabella.

"Miss White should stay inside if she's not feeling well-wouldn't want her fainting and dragging others down again."

Isabella's eyes reddened as she clutched Ethan's sleeve.

"Ethan, Nina still blames me..."

"Enough."

Ethan cut her off.

"Nina, go to the lower deck and verify the equipment data. Isabella gets seasick. I'll stay up here with her."

Before, this kind of grunt work was for assistants. Now he was making me do it.

I didn't argue, just turned and headed to the lower deck.

The yacht left the harbor. The sea wind picked up.

I'd just finished checking the data when the vessel suddenly shook violently.

Alarms shrieked.

"We've hit rocks! The lower deck is flooding! Run!"

Someone screamed. The ship began to tilt.

I grabbed the railing, trying to run up, but the panicked crowd knocked me staggering backward.

In the chaos, a cargo rack crashed down, pinning me beneath it.

"Help!"

I screamed desperately, but all around me were the shrieks of people fleeing for their lives.

Suddenly, a familiar figure appeared at the top of the stairs.

Ethan.

He seemed to be looking for someone.

Seeing me pinned down, shock flashed in his eyes. He instinctively took a step forward.

"Ethan! Save me! The water's rising! I'm so scared!"

Isabella's heart-wrenching wail came from the deck above.

Ethan's steps stopped dead.

He looked at the water already up to my waist, then up at the deck above.

No words.

Ethan turned and ran toward the stairs without hesitation.

That resolute retreat hit me like a blade to the chest.

"Ethan!"

My voice came out hoarse. Desperate tears mixed with seawater.

At my moment of life and death, he chose Isabella.

Water submerged my chest. Suffocation set in.

Just as consciousness began to fade, a tremendous crash came from above.

The rack pinning me shifted, then came crashing down with even more force.

Pain exploded. I blacked out completely.

When I woke again, blinding white filled my vision.

I tried to move. The right side of my body was numb, my right hand encased in thick plaster, fixed to a support frame.

"Awake?"

A low, cold voice.

I turned my head with difficulty.

A tall man sat in a wheelchair, playing with a black pinky ring.

He sat backlit, eyes deep as an abyss, staring fixedly at my ruined hand.

Adrian.

My gaze dropped to his impeccably tailored suit pants. My voice came out raspy.

"Your legs..."

Adrian gave a soft snort, then swung his long legs out and stood steadily from the wheelchair.

"The old man has eyes everywhere. Send him a crippled bastard, and he sleeps soundly."

He pushed the empty wheelchair aside and strode to the bedside, asking me:

"Does it hurt?"

"My hand..."

My voice was hoarse. I tried to move my fingers but realized with horror that my right hand had no feeling.

"Severed nerves."

Adrian's voice was calmly cruel.

"The doctor says you'll have trouble even holding a fork from now on, let alone playing piano."

My mind went blank with a roar.

Ruined?

I opened my mouth but couldn't make a sound. Large tears rolled down.

"Why cry?"

Adrian rolled the wheelchair to the bedside and reached out ice-cold fingers to wipe away my tears.

His eyes were sinister.

"Your hand's ruined. I'll take care of you."

"As for those two who hurt you..."

His fingertips caressed my face, lips curling into a bloodthirsty smile.

"I'll smash their hands and feet to pieces and let you play with them like building blocks. How's that?"

Footsteps sounded outside the door.

"Is Nina awake? Isabella insisted on checking on her..."

Ethan's voice.

Adrian's eyes went cold. He quickly retreated into the shadows.

In that instant, I saw the small scars at the corner of his eye.

Completely overlapping with that boy who'd carried my feverish body five kilometers through a rainstorm years ago.

So it really was him.

The door opened. Ethan looked exhausted, Isabella following behind, completely unharmed.

Seeing me awake, Ethan sighed in relief.

"Good, you're awake. Isabella's been worried you'd have nightmares. The doctor says your hand is injured but with some rehab won't affect your daily life."

He paused, tone casual.

"Besides, you'll be Mrs. Blackwood from now on. Just stay home comfortably. No need to do that exhausting work anyway."

Won't affect daily life?

No need to work?

I stared at this man, hatred reaching its peak in that moment.

I forced words through clenched teeth.

"Get out."