Chapter 6

Claire woke up to the sharp, sterile scent of disinfectant.

She tried to move her fingers, and a wave of pain crashed over her, as if she'd been run over by a truck.

But she was still alive.

'I'm not dead?' Claire thought.

The realization left her in a haze, barely able to process it.

She had survived.

She slowly opened her heavy eyelids, and what greeted her was a luxuriously decorated private hospital room.

A man in an expensive custom suit sat on the sofa by the window, his back to her, peeling an apple with deliberate, unhurried movements.