Chapter 2

I burst into the room. The door slammed against the wall with a loud bang.

The warm atmosphere in the hospital room was instantly blown to pieces.

Jessica shrieked in fear and threw herself into Michael's arms.

Lucas let out a loud wail and started crying.

Michael shielded Jessica and Lucas, glaring at me with fury in his eyes. "Who let you in here? You have no manners at all. Looks like the Hawthorne family has turned you into a wild woman these past ten years."

I stood at the bed, arms crossed, looking down at him like I was in charge.

Back then, if he so much as frowned, I'd be scrambling to apologize, terrified of upsetting him.

But now? To me, he was nothing but a walking countdown clock. And I was the one holding the stopwatch.

I ignored him and turned to the lawyer.

"I heard everything. Is the share transfer agreement ready?" I asked.

The lawyer wiped the sweat from his brow, looking embarrassed. "Well, Mrs. Hawthorne..."

Michael let out a cold laugh. "Oh, so you want to stir up trouble? Let me tell you. It won't change a thing. This company is my property, not..."

"Sign it," I cut him off, pulling a pen from my bag and flicking it onto the covers. The tip landed right between his legs.

Michael jerked back, his face going pale. "What the hell are you doing?"

I smiled, softer than Jessica ever could. "I told you to sign it. Isn't this what you wanted? Transfer the shares and make your true love official. Hurry up and sign, unless you're a wimp."

The room went dead silent. Jessica stopped crying, and Michael stopped being angry. They stared at me like I was crazy.

The way they pictured it, I should be crying my eyes out and begging Michael not to dump me. After all, I'd supposedly "loved" him for ten years.

Michael narrowed his eyes, sizing me up. "What are you trying to pull? Playing that push-and-pull game? That stuff doesn't work on me."

I shrugged, dragged over a chair, and crossed my legs casually. "You're overthinking it, Mr. Hawthorne. Now that you're awake, my job here is done.

"Who you want to be with or throw your money at is up to you. Sign it already. Once you're done, we'll talk about divorce."

At the word "divorce," Michael's eyes widened. Suddenly, his face turned pale, and he clutched his chest.

He let out a muffled groan of pain, curling up on the bed as cold sweat soaked through his hospital gown. It was like his soul was being torn apart from the inside.

Jessica was freaking out. "Michael, what's wrong? Somebody get the doctor!"

The room was thrown into chaos.

I sat back in my chair, watching the chaos with icy detachment.

The System's voice sounded in my head, with a hint of mischief. [Host, your affection points dropped to zero. The one you're supposed to win over is starting to show rejection symptoms in his vitals.

[Put simply, if you stop loving him, he's in pain. The more you want to leave, the quicker he'll die.]

I watched Michael writhing in agony, veins standing out on his forehead, and felt absolutely nothing. Honestly, I almost found it funny.

So this was what it felt like to have someone's life in the palm of my hand.

Michael clung to the bedsheets, his eyes frantically scanning the chaos around him until they finally locked onto me. The look he gave was pure confusion and terror.

Because at the moment of unbearable pain, the woman who'd stayed by his side for ten years was casually peeling an orange. She didn't bother to look his way.

The doctors sprang into action and gave him oxygen masks and injections. But strangely, every monitor showed Michael's vitals were perfectly normal. He was actually healthier than when he first woke up.

But he was still in agony. It was the kind of pain that felt like knives twisting inside him, so intense that someone as tough as Michael couldn't help but let out a groan.

Jessica was bawling her eyes out, calling Michael's name over and over. "Michael, don't scare me. Did Charlotte upset you?"

She turned to me, eyes red. "Charlotte, how could you do this? Michael is unwell, but you're pushing him for a divorce. Are you trying to kill him? I know you have your grievances, but you can't mess with his health like that."

It was the same trick, blaming me for no reason. If it'd been before, even though I did nothing wrong, I couldn't defend myself.

The doctors and nurses around us were all looking at me with judgment in their eyes.

To them, I was the bitter wife waiting to cash in on the divorce, while Jessica was the pitiful woman with a kid, holding out for true love.

I finished the last slice of orange, brushed my hands off, and got to my feet. Then I walked straight up to Jessica.

She instinctively stepped back, shielding Lucas with her arms. "What do you want?"

The crisp sound of a slap rang out in the hospital room.

Jessica was left dumbfounded, holding her face and staring at me in utter disbelief.

"Did you hit me?" she said.

I slapped her again with my other hand, so now it was fair on both sides.

"That slap was to teach you about respect. I'm still Mrs. Hawthorne. Who do you think you are, telling me what to do?" I glanced at Michael, who was still catching his breath. "And this one's on Michael's behalf.

"The doctors couldn't find anything wrong, but you keep blaming me for his pain. What? You have X-ray vision or something? Or do you think Michael's fragile, ready to break because he hears a couple of words? Are you cursing him, or questioning the doctors?"

The doctors' faces relaxed a lot, and some of them almost nodded along in agreement.

Michael finally caught his breath, and when he saw Jessica's face all swollen from the slaps, his anger boiled over. "Stop it. You crazy bitch! Apologize to Jessica."

He struggled to sit up, desperate to defend his precious Jessica.

I turned to face him, my eyes cold as ice. "Apologize? Michael, are you still clueless about what's happening? You still haven't signed that transfer agreement.

"Weren't you all about protecting them? Go on, sign it. Once you do, I'll give you what you want. I'll walk out of your house and never look back. That is, if you've actually got the guts to sign."

I've got his life tied to this contract. Let's see if putting his name down would send him straight to hell.

Michael stared at me. He could sense something was off. In the past, whenever I said things like this, my eyes would be brimming with tears, my voice trembling with reluctance. I was using tears as a tactic, hoping he'd notice me.

But today, all he saw in my eyes was mockery. It was like I was watching clowns perform.

That sense of losing control made him deeply uneasy. His heart started to throb again, the pain sharper than before.

He picked up the pen with trembling hands, ready to sign the agreement. It was his promise to Jessica.

But the moment the tip touched the paper, he let out a blood-curdling scream. The pen slipped from his hand and clattered to the floor.

He clutched his head, convulsing violently on the bed. Blood started to seep from his eyes, ears, nose, and mouth.