Chapter 3

I headed back to the hospital.

Luckily, Chris was caught up at work with an emergency, so he still hadn't made it back.

I went back to my own room first, then went over to the next room to check on Bruce.

I sat down by his bed, staring at his hands. They looked even more gaunt, all bone and skin.

There was a time when he was actually healthy.

When we were in our early teens, our mom passed away. He was the only one who took me to the orphanage.

Whenever the other kids tried to pick on me, he'd rush over and shield me like a mother hen protecting her chicks.

As I grew up and entered high school.

All those years of overwork and barely eating caught up with him. He ended up with stomach problems and heart issues.

He kept losing weight, and his health still hasn't gotten better.

My thumb and forefinger could easily circle his wrist.

I copied the way he used to talk to me when I was a kid, sighing softly. "Still not eating enough, huh?"

Someone as frail as he was wouldn't survive a day in prison. Forget ten years. He wouldn't even last ten days. But I only had him.

Suddenly, the person lying in the hospital bed spoke up, "Why aren't you staying in your own room? Coming over here again?"

I didn't even notice when he woke up. My eyes were starting to ache. I kept my gaze down and murmured, "I was worried about you."

Bruce reached out and, with a helpless sigh, ruffled my hair. "You never listen, do you?"

His hand on my head, like always.

It was the same way Nathan had touched me recently.

Panic hit me out of nowhere. I jerked back on instinct and toppled right off the stool, crashing to the floor.

I scrambled up, flustered and shaky.

Bruce's soft, resigned smile froze on his face.

We'd been siblings for over twenty years, and we always got each other, no words needed.

He stared at me, shocked by my sudden reaction, and his face fell. "That bastard came to see you, didn't he?"

He started gasping for air, and the heart monitor started beeping wildly.

He threw off the covers, trying to get out of bed, reaching to rip out the IV needle in his hand.

I panicked and rushed over, grabbing his hand to stop him. "No, it's not that. I slipped off the stool."

Bruce's face kept switching between pale and flushed as he struggled to catch his breath. "Don't lie to me, Zoe. I'm right here, you know that."

I was babbling, trying to calm him down. "No, really, it's nothing. Bruce, Hart Group is still in Northgate. This is Southport, and I'd never run into anyone from the Hart family here."

Bruce tried to push my hand away, panic written all over his face. Then he paused, still hesitant, not fully convinced by my words.

He stared at me, searching my face for any sign I was lying.

I forced myself to stay calm. "Really, Bruce, I swear it's nothing."

Finally, he sat back down on the bed, but he still wouldn't let go of my hand, holding on tight.

He kept saying over and over, "Zoe, don't be scared. You've got me, always."

My eyes stung, tears threatening to spill over. I nodded, pressing my cheek gently against the back of his hand. "Yeah, I know."

I wasn't scared.

As long as Bruce was by my side, I could keep going.

No matter how hard life got, I knew I would make it through.

As long as he was still here in this world, I would always feel at ease.

No matter what life threw at me, I knew it would all pass in the end.

Suddenly, a wave of exhaustion hit me.

I leaned against Bruce's arm and dozed off for a while.

As my mind drifted, I found myself back in the past, years and years ago.

My engagement to the Hart family was decided way before I was even born.

Back then, both my parents were still around.

The Turner family used to be big shots in Northgate, and we were tight with the Hart family, old friends, going way back.

When my mom was pregnant with me, Leon was already over a year old, and Nathan was four.

Julia Hart, the Hart brothers' grandma, sighed, "Too bad the Turners only had one girl."

She'd laugh and say, "When you're older, you can choose whichever boy you like best."

When I was little, Julia always loved having me around. She would ask with a smile, "Zoe, do you like Leon or Nathan more?"

Leon and I would play together, our faces covered in mud. Whenever he heard that, he'd always turn to me and say urgently, "Of course it's me."

Nathan, on the other hand, never said a word. He'd sit by the window, either reading or practicing the piano. When he heard Julia's question, he'd glance over at us.

But the moment I looked his way, he'd quickly turn his head away.

Julia would joke, "Leon is too mischievous. Take it from me. Nathan's the good kid. He's the well-behaved one."

At that moment, the piano by the window let out a wrong note.

Leon, still fuming, grabbed my hand and pulled me away to play somewhere else.

Everyone knew that when I grew up, I was supposed to marry into the Hart family.

But when I was twelve, Julia passed away from illness.

Then, out of nowhere, my dad was caught for operating his company illegally and for illegal fundraising.

People in the business world started kicking him while he was down, and he got hit with even more charges.

The whole thing blew up in the media.

After a retrial, my dad was sentenced to life in prison.

Less than a month later, he died in prison from an illness.

When my mom heard the news, she had a heart attack that night and didn't survive the night at the hospital.

I went to the Harts, desperately pleading to see David Hart, the Hart brothers' father.

Our house had been seized, and if no one took us in, Bruce and I would have to go to an orphanage.

The housekeeper at the Hart residence told me that David was busy.

I went back the next day, but he was still busy.

Day after day, it was always the same.

That was when it hit me. I hadn't seen anyone from the Hart family since everything went wrong for the Turner family.

It wasn't that David was busy. The Hart family was keeping their distance from me as much as possible.

By then, the engagement between our families was a worthless promise.

Bruce and I ended up in an orphanage.