Chapter 4

When Avery woke, she was in a hospital. A dull throb pulsed at her temple as she forced her eyes open.

Charles sat at her bedside, his brow faintly creased.

When he saw her eyes flutter open, something complicated moved through his gaze. His voice carried an uncharacteristic note of concern. "Avery, you're awake? How do you feel? Does your head still hurt?"

Avery stared at him with hollow eyes and said nothing.

Charles shifted uncomfortably. He pressed his lips together and launched into an explanation.

"Last night, Nina was being held at knifepoint. The blade was right against her side. I couldn't just stand there and watch her get hurt."

"I took her out of there so I could go find help. But by the time I got back, you were already... lying there."

His words carried the desperate urgency of a man trying to prove his innocence.

Avery listened and felt her chest fill with something cold, heavy, and numb, like cotton soaked in ice water. Not a single ripple stirred inside her.

Go find help? What a noble excuse.

In the moment she needed her husband's protection most, he had chosen without a shred of hesitation to ensure another woman's safety first, leaving Avery alone in the center of danger.

She moved her cracked, dry lips with effort, her voice raw. "Last night, when you said you had 'something to do,' you were out on a date with Nina, weren't you?"

Charles blinked, caught off guard. He hadn't expected that to be her first question.

His eyes darted before he answered. "It wasn't a date. Nina took good care of me while I was hospitalized. It was only right I thanked her. Just took her out for a meal. Avery, don't read too much into it."

The faintest ghost of a smile tugged at Avery's lips. "So to thank her, you managed to choke down spicy food without flinching? The same food you've refused to touch for years?"

When they first got married, Avery had cooked a whole table of bold, spicy dishes to her own taste. Charles wouldn't eat a single bite.

Later she learned that Charles supposedly preferred bland food.

For his sake, she had given up everything she loved. Not a single chili pepper had appeared in their kitchen since.

And him?

With Nina, he ate it all with obvious relish.

Charles went rigid, a flash of exposed guilt breaking through his composure.

Just then, the hospital room door opened with a soft push.

Nina walked in, wheeling a small medical cart.

"Ms. Lancaster, you're awake? Oh, thank goodness!" She gazed at Avery with wide, earnest eyes, her voice dripping with sincerity laced with self-reproach.

"Charles and I really don't have anything going on. Please, you have to believe him. He insisted on treating me to dinner last night, and I just couldn't say no. From now on, I promise I'll keep my distance from him."

Then she turned to Charles, her tone shifting to a teasing, pouty reproach. "Charles, last night was your fault too. How could you worry about me first? Ms. Lancaster is your wife! You should've rescued her!"

Charles' brow furrowed. He looked at Nina, his voice firm. "This has nothing to do with you. Those thugs came after Avery. You got dragged in through no fault of your own. How could I let you stay in harm's way?"

Avery lay in bed listening to the two of them play their little routine, one acting sweet and the other jumping to her defense, and felt an icy current shoot from her toes straight to the top of her skull. Her scalp prickled.

Nina couldn't be hurt. She was an "innocent bystander."

But Avery getting harassed and held hostage? That was just a "situation" she had to deal with.

A full night's worth of fear, humiliation, and betrayal braided together and finally broke through the composure she had been faking.

She shoved herself upright and screamed at Charles.

"Charles! Have you even once stopped to think about what would've happened to me last night if I hadn't smashed my head into that pole? Did it cross your mind for even one second what those men might've done to me?"

Her questions sliced through the room like a blade, shredding the paper-thin pretense of calm.

Charles shot to his feet as if she had torn away a mask he never wanted removed. His face darkened, and the words spilled out before he could stop them.

"Are you done? Yes! I got her out of there first! But have you thought about why those two went after you and not someone else? Out at night, all dolled up and drawing attention, isn't that just... your own fault?"

The world stopped.

Avery stared at the man she had adored for years, listening to the unmistakable sound of her heart cracking apart, piece by piece.

So in his eyes, everything that had happened to her was because she had been "all dolled up."

It was her fault.

Avery collapsed back onto the bed and spent her last remaining breath on three words. "Get out."

"Ms. Lancaster, your wound still needs a new bandage. Let me change it for you." Nina stepped forward, reaching for the dressing.

Avery's voice was ice. "I don't need it. Get out."

Nina acted as though she hadn't heard. She picked up the scissors from the tray, preparing to cut the tape holding the gauze to Avery's temple.

"Hold still, this'll just take a second..."