Chapter 291

Chapter 291

Silas shook off Clara's hand and strode into the hospital room.

Clara stumbled back two steps and nearly lost her balance.

She instinctively tried to follow, but John blocked the doorway.

"Miss Frost." John's voice wasn't loud, but every word reached her ears clearly. "I'm sorry, I can't cover for you anymore."

The color drained from Clara's face inch by inch. She forced out a stiff smile.

"John, what... what are you talking about?"

John didn't look at her again, just stepped aside halfway.

When Clara entered the room, Silas was already sitting by the bed.

A cold aura radiated from him as he stared at Clara with icy eyes, looking at her like she was a complete stranger.

Fear gripped Clara's heart. Silas had never looked at her this way before.

"Silas..."

"What did you have John hide from me?"

Silas spoke in a hoarse voice, his eyes locked on Clara, cold as ice.

"What's the real relationship between Serena and me?"

Clara's throat tightened.

She opened her mouth, her mind racing, trying to find an explanation that would work.

But Silas didn't give her the chance.

"She's my ex-wife."

When Silas said these words, his voice was completely flat.

"We were married. We have a daughter named Aria."

Clara's legs went weak.

"You knew all of this." Silas's gaze bore into her. "Not only did you know, you got everyone around you to help you erase it all."

"No!" Clara lunged forward and grabbed Silas's wrist. "Silas, listen to me, I wasn't trying to hurt you..."

"Right after your surgery, the doctor said you couldn't be upset. Your brain was so badly injured, and if you forced yourself to remember those painful memories, it could have caused even bigger problems..."

She spoke rapidly, her eyes already red, tears streaming down her face, acting like she'd done it all for his own good.

"I was really scared, Silas. I was afraid something would happen to you. You were in the ICU for so long. I didn't dare close my eyes. I just waited outside every day. I was afraid you wouldn't wake up, so I..."

"Enough."

Silas yanked his hand back, not wanting to hear any more of Clara's excuses.

The movement wasn't rough, but Clara staggered backward anyway.

"You say it was for my own good?" Silas let out a cold laugh that was more chilling than no laugh at all. "Who gave you that right?"

Clara froze.

"I didn't even know I had a daughter." Silas's voice dropped lower, which somehow made it even more unsettling. "Serena spent two years abroad with our child by herself, and I didn't even know they existed."

"That's what you call doing me a favor?"

That last sentence was practically squeezed through Silas's teeth.

Tears covered Clara's face. She shook her head desperately and tried to grab Silas's hand again.

"Silas, I know I was wrong... I really know I messed up. I'll never hide anything from you again. Aren't we engaged? I was just so afraid of losing you. Can you please..."

"Engaged?"

Silas cut her off.

The way he said it made Clara's whole body shudder.

"What else are you hiding from me?"

A flash of guilt crossed Clara's eyes. Looking at Silas's expression, she had no idea how much of his memory had actually returned.

"I'm really not hiding anything else from you, Silas. Please believe me."

Clara bit down hard and said tentatively.

As long as she could keep the earlier stuff hidden, she didn't believe Silas would still blame her.

But then Silas suddenly laughed, his voice so cold it seemed frozen.

"The wedding two years ago was fake." Silas stared at her. "You lied and told me you had a terminal illness and begged me to have a wedding with you. The whole thing was fake from start to finish."

Clara's body went rigid.

Her lips trembled, tears still on her face, but she couldn't make any expression at all.

She hadn't expected Silas to know about this. Had his memory come back?

The room was silent for two seconds.

Silas pushed himself up from the edge of the bed.

He was quite a bit taller than Clara. Looking down at her, his voice was cold to the bone.

"Besides that, what else?"

"Nothing..." Clara stepped back. "Really nothing, Silas, I swear..."

Silas suddenly reached out and grabbed Clara by the throat.

Clara froze like she'd been paralyzed, not daring to move.

Her face quickly turned red as she looked at Silas pleadingly.

"Say that again."

Silas's voice was filled with barely contained rage.

"Why did you have Luna tell me that Serena caused your heart condition?"

Clara's pupils shrank.

She thought Silas only knew about the past two years.

She hadn't expected him to dig up this too.

"Silas..."

"Five years." Silas's fingers tightened slightly. "Because of that lie, I ignored her for five years."

Clara was being choked, her breathing became labored, her face flushed red.

"She was home alone with the baby. I didn't come home, didn't answer her calls. When she tried to talk to me, I completely ignored her."

Silas's voice was shaking.

Even though he still couldn't remember the details of those five years, just the fragments he'd heard from John were enough to make his heart ache.

Serena taking Aria to the hospital alone.

Serena running a fever in the middle of the night with no one to care.

Serena's birthday without a single phone call from him.

"Do you have any idea what those five years were like for her?" Silas let go. Clara collapsed to the floor, gasping for air.

"You say you didn't hurt me?"

Silas crouched down to Clara's eye level.

His eyes were bloodshot.

"You didn't hurt me. You hurt her."

Clara lay on the floor, hair covering her face, her whole body shaking with sobs.

After a long moment, she suddenly lifted her head. Having come this far, she stopped pretending.

"Silas, believe me, I just loved you too much..."

Clara lay on the floor, crying and trembling, hair all over her face.

But then she suddenly jerked her head up and stared daggers at Serena, who had been standing silently to the side.

"This is all your fault!"

Clara's voice turned shrill and distorted. She scrambled up from the floor and pointed shakily at Serena.

"If it wasn't for you, Silas and I would have been together long ago!"

"We grew up together. Do you know how many years I've loved him? You stole him from me! You're the one who came between us!"

Clara's finger jabbed toward Serena's face, the tip trembling constantly.

"Who do you think you are? Some random girl who showed up in college—what gives you the right to take him away from me?"

Serena stood there without moving.

Clara spun around and grabbed Silas's arm, clutching it tightly.

"Silas, come with me. Just forget about her, okay?"