Chapter 614 Jacob: This Time I Really Want to Love You 5
Waiting always felt eternal.
The family gathered outside the operating room, all eyes fixed on the surgical light above, hope flickering in their gazes.
Even little Abigail seemed to sense something was wrong. Cradled in Elliot's arms, she stared up at his face with her jewel-bright eyes now clouded with unshed tears.
Serafina hadn't blinked once. She refused to sit, standing vigil at the operating room doors for hours until her eyes burned and her body swayed with exhaustion. Finally, the doors swung open and the lead surgeon emerged, pulling down his mask to offer the Windsor family a reassuring smile. "The surgery was successful. Mr. Windsor will live a completely normal life, even without his spleen."
The collective sigh of relief was audible throughout the corridor.
Serafina's knees buckled, and Oliver caught her just in time.
Oliver had always been fond of his daughter-in-law, so he used his influence to secure an additional VIP room adjacent to Jacob's for Serafina's rest.
Half an hour later, they were allowed to see Jacob.
He was barely conscious, his awareness still foggy from anesthesia, but the first word that escaped his lips was her name. "Serafina."
Serafina moved forward and clasped his hand, her voice thick with emotion. "I'm here."
Jacob's eyes drifted downward. He saw the redness rimming Serafina's eyes and tried to lift his hand to touch her face, but his strength failed him. His voice came out as barely a rasp, "Abigail."
Serafina brought Abigail over, placing her on the pillow beside him so he could see her, then leaned against his bedside, whispering gently, "The doctor says you're going to be fine. This won't affect your life at all."
Jacob turned his head, breathing in Abigail's sweet baby scent, and slowly closed his eyes.
Thank God he had pushed Serafina and Abigail away in time. He couldn't bear to imagine what would have happened if they had been hit instead. He couldn't fathom a future without them.
Thank God it wasn't too late.
Jacob had always been proud—even around his parents and siblings, he hated showing vulnerability. So he forced a casual tone, his voice still hoarse as he asked, "This won't affect us having a second child, will it?"
Serafina fell silent. She couldn't bring herself to refuse him. After a long moment of consideration, she shook her head gently.
Jacob lay there, gazing at her intently, his eyes filled with the tender devotion only a man deeply in love could possess.
Oliver rolled his eyes dramatically. Jacob had just been pulled back from death's door, and he was already thinking about baby number two. The man was incorrigible.
Sarah and Elliot shared the same exasperated thought.
Given Jacob's post-surgical weakness, Serafina stayed by his side while the Windsor family took Abigail to the adjacent room. That's when Zoey arrived with troubling news.
"Chloe's parents have arrived in Crystal City," Zoey reported grimly. "They want to meet with you."
Oliver's brow furrowed. "They have the audacity to show up here?"
Yes, Jacob's broken engagement had wronged Chloe, but the Windsor family had offered generous compensation, which the Moore family had accepted. Yet they had allowed Chloe to attempt murder against Serafina and Abigail. This was attempted homicide.
Oliver wasn't feeling particularly magnanimous.
Still, he knew the Moores wouldn't give up without a meeting. Not wanting them to disturb his family, Oliver arranged through Zoey to meet Chloe's parents at a private business club, bringing Elliot along.
When the Windsor and Moore families met again, everything had changed.
The moment Oliver entered the room, Chloe's mother threw herself to her knees, clutching at his trouser legs as tears streamed down her face. "For the sake of our past friendship, please spare Chloe! She's a lawyer with such a bright future ahead!"
Oliver tried to help her up, and Zoey bent to assist, but Chloe's mother refused to rise.
Chloe's father joined in the pleading.
The scene was utterly undignified.
Oliver looked down at the pitiful woman with cold amusement. "Even if I were willing to forgive her, would she spare Jacob? Would she spare Serafina and Abigail? Besides, even if I forgave her, the prosecution won't."
Chloe's mother stared at him in shock.
Even with a statement of forgiveness from the Windsor family, Chloe still wouldn't be acquitted?
The blow was too much. She collapsed completely, muttering to herself, "How is that possible? The lawyer clearly said that with a statement of forgiveness, Chloe would be free."
Oliver's voice turned steely. "From the moment you walked in, you haven't once asked about my son's condition. You only care about that statement. Let me be crystal clear: I will not sign any statement of forgiveness. Everything depends on what my children decide. You could kneel here until the end of time, and it wouldn't matter."
Chloe's mother couldn't accept this reality.
She turned on Oliver with sudden fury. "How can you be so heartless? If my daughter hadn't been emotionally devastated, why would she have done something so reckless? If Jacob hadn't led her on, how could she have fallen so deeply in love?"
"And that Serafina—why didn't she tell Jacob about the pregnancy earlier? If she was so disappointed in him, why did she have the baby at all? She's nothing but trouble. Chloe should have finished the job." Her voice rose to a shriek. "This is all that witch Serafina's fault!"
Chloe's father tried to silence his wife.
He offered Oliver an apologetic bow while suggesting desperately, "My wife is beside herself with worry. But truly, the real fault doesn't lie with our Chloe—it's with that Serafina. The only solution now is to protect Chloe as much as possible. If she serves a year or two, when she gets out, Jacob can marry her. That would put this whole mess to rest and give the Moore family the resolution we deserve."
When he finished, Oliver snapped, "In your dreams!"
Zoey smiled uncomfortably.
Oliver dropped all pretense of civility.
He kicked the weeping woman away from his legs and fixed them both with an arctic stare, his voice so cold it could have frozen fire. "My son is lying in a hospital bed, my former daughter-in-law and granddaughter are traumatized, and you're already planning wedding ceremonies? Have you completely lost your minds? Yes, Jacob broke his engagement to Chloe, but we paid compensation. Once an engagement is broken, what possible reason could there be to marry again?"
With that, Oliver cast them one final look of disgust and stormed out.
Back at the hospital, he didn't share these appalling details with Serafina, confiding only in Sarah. After hearing everything, Sarah was equally appalled by the Moore family's behavior. "How do we handle this?" she asked.
Oliver considered carefully.
After a long pause, he replied, "We wait until Jacob is stronger. This decision has to be his. Sarah, our children are adults now. These major decisions must be theirs to make. Our job as parents is simply to support them."
Sarah wholeheartedly agreed with his approach.
Jacob didn't wake again until eight that evening.
The first thing he saw was Serafina's face. She sat in the chair beside his bed, one hand resting gently on his forehead, watching him with tender eyes.
In that instant, Jacob felt his heart skip a beat.
The anesthesia had worn off and his body ached terribly, but compared to the overwhelming emotion flooding through him, the pain meant nothing. He stared at Serafina, then slowly reached up to caress her cheek.
Her skin felt cool against his palm.
Jacob spoke, his voice hoarse but filled with masculine tenderness. "Did you cry when I was unconscious?"