Chapter 289

Chapter 289

The thunderous roar of the helicopter grew louder as it cut through the sky, finally hovering above the cliff that loomed over the cave.

A thick rope dropped swiftly from above. Moments later, rescue workers descended at the cave entrance, bringing blinding light and fresh air from the outside world.

Steve shielded Benjamin with his body, blocking the light from hitting his unconscious face directly.

Light and shadow clashed sharply within the cave as the rescue team surged forward.

"Mr. Scott!"

"Save him first,” Steve said, his voice low, his eyes dark and unreadable.

A stretcher was quickly brought over.

……

The top-floor VIP wing of an Ares Group private hospital had been completely cleared out.

The corridor reeked of disinfectant—thick, sterile, and suffocating.

Steve had his own wounds treated, got a basic brain scan to confirm there was no intracranial bleeding, then refused all further examination and walked straight to the door of the intensive care unit.

He only had a concussion and some surface wounds. But Benjamin...

By the time Steve reached the intensive care unit, the red light above the emergency room had just flickered out.

The doctor stepped out pulling down his mask, looking exhausted. The moment he saw the Scott siblings waiting at the door, his expression turned grave.

"Mr. Scott. Ms. Scott."

Sophie stepped forward, her voice tight. "Doctor, how is he?"

The doctor sighed and opened the medical report in his hands.

"The situation is extremely critical.”

"The patient has seven fractures across his body, three of which are comminuted. The most severe trauma is located in his back—a blunt impact during the fall caused fractures to the fourth and fifth thoracic vertebrae, accompanied by significant internal bleeding."

"During debridement, we discovered a thirty-centimeter open laceration across his back. After being submerged in a damp environment for too long, it became severely infected, leading to sepsis and febrile convulsions."

Every word the doctor spoke was clear and cold, completely without emotion.

"We've done our best to control the bleeding and infection, but the patient remains in a deep coma. The next 48 hours are critical. If he regains consciousness on his own, there may still be hope. If he doesn't..."

The doctor didn't finish the sentence, but everyone present understood what those unspoken words meant.

The color drained from Sophie's face in an instant. Her body swayed but Simon caught her before she could collapse.

Simon looked at the doctor, his voice giving nothing away.

"Thank you for your efforts."

The doctor nodded and left with his team.

The heavy lead door swung shut, and silence fell over the hallway once more.

Simon stood in front of the large glass wall.

He hadn't changed out of the clothes he'd worn during the cliff rescue. The damp scent of seawater and cold mud still clung to him. He stood completely still, his presence heavy and dark.

His gaze pierced through the glass, settling on Benjamin’s motionless body—surrounded by machines, wires, and the tubes.

There was no satisfaction in that look. No relief. Only a vast, still, deeply unsettling emptiness.

"Simon." Sophie stepped up beside him and called his name softly.

Simon's eyes didn't move.

"He saved you."

It wasn't a question. It was a statement.

Steve walked quietly to Simon's side and stood shoulder to shoulder with him, both of them staring at the motionless figure behind the glass.

"Yes."

Just one word, but heavy.

“I want to hear every detail,” Simon said at last, his voice low and controlled as he turned his head slowly locking eyes onto his brother. "From the explosion, to the fall, to everything that happened in that cave. Don't leave out a single detail."

Sophie held her breath and looked at Steve.

Steve lowered his gaze, staring at his bandaged hands as he recalled those two days and nights that felt like an eternity carved in hell.

"Alfonso's target was me. The rockslide was a trap set for me."

"I should have died there."

"Benjamin drove straight at me. Before my car went over the cliff, he jumped across and grabbed the door."

"He could have let go and saved himself. But he didn't."

"In the end, he pushed me out of the crushed driver's seat and used his own back to take most of the impact and scraping as the car rolled."

Sophie's fingers clenched hard, her nails digging deep into her palm.

Steve paused, then continued.

"At the bottom of the cliff, in the cave, he developed a high fever quickly from the infection."

"The fever left him delirious. He kept rambling."

Simon's brow tightened sharply. "What did he say?"

Steve let out a quiet breath and looked over at Sophie.

"Sophie — he was calling your name."

"Over and over again."

"He said he was sorry."

"He said he shouldn't have doubted you. He said he was wrong."

"He also called out for Thomas and Timothy. He said... Daddy's taking you to the amusement park."

Sophie couldn't hold it together anymore. Tears poured down her face. She covered her mouth, trying to silence the sobs—but her shoulders trembled violently.

That apology — the one that had come five years too late, the one she hadn't heard when she was at her most desperate and broken — had finally reached her today, but in the cruelest way possible.

Simon’s jaw tightened. His chest heaved as he fought to hold back the rage and hatred churning inside him.

"Sorry?" he growled low, slamming his fist into the wall behind him with a dull thud.

"One sorry is supposed to wipe out five years of debt?"

"The collapse of the Scott family, your imprisonment in Dark Hollow Prison where you nearly died, Sophie wandering overseas with the children. All of that — and 'I was wrong' is supposed to be enough?"

"It's not." Steve’s voice cut through the tension—quiet, but unwavering.

He looked at Simon's furious eyes, then at Sophie's tear-streaked face.

"That's why I didn't let him die."

"In that cave, when the fever was almost taking him, his will to live was already gone. He stopped breathing more than once."

"I was the one who told him he hadn't paid back what he owes us."

"Die? That would be letting him off too easily."

"I told him his life belongs to me now. He doesn't get to die without my permission."

The air in the hallway froze.

Sophie stopped crying and looked at Simon and Steve through blurred, tear-filled eyes.

The enormous hatred inside her hadn't gone away.

It had simply been nailed in place by a debt of life that could never be fully repaid—a chain that would only grow tighter with time.

After a long silence, Simon's right hand, clenched in a fist, slowly opened.

He turned his gaze back toward the ICU. His eyes became unreadable, bottomless.

"Keep him alive."

His voice returned to its usual calm, but it carried a cold, hard cruelty.

"Use the best medical resources Ares has. The best medicine. The best doctors."

"Spare no cost. Bring him back."

"Let him live."

Simon turned to face his brother and sister and delivered his verdict, one word at a time.

"One life is nowhere near enough to repay what he owes the Scott family."

"Let him spend the rest of his days paying us back — slowly, piece by piece."