Chapter 218: Critically Ill
But before the words were even finished, his tall frame could no longer hold itself up and he collapsed straight onto her.
"Ethan!"
Diana screamed, using every ounce of strength to catch him as they both tumbled to the floor.
Blood gushed out more and more, quickly staining a patch of the floor red.
Grace was already too frightened to speak, trembling uncontrollably beside them.
Blair still gripped the bloody fruit knife in her hand. Looking at the blood on the floor, she suddenly burst into hysterical laughter.
"Die! All of you just die!"
Blair raised the knife again, ready to lunge forward for another strike.
Heavy, chaotic footsteps came from outside the door.
Several police officers rushed into the living room and quickly tackled Blair.
"Drop the knife! Don't move!"
Two officers grabbed Blair's arms from both sides and pressed down hard. The knife immediately clattered to the floor.
Blair was pinned to the ground, her wrists twisted behind her back as cold handcuffs clicked shut around them.
She was still struggling and screaming wildly.
Grace collapsed against the wall corner, covering her face and sobbing.
Diana couldn't hear anything around her.
She pressed down hard on the wound on Ethan's back, trying to stop the bleeding, but blood kept seeping through her fingers, staining her sweater red.
"Ambulance! Call an ambulance!" she screamed at the top of her lungs.
Ethan had completely lost consciousness, eyes tightly shut, face pale as paper.
The ambulance siren soon arrived.
Inside the vehicle, the equipment beeped urgently.
The paramedic quickly cut open Ethan's clothes. A large amount of blood gushed out, the wound's flesh torn and gaping—a horrifying sight.
"Blood pressure dropping! Heart rate elevated!" the nurse loudly reported the vitals, her hands constantly unwrapping gauze and pressing layer after layer onto the wound.
The doctor's hands flew as he applied pressure bandages, connected the IV line, and pushed emergency medication.
"The knife went too deep, most likely damaged internal organs. We need to do an exploratory laparotomy immediately! Notify the hospital to prepare the operating room and blood transfusion!"
Diana huddled in the corner, hands covered in blood, trembling uncontrollably.
She stared at the lifeless man on the stretcher, her chest aching so badly she couldn't breathe.
Ethan's hand hung limply over the edge of the stretcher, fingertips ice cold.
Diana lunged forward, gripping that hand tightly with both of hers, trying to transfer her warmth to him.
"Ethan, wake up, don't sleep." She lay against the stretcher, tears falling in large drops onto the back of his hand. "Weren't you going to take Liv to school? Weren't you going to make it up to us? Open your eyes and look at me!"
The man's eyes remained shut, no response at all.
Four years ago in that car accident, she had barely survived.
These past four years, she'd forced herself not to think about him, forced herself to act cold, wrapping herself and Olivia in a hard shell.
She'd always thought she hated him, thought she'd long since let go.
But the moment that knife came at her, he didn't hesitate for even a second—he'd used his own life to shield her from this disaster.
He was dying.
This realization completely shattered Diana's composure.
All her pretenses, all her hatred, crumbled to dust in the face of life and death.
She hadn't let him go at all.
She just didn't dare to love again, afraid of repeating the same mistakes, afraid of being hurt beyond repair once more.
She'd built high walls to keep Ethan out, but it was only because she was afraid of falling for him again.
Now, watching him lie there, his vital signs slipping away bit by bit, Diana felt like her heart was being squeezed in a vice.
The emergency room doors burst open.
"Make way! Patient in hemorrhagic shock, operating room now!" The doctor pushed the gurney at a full run.
Diana stumbled after them until that heavy operating room door slammed shut in her face with a bang.
The red "Surgery in Progress" light came on.
Diana's legs gave out and she slid down the cold wall to the floor.
The hallway was terrifyingly quiet, only her suppressed sobs breaking the silence.
She looked at her blood-covered hands, her mind full of his weak "Don't be afraid" before he collapsed.
Time crawled by, each second unbearably long.
Half an hour.
One hour.
The operating room door remained still.
Diana leaned against the wall, shaking all over, nails digging deep into her palms, leaving bloody marks.
After what felt like forever, there was a click as the operating room door opened a crack.
A nurse rushed out holding several forms.
"Who's Ethan's family?" The nurse spoke rapidly, her expression anxious. Her face was covered in sweat.
Diana scrambled to her feet and rushed over, grabbing the nurse's arm.
"I am! I'm his wife!"
The title slipped out before she even realized anything was wrong with it.
The nurse thrust the forms at her and pressed a pen into her hand.
"The patient's spleen is damaged with massive abdominal bleeding. His condition is extremely critical. This is the critical condition notice and surgical consent form—sign immediately!"
Critical condition notice.
The notice in front of Diana instantly struck a nerve.
She held the pen, hand shaking so badly she couldn't write, the pen tip leaving messy ink marks on the paper.
"Hurry! They need blood inside, time is life!" the nurse urged.
Diana bit down hard on her lower lip, tasting blood.
She forced herself to steady her hand and scrawled her name crookedly on the forms.
The nurse grabbed the papers and turned to go back inside.
Diana blocked the closing door with her body, half of her leaning in.
"Ethan!"
She shouted inside, her voice hoarse as if filled with sand.
"As long as you come out alive today, I'll agree to whatever you want!"
"Don't you want to make it up to us? Don't you want to take care of Liv? Stay alive! Stay alive and I'll give you that chance!"
The nurse pushed her out forcefully and the door shut tight again.
Diana pressed against the door, tears streaming down her face.
Messy footsteps came from the end of the hallway.
Augustus came running with Olivia in his arms.
The little girl immediately spotted the figure by the wall.
The once cream-colored sweater was now soaked with a large patch of dark red blood.
"Mommy!" Olivia struggled out of Augustus's arms and rushed over, throwing herself into Diana's embrace. "Why is there so much blood on you? Where are you hurt?"
Hearing her daughter's voice, Diana's rigid body finally reacted.
She clutched Olivia tightly, burying her face in the little girl's neck.
The fear she'd suppressed for hours completely broke through.
She opened her mouth and let out heart-wrenching sobs, her whole body shaking violently from crying.
Augustus stood a few steps away and stopped.
He looked at the shocking pool of blood on the floor, at Diana's complete breakdown as she cried without any composure.
He'd known her for four years, and no matter what difficulties she faced, she was always calm and composed, clear-headed and resilient. She rarely even let her eyes get red.